Everyone loves a resurrected thread.... How have the past 7 years affected this conversation? Which countries have risen and which have slipped, if any? Sadly I still lack the experience to judge this for myself but I looked forward to others' wisdom.
Although I only visited Tierpark Hellabrunn (Munich) as non-Balkan European zoo, from photos/infos I think I mostly love how British zoos are built outside cities, with pretty big enclosures with grass and trees. Dutch zoos seems very crowded and with a lot of concrete (wich would not be mine choice - as I would prefer simplsitic relatively big enclosures with grass/trees). German zoos seems that are too with a lot of concrete but not so like Dutch zoos looks like. Some very amazing exceptions exist in almost every country; France seems that have some very nice enclosures - like la vallée des singes (primate park) or Beauval zoo, or French enclosures for Kordofan giraffes - type on google Kordofan giraffe (because most captive Kordofan giraffes are kept in France, and in 2 Italian zoos, and some other). Italy should have also some good naturalistic enclosures. Attika zoological park in Greece it's not bad at all. Praha zoo - amazing. Portugese zoos - are quite interesting. I watched Youtube video of one Polish zoo, can't remember wich but was very nice with wast greeny enclosures (like for giraffes). Skopje zoo, although was awfull before some 10 years, it is now pleasant for eyes. Animal collections are best in big countries like Germany, UK, France (or USA), and in some smaller countries like Netherlands or Czech Republic and other.
They may well be built outside citys,but not all of them have big enclosure with grass and trees,in fact I suspect you would be shocked at just how small many of the enclosures actually are!!!!!!
The Czech Republic's zoos get better and better. Some Polish zoos are improving massively too: Wroclaw, obviously; Warsaw, I think, as well; possibly Lodz for the future. France's best zoos are exceptional: Beauval, Doue, Paris, maybe one or two others. Belgium has three world-class places - not bad for a rather small country. The Netherlands: my personal feel is that the zoos there are not what they once were - but others will disagree. Germany: as good as ever. Switzerland: the best are stunnning. The UK: dull, tatty, constantly playing catch-up with European collections. So, for me: 1. Germany 2. The Czech Republic 3. Belgium 4. France 5. The Netherlands 6. Poland 7. Switzerland
Yes of corse zoogiraffe, you are British you know that better. Certainly I don't know almost nothing about smaller zoos in Britain, so they may have smaller enclosures in comparasion to bigger and better-known zoos. London zoo have spatial limitations.
I would disagree with that the Dutch zoos have stagnated somewhat. Though it is true that the top 2 Burgers Zoo and Diergaarde Blijdorp have not developed in the past years as could have been expected from their history. However a lot of the "smaller" zoos are closing the gap soon. Beekse Bergen is on it's way becoming one of the better European safariparks and the African collection is getting a bit better every year. Artis Amsterdam is finally developing into a modern city zoo and also Ouwehands, Amersfoort, Gaiazoo & Apenheul have developed a lot in a positive sense in the past years. But all these improvements are still in stark contrast with all the investments in the 3 largest Belgian zoos. I would put Belgium more on a par with Switzerland still, as both have a select group of top zoos but behind that a very big gap (Pairi Daiza, Antwerpen, Planckendael & Bern, Zurich Basel, Goldau respectively). The NL for me still has the edge as they have 10 zoos that are of overall good quality.
I think possibly awareness (and quality) of the zoos in France, Poland and particularly the Czech Republic has increased in recent years. Whereas the Netherlands was previously a shoo-in for second best in Europe, that placement is now far more hotly contested. Somewhere that hasn't been mentioned is Sweden. I haven't made it there for a zoo trip yet, but they have a unique style and some stunning exhibits. How would those who have visited rate it as a zoo country?
Also not very mentioned is Spain, although it have some stunning enclosures; Bioparc Valencia, it's with a lot of concrete but looks very nice - appealing for eye; Madrid zoo and aquarium, Faunia Madrid, Terra Natura Benidorm, and many mostly safari-type zoos (with relatively small number of species), with wich Spain is abundant. I read that Bacelona zoo has good but also some very bad (small/dirty) enclosures; I can't confirm further about this.
I don't read nothing about Hungary too, although the country have asstonishing collection of zoo animals, including Malayan tigers and koalas. Actually very rarely mentioned on Zoochat in general.
@Giant Panda: Speaking of Scandinavia-Denmark isn’t bad either when it comes to zoos, public aquaria etc.
Good call. When I do get to Sweden, I plan to add Denmark on the end. Odense and AQUA in particular look wonderful.
Unfortunately, I have never visited Poland (although I intend to rectify that next year) so I cannot comment on the Polish zoos. And although I have visited both of the Paris zoos numerous times, and been to Mulhouse on several occasions, I have never seen any of the other French zoos so cannot comment on them. However, apart from the reservations above, I generally concur with the ranking list provided by “Sooty”. I have visited all the major German zoos many times and would definitely place Germany as my favourite European country for zoo visiting, with the Czech Republic a close second. I also agree that Belgium, with its three great zoos, deserves to be in third place. I would add Austria to the list too as Vienna (Schonbrunn) is one of my very favourite zoos (along with the two Berlin zoos and Plzen).
I'd like to nominate ireland as the worst european country for zoos. 2 big zoos, and although there is nothing 'wrong' with them they aren't exactly fantastic either, would be considered average in the UK imo.
