Chester Zoo Reviews 

Food very average and expensive £49 for 2 coffees, 2 burgers, 2 soft drinks+ 2 flapjacks
entrance fee too high. £86 for two adults.
Hardly any animals to see, just one empty enclosure after another absolutely awful.
Had more eateries than Meadow hall shopping Centre they should focus the "zoo" side of things not making money selling burgers and ice creams this place makes Twycross zoo look like the best Zoo in the world at least you get to see the animals at Twycross .
Our first visit and very disappointed with Chester will never go again.

The zoo itself, really good, the process of booking tickets, dreadful! Congratulations, you have the worst booking process of all companies I've used (inc Ryanair!) The website booking system gets caught in a loop when you want to order tickets, it wont allow you to check out as a guest if you have a profile, but when I try and log in, it asks me to check out as a guest. I'm forced to call in to book tickets in.. only to be kept on hold for an hour, listening to the same saxophone rift over and over... and over... if it wasn't for the fact my son loves the zoo, I'd never use your services again. Get better at managing your customer journey

Been visiting Chester for years. Really disappointed this visit. Many enclosures empty - we didn't see many animals for the price of the ticket.
Upselling on other things such as VR, mini 4 X4 etc.
Although all zoos have the difficulty of animals not always being visible if the animals are there full stop or are shut inside with no viewing of inside areas it's impossible to see them. isn't this why people visit the zoo?
Won't be back to Chester again. Better zoos in the Midlands which are cheaper and have more animals.
Lots of comments overheard from visitors while there.

Many of the enclosures appeared empty, with no sign of the Lions, Tigers, Bears and many others. The Giraffe and Elephant indoor part was also closed which they told us after entering the gate. There were lots of senior school children on school trips shouting and running around too.
The talks were not well sign posted and we ended up missing them, with the app not giving any directions either. the gardens were well tended but the food was also overpriced and poor quality. When we sat down to eat, we had to move with lots of wasps hovering around and bothering us.
Really wouldn't recommend, particularly on a hot day. My family was very disappointed and it was poor value for money. They like to up sell as much as possible too, with even maps not given for free.

Absolutely loved our day at Chester Zoo! The enclosures are spacious and thoughtfully designed, and you can tell the animals are really well cared for. There's so much to see - we easily spent a full day there and still didn't cover everything. Staff were friendly, facilities were clean, and the whole place felt really well run. Perfect for families or anyone who loves animals - we'll definitely be back!

We visited July 2025, family of 4.
Amazing zoo, clean, good size enclosures.
Great to see all the enrichment provided to animals.
Staff and volunteers all friendly, helpful and extremely knowledgeable.
We took our own picnic so can’t comment on food prices.
Would highly recommend.

Overcrowded, overpriced. Most enclosures seemed empty. Waste of money/time

A very poor and very expensive experience. I attended the zoo today, 10/7/25 at the online price of £36.50. It was a very warm day so most animals seemed to be hiding in the shade and therefore invisible. There were hoards of schoolchildren on school trips running wild and generally getting in the way.
I foolishly decided to eat on site and got a cold cheeseburger with some tepid chips and a bottle of water for just under £18. Come on Chester Zoo, do you really think this is acceptable pricing for what you offer? I certainly do not. I couldn't wait to leave the site and was probably there no more than 90 minutes. I left almost £60 worse off . Just not good enough. I will never return. Is there a refund option for disappointed customers I wonder?

Lots of enclosures appeared empty. Could not see the lions, tigers, elephants and many other animals. The food was very poor and expensive. The actual gardens were really nice. Overall it was a very disappointing and expensive experience. Shall never visit this zoo again.

Very expensive most of the enclosures were empty, and not many animals in the ones that had animals in. This is the first time I’ve been in about 10 years, I will never return again very disappointed.

