Hi, At the beginning of May we will be taking a Family vacation to Denmark. We'll be staying on Fumen island (near Odense). Not all my Family are zoonerds like me and i don't drive. So do any of you have tips on zoos. Which zoos or aquariums to visit ? I probably will see if i can get some of my family to go with me to Krokodille Zoo and when we visit Copenhagen i'll peel off and visit Den Bla Planet. What zoos can/should i visit and are they worth the travel time ?
Odense Zoo would be an obvious one, a smallish zoo with rather nice exhibits and an interesting mix of popular zoo species and some more rarer species like manatee. The terrarium at Vissenbjerg is also supposed to be quite interesting, I have heard good stories about it from friends. I would indeed prioritize Den Bla Planet when in Copenhagen, one of the best aquariums I know with a stellar collection and many well-done smaller tanks. You could combine it with the zoo in one day (3-4 hours are long enough for each), but apart from architecture and Australian species there is not much that makes Copenhagen Zoo unique in my opinion.
Frydenlund Bird Park (also known as Danmarks Fuglezoo, "Denmark's Bird Zoo") is located only 10 minutes drive from the aforementioned Vissenbjerg Terrarium so these two can easily be seen in the same day. It's not a terribly noteworthy place and it's somewhat rundown, but I'd say it's worth a visit if you are nearby. You can use about two hours there, maybe more or less depending on your interest in birds. You can also drive west to Jutland as Funen is relatively close to Givskud Zoo and Skærup Zoo. Givskud is one of the best zoos in the country and has some drive-through safari exhibits. While the collection isn't exactly big (almost only big mammals), the size and exhibit quality makes it a full-day zoo. Skærup is a small place with some mediocre exhibits, but the owners actually try to appeal to zoo nerds by displaying a lot of species, especially mammals, that cannot be seen elsewhere in Denmark. Some of them, like toque macaques and viscachas, are also rare in Europe as a whole.
Addition to my last post: When you write "I don't drive", do you mean that you'll need your family to drive you, or that none of you have access to a car? In case of the latter, Frydenlund isn't possible to reach with public transport. Vissenbjerg, Givskud, and Skærup are possible, but public transport in Denmark is, frankly, pretty damn bad outside of the larger cities, so you have to really want to visit these places to bother. Odense Zoo is not a problem; Odense is a big enough city to have somewhat frequent bus services.
Hi, i'm currently in Denmark. Thanks for all the responses. I've visited Vissenbjerg Terrariet. It was billed as one of the largest terrariums of Scandanavia. Despite some interesting species i was outside in half an hour. Having paid 15 euro's. My question is for Krokodille Zoo. As it is almost 3 hour traveltime (including a half hour walk) is it worth it ?. Or is it a six hour roundtrip for an hour visit ? Same thing for Randers Regnskov.
If you only spent 30 minutes in Vissenbjerg, then I'd dare say Krokodille Zoo isn't worth the travel time - unless you come in time for feedings or other presentations - as it's not much bigger. I love Randers Regnskov (my profile picture is from there), and they have one of the best animal collections in Denmark, so I can easily spend a long time there, but it's quite a bit of way from Funen. How much time you can spend there probably depends a bit on which animals/exhibit types/surroundings you prefer in a zoo.
I ended up visiting these zoos and aquarium. Terrariet Vissenbjerg - small , but nice with a few top species for example: King Cobra, A huge Green Anaconda and Komodo Dragons Zoo Odense - The Manatee exhibit was really nice , with freeflight aviary and small tropical house Givskud Zoo - Was the family Zoo trip...great Zoo. Copenhagen Zoo - some really shocking old and small exhibits (espcially the chimps). Nonetheless a nice well stocked savannah exhibit, Panda's and a nice tropical house. Den Blå Planet - One of best aquariums of Europe.
