Colchester Zoo Reviews

Colchester zoo is one of our most favourite family days out. So easy to spend all day there and still not seen everything. So glad you have started accepting Tesco Clubcard vouchers again for entry. I use to save mine up solely for visiting here. Bit disappointed you now charge to feed the elephants and giraffes as it use to be free and one of the first places we would visit. We love the Lost Madagascar Road train and hand feeding the Lorikeet parrots. So many playgrounds to choose from too. Looking forward to visiting in the summer holidays.

Love Colchester zoo but be prepared for a long tiring day. Lots of hills and over a large area. The giraffe and elephant feedings are amazing! Only reason I didn't give higher is some of the animals could do with better enclosures.

Over all me and my family had a great time the reason for my 2 stars are that some of the habitat for certain animals is disgusting and very heart breaking for example the monkey k gets climbing bars but the rest is not very realistic ... the lion not having tall grass to lay in an the bar not having appropriate sleeping area

I've visited a few times and while it is pricey, it is worth the money. It is huge and fun to explore for all ages, both me and my child loved it and wanted to stay as long as possible.

Loved it! Covid safe and staff are great with kids!

This is hands down the best zoo me and my wife have ever been too! Thank you for such a wonderful day!

The elephant feeding was out of this world!

I would definitely recommend going to this zoo if you get the chance.

They made us to register for NHS track and trace and book the slot just to let 1 hour later about 2 milions people in. Zoo was totally packed with people. Won't be coming back ever

Why is there no social distancing and why are they letting kids in with obvious terrible coughs to walk around coughing everywhere? There is still covid killing people and kids infections are at an all time high. Why give a false illusion that it will be socially distanced by having to book a slot yet the whole place is crammed with people coughing? Im sure this is against goverment guidelines?

expensive for what it is

My review is based on wheelchair access which is awful, the path is bumpy and sometimes dangerous. They claim its easy to access everything if you follow the green arrows but they make no sense and the koi area is so steep they clearly haven't tested any of the park with wheelchairs. There are loads of animals wheelchair users can't see because there are either steps blocking g access or overgrown shrubs blocking views. My girlfriend isn't heavy but I struggled and became increasingly bitter and will never go back. Whipsnade, Woburn and Africa Alive and Yorkshire Wildlife are all enjoyable and get it right

We went 2 days ago.
Plenty of snack and drink places and well kept toilets.
Not impressed with the map that was supplied. White writing for main areas and black for others. Font size was far too small. Even asked a young couple to read it and they found it very difficult. No chance for OAPs!!!
The animals didn’t look particularly happy. Lion laying in an enclosure of concrete.
Penguins pacing up and down along one side of their pen.
Chimpanzees just sitting around looking totally bored. Didn’t have enough stimulus in their pens.
Large white horse in an enclosure no bigger than twice his size. He was knocking a dustbin sized bin around which is a sign of stress.
Couldn’t see animals in a lot of the closed cages with windows.
Won’t be making a second visit.

Not the place for children. I have always loves animals more then humans and I want this to rub off to my children so I decided to take trip to the zoo however it was totally inappropriate the male elephants just had their fifth leg dangling there and there was no effort made to try cover it up. They could have at least go some Willy warmers. And when your child asks you why the elephant has five legs it leaves u in a very different position and can then cause depression and anxiety. There was also some monkeys will pink bum bums and they were hanging out and they were not even wearing pants let along thongs and children should not be seeing naked monkeys walking around I think this is very wrong and should be sorted out straight away. Also there was many one legged flamingos outside which is advising disabilities which is not only disrespectful but very concerning as now my child may want to cut off one of their legs. If they wasn’t enough they hadn’t even put scarf on the giraffes which is promoting getting ill with a cold and now I am scared my children may follow this. This needs to be stopped I am very concerned for my children’s mental health now thanks a lot not.

Best zoo I have ever been to. Much better then Chester zoo. It’s should be in the number one spot. I’ve been to zoos all over the world, Australia, Singapore, Europe and I still think Colchester is the best. All the animals you could want. Brilliant staff and amenities. Not very expensive either. Can’t wait to go after lockdown

I had a brilliant day!
I really enjoyed the zoo. You need a comfortable pair of shoes for the walking.
I really enjoyed feeding the elephants and giraffes and couldn't believe you didn't have to pay extra.
I loved the penguin enclosure.
I can't wait for everything to open up again, I will definitely be going back!

My wife and I have always had a zoo pass so we can take our grandchildren. We used to go once a week but since our passes have expired we have not renewed.We find renewing passes very difficult to do web site very unhelpful we dont like having to decide as a pass holder when we can visit and when we can't
We shall not bother renewing sad really but staff could be more helpful instead of saying you will find all you need on the website. Grandchildren will miss not going as it was a great day out