The 10 best zoos in Czechia

On 4th October we're celebrating World Animal Day! And how better to celebrate it than with animals, perhaps in one of Czechia’s zoos! We’ve picked out the best for you!

Fancy visiting one of the world's top-rated zoos and taking a look at the first pangolin to have been bred in Europe? Or would you rather experience a lion safari? You won't find anything like this anywhere else in Central Europe! And what about watching the jaguars in an exhibition unrivalled anywhere else on the Old Continent?

Zoo news in 2024

A visit to the zoo is a hugely popular outing in Czechia. That is why zoos are constantly developing, modernising and adapting to meet the requirements of modern exotic animal breeding programmes. In 2024, Prague Zoo opened its long-awaited exhibition of Mongolian fauna, entitled Gobi. It is home mainly to Przewalski's horses, which are returning to the zoo after three years. You can also see manuls, dubbed "the world's grumpiest cats", as well as lots of other interesting mammals and reptiles, not to mention the mythical Mongolian death worm!

Zlín Zoo is completing an extensive renovation of the indoor silver gibbon house in the Hala-Bala exhibit in the Asian area of the zoo. The gibbons will get a large and comfortable indoor run, which for the first time in the zoo’s history will allow visitors to admire these rarely bred primates even during the winter. And a new pavilion for the Angola colobus has been opened at Plzeň Zoo. They were so delighted that they immediately added one more infant to their troop!

Puppies - cute and furry

2024 was also a joyful year for breeders and visitors! A male Chinese takin, a rare Himalayan ungulate, was born in the Plzeň Zoo. He was named Born, and his gene pool will eventually see the species being bred in another European zoo. And the giant otters at Zlín Zoo have prepared a surprise for you. The enclosed Yuacatan tropical hall offers a glimpse into the family life of the playful otters and their three offspring! The zoo has managed to breed these, the largest otters in the world, for the umpteenth time, and Zlín is the only place in the country where you can see them.

And where else? How about the Safari Park in Dvůr Králové? At the end of August, a new addition joined their hippo herd! Hula gave birth to her latest calf in the Hippo Lake. The best time to watch them is late afternoon, when the hippos start to become active.

You can see some interesting additions at Prague Zoo as well. A female wombat was born a year ago, but as marsupials give birth to their young very early, they have to develop in their mother's pouch for several months. The little joey girl peeked out this year and is already starting to become independent! The best time to see her is at 2 p.m. every day during the guided feed for these marsupials in the Darwin Crater's indoor exhibit. Another great success for Prague Zoo is its Chinese pangolin. The first female pangopups of this species bred in Europe, Šiška, was born last February, and Connie was born this July. You can see them both in the Indonesian Jungle nocturne.

Chinese pangolin © Miroslav Bobek. Prague Zoo

The most interesting things about Czech zoos

Czechia has lots of zoos, so we've selected the best things you can try. Want to hand-feed stingrays? Visit Zlín. Want to visit the largest and - according to the reviews - the most beautiful Czech zoo? The large complex at Troja in Prague will keep you entertained for the whole day. Want to combine a trip to the zoo with a visit to an interactive dino park and make your little ones' dream come true? Plzeň is the place for you.

Want to see a flock of pink flamingos, found nowhere else in Central Europe? The zoo in Hluboká nad Vltavou is the only place you can do that. Want to see how jaguars live in the wild? You can enjoy this and more at Zlín Zoo, in a new pavilion unrivalled anywhere else in Europe.