I am flying in to Berlin tomorrow night for a zoo visit weekend break, I will probably only visit one zoo as I want to see other things too. My hotel is by zoo station so I will visit that one.
Try to then visit the aquarium too. There's a lot which is easy to miss - kiwi in the bird house (along with the fruit doves and finches + so much more), gerenuk in the giraffe house, arctic tern in the seabird aviary... Be prepared to split the zoo into two 'half'-days if you get tired. One of the 'non-zoo' things you can do is briefly visit the main desk in the lobby of the Radisson Blu to look up at the AquaDom.
My hotel is actually by Tierpark station, one stop from zoo. Visited the zoo for several hours this afternoon before becoming too tired and returned to my room for a rest. Just woke up too late to go out again so am going downstairs for a pot of tea and wtite postcards. Didn't see everything at zoo, deliberately missed the "annex" with the kangaroos, and didn't get around to hippo, primates or cats. However had a GREAT time and did see the Pandas (main objective) twice and a polar bear (very briefly, too quickly to photograph). Want to see a few things in the morning, bombed church, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Wall remaining etc. Then may make a visit to Tierpark, my flight from Schonefeld is not until late evening.
I would have avoid the pandas just to see the indoor viewing of the hippo house. It is impressive. Wont see much of Tierpark in a few hours. I spent a whole day there and didn't see everything, and did multiple loops. I would love to go back and take a couple of days at each place to take my time. Might wait till the works on the cats house at Tierpark are finished.
Ah, but seeing the Pandas was not only the main objective of my zoo visit but the whole reason for my trip to Germany. I have wanted to see pandas for soooo long...
Went to the Monkey Bar on top of Bikini Berlin. Then did some sightseeing before going to Tierpark. Had an hour to do Tierpark! Saw eight animals, lol. (6 buffaloes, a black/brown bear, and a polar bear. Want to go back to both next year.
Don't they have some of those in Scotland? Is it easier to get to Germany, or is it just the language barrier?
Ever since Edinburgh Zoo axed the free shuttle bus around the collection - which is located on a pretty steep hill - it has been a bit of a dicey prospect for anyone in a wheelchair or who cannot walk long distances; I suspect this might well be a reason why @Welsh Zootographer would have trouble visiting.
That was part of the reason, though I have the intention of visiting every panda in Europe. Eventually...