Twycross Zoo Reviews 

I felt very sorry for the monkeys at Twycross Zoo. Most looked lethargic, bored and quiet. There were many other cages that were empty and the place looked tired and run down.
A very disappointing experience for the money and very concerning for the welfare of some of the animals. Other guests were also commenting about welfare.
Won’t be returning again.

We visited today myself, mother in law and my 4 year old son.

Good;
Plenty of animals to see all seem well cared for with plenty space and the zoo is clean and maintained well. Cafe was clean though a little pricy. Soft play is great size and secure which was really good. The splash park is a great addition and thoroughly enjoyed by my son. The gruffalo trail is brilliant lots to see and listen to my son loved it and bonus meet the gruffalo too. Parking is well organised and well sign posted. Toilets are all clean and sign posted well. The zoo itself has monopoly style activity and lego sculptures which was also a nice touch. It wasn't crowded, though busy and we didn't really wait for anything other than to get into soft play. There are lots of seats and picnic benches around.

Bad;
Splash park was slippy on the bottom edge near penguins where it had gone green saw 3 children slip over on this area.

Not v punctual we were late being let in for our soft play slot and the gruffalo meet and greet started late.... with a 4yr old with communication delays this was frustrating.

Soft play is charged at £5 and can't be avoided by little eyes on arrival, only 1hr slots which need booked.

Damn right ugly;
There is a monopoly challenge which on the whole was a great idea, maps and stamps really great, interactive activities and a badge at the end. Until we encountered a member of staff running the water station who asks questions, allows child to turn wheels and then presses a pump on the wall to allow water to flow down the pipes and into the trays on the floor, my son took no time in darting behind her to have a press of the pump.... she said leave it as im moving around her to grab him as he continues to try and press it she yells leave it at him and removes his hand. He had a complete meltdown and was shaking and crying for 10mins and unsettled for 40mins and took a lot to calm him so he could move on and enjoy the rest of the day. This was totally inappropriate and unnecessary......another member of staff was sat there and said "not a good start to the day" had she have moved aside i would have been able to grab him calmly.... not that he was really doing a huge amount of harm. Staff expected to communicate and customer face with children should not behave in this way. The staff running the other stations were excellent and encouraging. Really put a dampener on what was otherwise a good day out

Hardly any animals were out. The monkey sanctuary oh bless. They were bord nothing to do. The cleanliness was 0 The hygiene levels 0 we didn't see one space large enough for any animal. There were really dirty animal areas with not one cleaner on site. There were filth in the toilets months old. The staff were less than caring and so very rude. I firmly believe that this Zoo should be closed for the safety of the animals.

Small, industrial enclosures. All the animals looked sad, bored and unhealthy. The giraffes were in a dreadful bare featureless enclosure.
It broke my heart and brought me to tears more than once.
The whole place needs sorting out. The animals should be sent somewhere they can live in peace and space within natural environment. Seems more interested in getting people to spend money than caring for the animals.
The toilets were disgusting with virtually all the seats hanging off . Dirty unhygienic.
Place utterly overrun by wasps.
I was shocked .

My baby girl was stung twice by wasps during our time at the zoo — an absolutely terrifying and traumatic experience for us as parents.

The zoo was completely overrun with wasps. Everywhere we turned, people — including parents holding newborns, elderly guests, school children, and individuals with additional needs — were visibly distressed and trying to get away from them. Bins were overflowing and surrounded by wasps, creating an unsafe environment throughout the venue.

Once my daughter was stung, we had no choice but to leave. We were told by staff that “everyone is leaving because of this,” which only confirmed how serious and widespread the issue is. But shockingly, there were no warnings at the entrance — no signage, no staff informing visitors of the risk, and no opportunity to make an informed choice before entering.

This level of negligence is unacceptable. A wasp sting in a small child can cause serious allergic reactions, and not providing clear warnings puts children’s health and safety at serious risk.

To add insult to injury, when I contacted the bookings team, I received a dismissive response. I was told we couldn’t receive a refund because we hold an annual pass and can “return at any time.” That’s not the point. The issue is not about entry access — it’s about the fact that your venue was unsafe today, and we were forced to leave early due to a serious health hazard. Offering the chance to return on another wasp-filled day is not a solution.

I am incredibly disappointed by the lack of responsibility and customer care shown in response to such a distressing experience. I urge you to reconsider your stance and issue a refund — and more importantly, to start warning your guests about the wasp problem at the entrance. Families deserve to make informed decisions when it comes to their children's safety

I'm also confused by some of the reviews on here. The zoo is well run and large, the chimp, gibbon and in fact all the enclosures are massive. The gibbons never stopped singing from 10am. You buy a ticket and get to revisit free for a year, I do not know how you can slate that deal. The web site has an icon that says book a repeat visit I can't think how they can make it easier. The butterfly house is great it's one of my favourite things to do you get up close to all the insects and you get a great briefing off the keepers, thank you jodie.all in all a great zoo well run.

