Chester Zoo Avis 

Didn't see any animals at all just seagulls and the food was a lot of money and the elephants were fighting

Great day out lots of animals, very well put together exhibits clearly putting the animals needs first lots of information about their conservation stuff around, bit of advice for people thinking of going ignore the other reviews that slate the place for being ‘overgrown’ anyone who knows anything about enclosure design know it’s deliberately blocking your view to give the animals more privacy, god forbid.

Rubbish for disabled people
We booked online and was told that mobility scooters were available so I try to book one on line and was told they were all booked out witch meant I couldn’t go my family went with out means told me that there was several scooters for hire this is not very good Chester zoo giving the disabled customers a good impression

Total let down. Paid a ridiculous amount of money to visit what seemed like an almost empty zoo. The grounds were scruffy and staff didn’t seem to care less. Only place to eat our own food (as not paying ridiculously inflated onsite prices) was on old picnic tables on the very busy area near the entrance! Grandkids were bored after an hour. Visited Chester zoo years ago and it was so much better. Lastly, visited the gift shop to treat the grandkids (4 of them) I almost passed out when one of them picked up a small, cuddly seal priced at £48!!! Unbelievable and quite honestly, disgusting. If you want visitors to carry on coming, I suggest a huge overhaul before it’s too late. There’s so many bad reviews on here, people will stop coming.

After Glow Experience.
Big let down. Not as amazing as advertised. Basically the same as going in daytime. Entertainment was rubbish. Acrobats huge let down.
A lot of the animals could not be seen.
They really need to advertise correctly and not hype it up to be this amazing experience because it wasn’t.

Hardly saw any animals at all. So many enclosures were completely empty. Not worth the price at all! Just seems I paid for looking at trees and overgrown bushes. Where are the animals?! Hardly any animals to be seen. HUGE let down. If I never visit Chester zoo again it'll be too soon. Was absolutely bored stiff walking around to see yet again "nothing".

Our 1st time for me and my daughter we had traveled over 2 1/2 hours to get to the zoo. We arrived not long after it had opened we used the toilets they were disgusting very dirty never been cleaned by looks of it months and they smelt of wee, I have used public toilets cleaner. We had been to 5 different areas before we saw any animals which I found poor after spending that kind of money to get in. Rest of the zoo was clean plenty of staff about just not to clean toilets. Would we go again no.

We are members of Chester Zoo and are seriously considering whether to continue with our membership. We have been visiting Chester Zoo from our very young days in the 1960's.With our own children in the 1980's and now present days with our grandchildren.
Back in the day the gardens were a delight abundant with flowers and shrubs and immaculately kept. You could picnic on lush lawns take a boat trip on the waterway ( not the mechanical rubbish that now passes for a boat trip in the so called islands).
There was a huge variety of animals all very visible and you could stay in until dusk which of course is quite late in the summer. The big cats would come to life then and their roaring was something to hear. You let yourself out by a turnstile and left feeling you had experienced a great full day out
These days you are fortunate to glimpse an animal. The once pristine gardens are left to go wild and if you want to picnic you struggle to find a table which are set on busy pathways. The monorail which was a favourite for years has been scrapped.
Perhaps worst of all at around 4.30 you are hounded with tannoy messages telling you to make your way to the exit as the zoo is closing. As you do so you notice that the elephants have all been put to bed.
So now you leave feeling slightly ripped off. Bad enough for us members but I have many times overheard bitter complaints from families who have parted with well over a hundred pounds .
I think the present day management of Chester Zoo have lost their way. They will argue that their prime concern is animal welfare and conservation.
Very noble but don't lose sight of who pays for all of this. The main concern of the people who are asked to pay very high entrance fees, is to give their families a nice day out.
I wonder what George and June and all the rest of the founding family would think of their legacy.

We'd had a brilliant day looking for the animals, but it was soured by our experience of terrible staff when we were leaving the car park. A young lady shouted at us to leave, despite the fact a car was crossing into the same lane that we were meant to exit into. The animals are lovely, shame about the people.

afterglow experience very let down couldnt find any of the things advertised waited over 1 hour for boats in pouring down rain to be told were closing and if you like rubber cheese burgers go to junes food place not worth the 10 pound rather go to mcdonalds one very let down granddaughter most animals had gone to bed

On the one hand this zoo is clearly a triumph of conservation, as many of the animals have very large enclosures, and the habitat is often prolific and overgrown.
However, the downside of this for the paying visitor is that you are highly unlikely to see a lot of the animals in one visit, as they have plenty of places to sleep and hide from prying eyes.
For this reason I was hugely disappointed that we were unable to see many of the animals, and we heard comments from other people that they had also had the same frustrating experience.
The zoo site itself is very large, and even in a whole day you may be unlikely to see all in one visit, and this may in part be because the signposts are infrequent and often unhelpful.
On the plus side, there are many toilets and "outposts" (or kiosks selling refreshments), and the access for wheelchair users and pushchairs is very good on the whole, except for the wooden bridges and walkways which have many uncomfortable and difficult ridges to negotiate.
Viewpoints of the animals are sometimes restricted or few in number, which could be improved.
Information about animal feeding times is not advertised, except at the entrance.
The car parks are split into massive zonal areas, A B C D (there may be more) plus a park and ride area.
Upon arrival we were immediately pointed towards zone D without any questions about accessibility requirements. With hindsight we should have spoken up to ask if there were any accessible spaces, as we soon found out later that there were. So it was a good 10-15 minute trek with wheelchair to the entrance from zone D.

