View from the DinoPark at Plzen, 25/05/10

The two buildings in the foreground are the African nocturnal house (left) and Madagascar house (right).

Are there any living animals within the area of the DinoPark? In other words, when visiting the zoo, does one need to factor in a visit to the fibreglass brontosauruses as well?

And did you visit the aquarium in the town centre? If so, any comments (or pictures)?

The DinoPark area is an additional cost, but is the only way to see the set of about a dozen small aviaries, each with a different subspecies of Common Pheasant plus some doves or owls. DinoParks are apparently extremely popular in the Czech Republic.

We did go to Akva Tera - it was interesting (a particular highlight being the Kordo Island Monitor, Varanus kordensis) but I wouldn't say it was a must see. It's very central in Plzen though, and easy enough to factor in - it only takes half an hour so at most.

I have got some pictures - I need to ask Sim to add a gallery - but it's not anything particularly special.

Sorry to treat you as a travel agent here Ben, but do you think Plzen as a city can occupy the zoo goer for a day and a half - with the zoo, Akva Terra and the Pheasant World In Dinoland? Or is it a place which could be happily 'done' in five hours? And to get anywhere else (zoo-ish) in the Czech Republic from Plzen, using public transport, would one need to go back to Prague?

The zoo really does look great, and I don't want to rush it - but at the same time, I don't want to waste an additional day at Plzen if it is not necessary, if it could be spent at somewhere else. decisions, decisions, decisions...

I think a zoo-nerd would struggle to to do Plzen in 5 hours, particularly with Akva Tera. The zoo on it's own you might manage, but bear in mind part of it is on a reasonably steep hillside so can't be easily hurried (and with all those funky small mammals you may need some enclosure revisits!).

Public transport-wise I'm not so sure - we cheated and hired a car!

You really do need a whole day for Plzen Zoo. I spent the whole day there and absolutely loved it. The terrain is quite demanding as in many other Czech zoos. I did not visit the DinoLand but didn't feel like I missed anything. Just hordes of sticky and screaming children. Besides, I found that those aviaries can also be seen from outside DinoLand though they are nothing special.

Five hours for me would simply not do at Plzen. The best would be to stay there from morning through midday to late afternoon as you will find the the animals there have very different active hours and many of the small mammals are best seen right before closing time, while the bigger ones are active during midday.

Getting to the zoo by public transportion is quite easy. There is a tram-stop close to the train station in Plzen and the trip takes only about 20 minutes through a beautifull city and then about 10 minutes of walking through a public park. Plzen is also only about 1,5 hours from Prague by train.