I'm really confused as to why there are so many bad reviews! We absolutely love a good zoo, this is the 6th zoo we have visited and this one is by far the best! It's really well laid out so we didn't have to walk too far between enclosures but every single animal had absolutely tons of space with plenty to keep them occupied. They all looked really well looked after and all the staff were lovely. We paid for the turtle experience and my 6 year old loved feeding Tim and Speedy. We found it really reasonably priced and the keeper was fantastic we really learnt a lot. We couldn't believe how close we were able to get to all of the animals especially the gorilla's, orangutans and all of the monkeys! I can't fault it at all and we will deffinitely be returning soon!

came home feeling heartbroken..the animals live in terrible conditions there was one monkey a chimp i think who looked really old he was bald and just lay in the foetal position looked like he was at end of life..the space these animals have is no where near big enough... needs inspectors in to save these poor animals

Dont even want to give it one star.
Its the worse zoo i ever bin to in my life.
Small places for the animals and harldy any animals to see. The park looks verry old and not looked after. An absolute disappointment. Will never go here again.

This is what zoos must have looked like in the 1960's. It's an awful place it really is whether this is due to a lack of funds or care I'm not sure but the whole zoo is an eyesore in my opinion. There doesn't seem to be any care or pride taken into the overall look be it the dilapidated enclosures with grubby unclean glass, the unkept grass, the dirty muddy pathways of dust and gravel and even down to the signage which seems to have been there since the place opened.

That's the decor but the experience of the seeing the animals is even worse. On our visit yesterday we saw around 5 animals that were out in their enclosures. Twycross may say it cares about animals mental health so they leave the doors to the inside open and of course if you're an animal you are 100% going to default to your place of comfort which is inside!. I've been to the ultimate, London Zoo, and this simply doesn't happen there. I don't think a few hours outside for the entertainment of the public who have paid a lot of money to see them is going to ruin their mental health. In any case it seems the primates that we did see were not in the best of health anyway they looked quite sad in my opinion.

Maybe the zoo should try a trial where they don't have the inside entrances open so the viewing public can actually experience the animals. The Amur Leopard and Tiger for example I don't think I've ever seen and it's those animals that are the main draw. Also the enclosure for the Leopard is painfully too small for such a magnificent beast so I'm not surprised it chose to stay inside!

Seriously do not waste your money at this place this is an honest review as I experienced it with no bias. It's a shambles from its decor, presentation to the animals on show. I wish I'd chosen the Cotswolds Safari Park.... ah well there's always next time!

I went today and I totally agree with Freya Richardson…. Poor kids walked around and seen monkeys that clearly didn’t wanna be looked at lol wouldn’t go again

All we saw was empty enclosures and Lego. You may as well head down to your local pets at home as you will probably see more animals.

Ignore the other reviews as they are blatant lies. I went to Twycross Zoo yesterday with my dad and Nan, my dad got in free as a carer and for me and my Nan was £63, so not sure where people are getting £100 entry fee from for two people.

Someone also mentioned there was no tigers, they must be blind then because they have 2! A male and a female and we saw the female yesterday during an educational talk and watching her eat a cows leg hung up near the enclosure glass.

Booked an annual pass for the family just under a year ago. Used it once, went to book again but they make it so hard to rebook a visit I have not been able to go. Feedback online does not work. Email address given is not monitored and no phone number to discuss the issue with a human being. Absolutely dreadful customer service. Feel conned, having been roped into an annual pass that is seemingly impossible to rebook. Communication (lack of) has been dreadful and frustrating.

I’m extremely disappointed with the way these animals are kept, it was an amazing place 10 years ago they needs to start investing in the enclosures. I think the RSPA needs to check it out.

we went yesterday which took us a hour and 15 min drive got there at 11 but left by 12:30 it was raining which we knew forecast was but with how busy it was it was too much for our son we couldn't take pictures because everyone was pushing in front and knew we were trying to take pics but still pushing in front, our son can't see very well as he's visually impaired so we take pictures for him to see them normally but we couldn't and also he's autistic he couldn't deal with how overcrowded it was even our girls couldnt see cause the adults just pushed in front, we are gutted as it was our first time going and it wasnt fun at all not the experience we were hoping for especially for our kids to enjoy and they didnt we wasnt expecting it to be as busy as it was on a rainy day but hopefully as much as it will be busy in the summer we can have a better day then!!

Whilst at a ice cream vendor, having queued up for nearly half an hour, I had a horrible experience

Very friendly staff, each one of you made the trip a happy day, along with the sunny day but apart from that, lots of visitors, lots of space to keep walking around in circles but lack of animals to view. If there was a glimpse of an animal, lots of visitors would dash and crowd that area because overall, it was boring. It's ok if you are able to use the annual return pass but if not, it works out expensive. I can see most reviews are on the £3 parking charge too, this is pure greed. Couldn't get on my mobile data to work, lack of reception and couldn't connect to their wifi to pay via via QR code and pay machines not working in the lobby. The toilets are well overdue to be cleaned, extremely stinky and no loo roll, the improvement could start here at least.

Cost us over £150 to gain entry, had to pay another £3 each car to park. It was more like a farm than a zoo there were no elephants tigers leopards lions very very disappointing, will not be going back even with the free pass we got, then to top it all off we had to pay £8 per child to go in the soft play area

Avoid at all cost this place is a total rip off !!
Admission prices are already expensive and yet they tuck you up for another £3 just to park ! Where else can you park !!! Most enclosures are empty and the Gruffalo walk is an embarrassment. Food prices are daylight robbery - Baked potato and beans £8 !!! Even the indoor play area for the kids is an extra charge. Never Again !!