Getting in was quick & easy. Went round the zoo couldn't see quite a few of animals as their enclosures were very bushy & lots of places they could hide. I think they need so high platforms as you couldn't see much as there enclosure tend to be not flat, & some animals looked sad. Elephants were very entertaining & their house was clean & big & well kept.

Brilliant experience - saw loads of animals. Looking at other reviews, we must have been lucky! Friendly staff and volunteers. Well worth a visit.

Not good value for money.

For a more enjoyable and animal-filled experience, I recommend visiting the Safari Park in Knowsley. You'll see physically more animals, and since everything is closer together, it's easier to walk around. However, if you don't have a car, you will need to pay for a ride on the crew bus to go through the safari section; but the day will still work out cheaper than a trip to Chester zoo.

One major issue with Chester Zoo is the long walks to the enclosures, only to often find them empty. Additionally, the entry price can be misleading. With gift aid, the zoo effectively receives double what you pay upfront. While I understand that running a zoo is expensive, spending £80 for two people at Chester Zoo feels unjustifiable. I mean with gift aid my trip was really £160 to the zoo, so I don't understand how it's so expensive honestly. On top of the steep entry fee, the cost of food is outrageous. I spent £50 on a tiny fish and chips and a quick coffee and cake in the afternoon, bringing the total cost for the day to £130 for two people. This is absurd and will make me not recommend this to anyone, I don't understand how families are supposed to afford this.

In comparison, the best zoo I've ever visited is Mundomar Zoo in Benidorm. For £50 per person, you get a private group tour, plenty of photos, a private show with sea lions and seals, and the opportunity to feed endangered lemurs and take photos with dolphins. Chester Zoo, despite its vast size and large number of visitors, doesn't offer the same value. The high cost, expensive food, and lack of animal sightings make it a less appealing day out, and children might quickly become bored, leading to an early departure. I saw this first hand as families with restless kids walked out early on in the day, many people I bumped into also said "where are the animals" or something to that effect.

It was my 2nd visit. Dont know whether its zoo or just a jungle with no animals. We spent 4 hours and all we manage to see was 4 animals. All cages were literally empty or aminals were no where to be seen. It says zoo has 27000 animals but u will b lucky to see 10. There was no tiger or lions leopards to see. Only few monkeys, rhino and deer. What a waste of money and time. It is very beautiful park, but not zoo because soo has aminals to see not empty grounds and cages

The zoo was like being in a different world,the animals have lovely indoor and outdoor places to go ,hide if they want,or just do what ever they want,lovely outdoor places,very natural,I'm definitely coming a gen,they all looked chilled,thankyou for a great day

Lovely day out. Clean and tidy, friendly staff.
Food & drinks are a bit pricey but as you'd expect at a zoo i guess.
Animals look healthy and havd nice new enclosures. Staff very knowledgeable.
Great day out

Cannot fault this zoo at all. I have visited a variety of zoo’s, safari, farm parks and yes this was the most expensive ticket priced one, but it was clearly visible to see why.

The zoo was spotless. Very clean, and all the toilets were the same too, I was very impressed. Usually visiting places as such I’ve found the toilets have been very basic and poorly cleaned throughout the day.

We visited on a Sunday, a warm July day and the animals were very active throughout the whole day. From the morning we were welcomed with the tigers walking around, up close to the viewing windows as well. One of the sloths actually was climbing down from the rope to the bottom also, very active considering they aren’t usually considered active animals. The butterfly house was a brilliant experience, hot but expected. The butterflies were flying around as you walked through and it was great to see so many chrysalis too from these healthy butterflies. The bat cave was an experience like no other. I have never visited an animal day out where this has been an area to visit, so it was a treat to see bats in their habitat and very active. I wouldn’t recommend this part for those with sensory needs though, as it can be overwhelming and disorienting, especially as you are walking through a dark, very low lit ‘cave’. We were also treated at the end with the capybara’s and anteaters out roaming their habitat. Also the new addition of the snow leopard was a treat, lying cosied up right at the viewing window for a perfect pic!

I must say the enclosures are extremely well kept. The sizes also were generous considering this is a zoo and a place of interest for public to visit. Having visited a variety of these places over the country it is definitely one of the more advanced and better suited for captivated animals.

I do understand it is an expensive day out but it’s very clear to see the funds are out back into the animals. They are well looked after and the zoo itself has a lot to offer for a great day out. It would be niave to visit a place like this that’s well publicised and has the variety of animals and rare species, to expect it to be a ‘cheap day out’. My advice, pack a picnic and you won’t need to spend a penny past the ticket cost.

What I would recommend is, as a visitor from Scotland it would have been good to be able to buy a weekend ticket, or a two day ticket. Even on our whole day there from opening to closing we missed out on the aquarium and the protected plant area. Also not getting a chance to play at the several playparks too. I did feel I was rushing a bit of the animals at the end to try get the best of our experience seeing animals we don’t get to see locally.

If you’re thinking about visiting, just do it. Honestly it’s not a day out to be missed and I would definitely return!

Great day out, very well ran and plenty of animals. We absolutely love this zoo.

So disappointed. So expensive. We didn't see any animals except elephants and giraffes, oh and a rhino far away. I understand that animals are not there to amuse us, but we want to experience them. Next time, watch it on tv