1. Beauval 2. Valencia 3. Moscow 4. Wroclaw 5. Apenheul 6. Cabarceno 7. Madrid 8. Magdeburg 9. Doué-la-Fontaine 10. Walsrode
Well if you are asking for it I actually have a list of almost 60 zoos that I still want to visit in Europe.... Beauval Doue la Fontaine Chester Zoo Zlin-Lesna Wroclaw Budapest The Nordic Ark Villars-lesDombes birdpark Zoo Besancon L'Oceanografic Hamburg Revisits high on the list are Walsrode, Magdeburg, Vienna and the both Berlins...
Pairi Daiza, as I only had half a day there - in fact, I think it's worth buying the annual ticket for the price of two visits, if I do another mini tour in that area. Antwerp, Berlin Tierpark and Prague are 3 I want to go to that I have looked at, but I'll need to research some more on your lists. @migdog I wonder if going to Tenerife might be a warmer experience, but staying in the cheaper north?
1. Bioparc Doue de la Fontaine 2. Zoo Basel ( after completion Ozeaneum) 3. Tiergarten Schonbrunn 4. Chester Zoo 5. Zoo Zürich 6. Zoo Budapest 7. Zoo Beauval (after completion masterplan) 8. Zoo Madrid & Faunia 9. Zoo Karlsruhe (my last of the german " big" zoos) 10. Zoo Lodz (after completion orientarium) With exception of Beauval these are all zoos i haven't visited before. Next years vacation will go to Italy so i won't be crossing of any names from this list. Maybe Chester Zoo if I can do or as a day trip from London (with public transport)
I know it's a late reply but I wouldn't recommend doing London to Chester by train for a day trip, by the end of the day you would be dead on your feet. Best off doing it as an overnight trip.
We have successfully done Kings Cross to Yorkshire Wildlife park as a day trip with a 10min taxi to the zoo at the other end rather than a bus - which is a similar journey as Euston to Chester by train + taxi. I'd also prefer to do Chester as an over-nighter and give the zoo at least a day and a half - but it is doable as a day trip - long day, but doable. Especially if you book in advance and get a reasonable first class fare.
In alphabetical order, the ten zoos I most particularly regret not getting to this year would be: Bristol Cabercino Cotswold Doue-la-Fontaine Highland Loro Parque Odense Vallee des Singes Munster Wuppertal There's about 25 more that are on future hit lists, but we're talking about a 15 year horizon to see them all.
Thanks for posting your list and now that you've seen so many great European zoos I was honestly surprised that there are still some big ones that will need a second "CGSwans Epic Euro Tour" in order to be visited. Do you really not have much of a desire to visit Pairi Daiza in Belgium? Attendance is through the roof at that facility and I know of several zoo nerds that consider Pairi Daiza to be one of the top 10-15 zoos on the continent. Your favourite animals (black-and-white blobs) are there now.
My list: Berlin Zoo Tierpark Berlin Walsrode Chester Beauval London Wroclaw Rotterdam Duisburg Leipzig
Hey, I quite like blob bears. The rare moment when you see one roll over in its sleep is very exciting. Pairi Daiza is in that expanded list of 25 or do, but you'll note that most of the zoos on my list are ones that I either discarded from my trip due to logistics/zoo fatigue or that have singular characteristics that make them interesting, and Pairi Daiza doesn't have that, blob bears notwithstanding.
No concrete plans but if I would have the possibility I would visit : -Zoo Berlin -Tierpark Berlin -Frankfurt -Leipzig -Chester -one of the Aspinall-parks ( or both ) -Plzn -Zürich -Vienna -Beauval Revisits which I would like to do in the near future would be to 2 of my old working-places - Walsrode and Pairi Daiza .
And still no Pairi Daiza? What is your problem with this collection? Its omission is made worse by the inclusion of Vallee des Singes which is pretty much the Apenheul approach but in France rather than The Netherlands; basically the same park but with potentially better weather! EDIT:- Just seen your reply to snowleopard, doesn't matter any more!
Chester is doable in a day if you don't really want to relax at any point. On my own I can hit everything I want to see in a day and double back but I wouldn't do it as a first time visitor or with other people. Check you out, first class! Some people can't afford to take out a loan whilst on holiday!
Not having to travel with the plebs is what makes it all worthwhile, then? All three UK collections in that list are among my top ten - potentially in my top five, depending on the day I was asked of the others you cite, I would like to reach the final two next year, and Loro Parque is on my "someday" list.
Who are you calling a Pleb? Some of us with standard tickets have knuckles that don't drag on the floor!
To be fair, judging from the evidence of the Bristol Zoohistorica weekend, your knuckles only drag on the floor because you can't stand up straight by the end of the night
If it has been a good night then I expect my forehead to drag on the floor, not my knuckles! Other than that, if you can afford first class from London to YWP + a taxi then never give advice on this thread... UK Collections By Public Transport: A Guide