The food experience in June's eatery was the worst. Avoid the burgers. We had very small ,burnt burgers hidden in a large bun, thought just eat it as I'd waited so long, then the foul taste of cardomom sauce caught me, in the bin it went. Who thought cardamom. Sauce was a good idea without warning. Poor value too at £11 something.
It was noticeable a lot of the larger animals have been moved to the new safari attraction leaving the zoo as a watered down version of its former self. Signage around the zoo is pretty useless and confusing it also looks very cheap.
Just as bad , is the carport signage.many people were blindly roaming around having lost there vehicles. New experiences have left the zoo I knew looking pretty sparse .

We booked a breakfast with lions experience for over a hundred pounds which was basically a dry scrambled egg and no lions to be seen ! Later on found out their lions had died but apparently according to their customer service that’s not an issue because we got given an amazing ranger talk ( their range stood chatting at one table that’s all ) ABSOLUTE SCAM !!!!!!

Took my daughter for the day .
The zoo itself was fine however the prices for refreshments were well overpriced £4 for a tea that wasn't very good ,,and selling slush puppy's cold drink for £15 a pop. Extaushion. Nothing less. Same drink at local shop £2-50 So anybody that's going there make sure you have plenty of cash to spend you will need it. Would I go again no I wouldn't unfortunately many of the animals were asleep or none existant. But each to there own,,you want opinions you've got one. Have a blessed day to all who read this. Oh and by the way bottles of bog water are priced from £3 to £3-50 so take some water with you out of your tap at home you will save alot.
Small cuddly toys £20 there more or less what you would win for a pound in a grabber machine at blackpool.
Some are £95.
Bubble machines are great though £20
Got one for my grandson proppa quality.
He loves it.

Over £200 pounds for tickets for us all, for a medioka experience. Got there 1st thing in morning and due to having young children, needed regular toilet trips, which meant we missed half of the zoo as it was closing time so didn’t even get chance to go into the green zone, meaning I missed out on the goats, peafowl, lions, butterflies and insects, black vultures, lemurs, Congo buffalo’s, chimps, orangutans and gibbons, camels, entire reptile section and jaguars, also didn’t have time to finish off the yellow section so missed half of that aswel

We had an amazing day here (May 2025) two adults & a 4 year old-
Very relaxed, well cared for animals, plenty to see, plenty of refreshments available, wonderful happy smiley, knowledgeable staff, wonderful enclosures full of enrichment, plenty of parking the list goes on!
We will absolutely be visiting again! Gift shop is pretty expensive but where isn’t!
We arrived at 10:45ish and left at 4 and still felt we had more to see- a wonderful family day out at the zoo with the animals welfare put first!

I ordered some tickets for the zoo however it was raining all day I tried to get a refund but they denied us. Our reason for the refund was the weather was awful raining non stop there was no shelter we got drenched through it. My worst experience I will post this all over social media so people can see what shit service CHESTER ZOO gives out. Worst zoo in uk. The animals are so old they look like they about to die. Some investigation is needed at Chester Zoo. They are a bunch of thieves.

After a few years I returned to chester zoo with my son, but unfortunately I am disappointed. Firstly the price of tickets was very expensive for 3 people £108.. secondly many places were excluded from the tour, every enclosure was almost empty - animals hidden. And shops and stores poorly stocked... very very many people I think there should be a limit on the number of visitors, the playground was poorly guarded - my son was pushed out of the queue by an adult man - and he was not with a child. I think you should work on the organization.
Magda with family

While the zoo is an educational experience it also appears to be a useful anthropology experiment showing human nature at its worst because of all the plastic crisp bags, cans and plastic bottles people have thrown around areas containing animals, and parents allowing kids to climb on exhibits.

I was very shocked at the price. The place is lovely and staff helpful but please please put better signs up we didn't see all the enclosures as the signs are not clear or consistent. Signs on the path to say which route you are on would be very helpful. The maps not easy yo read either. I think in the summer for a full day this would be amazing but take own food and have lots of time it us a lot of walking .

40 pound and no animals absolutely the biggest rip off, you want more people through the gates then charge less and you will make more less and less people will be able to go I see use closing in the near future feel sorry for the animals that are there. now the average family can scaresly afford to visit its 42 for alton towers, and let's be honestly most families can only choose 1 and it won't be Chester zoo it would be alton towers for that price