Zoo - Budapest Zoological & Botanical Garden, Budapest

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A Cold December last year just a few days before Christmas, one of my former students Agi gave me a call and said that a new baby Orangutan had arrived and her friend working at the zoo said we could come along to have a look. So off we went and took the metro, the Millenium line (First metro built in continental Europe in 1896) (M1-yellow line), and we got off at the Széchenyi fürdõ stop. We then walked across the lake which looked
like Crystal Lake in one of the Jason Horror flics, with wild ducks quacking away. Then we met up with Agi at the entrance with her Aussie boyfriend Sami. We then saw the baby Orangutan who spent most of the time climbing in and out of a cardboard box. The gorillas were spectacular, with the dad charging at us and slamming the glass and then beating it's chest...scared me somewhat. We had been to a Jane Goodall lecture a month before when she was in Hungary with her 'roots and Shoots' program, so my daughter was fascinated by the whole monkey business! I look up to people like Jane Goodall who have dedicated their lives to animals, especially chimps and nature.

The full name of this must see place is The Zoological and Botanical Garden. The old Zoo dates from the 1866. Lot of things inside is made of oriental style, mountain (for white bears) and a lake (for water birds) are inside too.

I saw there lot of interesting animal species I haven’t seen before - gorillas, some exotic fishes and much more.

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I'd always wondered where all the wasps in Budapest go. There's hardly one striped bastard in the city even at the height of summer. But now I know. They are all kept on loose display at the Budapest zoo. It's not like they have a wasp exhibition, I guess it's just the feeding practice seems to attract them by the hundred. I saw more wasps, pigeons and sparrows in the Budapest zoo than anything else.

But it is a good zoo. There's a lot of animals from every continent of the world. They have special houses for Australian, Madagascan and South African animals, among others. There's a good collection of apes, bears, marsupials, as well as other big mammals, like elephants, giraffes, and rhinos. There's everything you'd expect of a well stocked city zoo, and the animals are pretty well looked after. The highlight of the zoo is that you can get quite close to many of the animals, like the camels.

It's not a place I'd direct every tourist, but it's very popular with the kids. So if they are getting bored of walking around the city looking at old buildings, you can take a break here. It's not too expensive, and there's plenty to see. You could spend a whole day in the place if you take your time and visit every house.

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I have visited many zoos around Europe and Israel and i can say that was one of the best. Great and many species of animals, great gardens, clean pathways, a lot of trees, a big lake with black swans. You can touch and feed the giraffes and the camels. The only thing that i didn't like is that all the cages with glasses had dirty glasses, but i think it's something general in Budapest. The result: 3 great hours.

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We don't have any kids yet, but we do like animals a lot. So as we've read a lot of things about the city zoo, we have decided to spend a morning there.

History

The zoo was created in 1866, and it was the sole Hungarian zoo until the 50s. During the first few decades it was mainly home to creatures of the Carpathian Basin, but some famous people offered some animals to the zoo (Empress Elizabeth offered a giraffe and Franz Liszt donated 35 animals). Most pf the buildings inside the zoo are considered to be historical monuments and it was varefully renovated. The architectural style of those buildings is "Art Nouveau". Some buildings to notice are :
- Elephant head at the entrance
- Elephant house ans the watchout tower (you can go up for free and have a nice look on the zoo and the park)

Today

There is more than 700 animal species and we had a very good time wandering into the zoo. We made a load of cute photos, so i had to randomly choose some for the tip (based on my personnal cuteOmeter). There is also a lake, with some chairs to have a rest watching at the ducks and the turtles.

Prices are :
Adult 1 690 HUF
Children 1 190 HUF

Free with Budapest Card (moreover you don't have to queue for a ticket, you give the card at the entrance and it s ok).

Summer opening hours are :
From Monday to Thursday 09:00 - 18:30
From Friday to Sunday 09:00 - 19:00

Budapest Zoo is one of the oldest in the world and is one of Hungary's most visited attractions. THe zoo is home to over 700 species of animals and 2000 species of plants.
As well as the many animal enclosures and green areas the zoo also has a wealth of educational faciliites on animal life and conservation efforts. Among the animlas on show are hippos, polar bears, tigers and the biggest attraction - the zoo's elephants.
The zoo was opened in August 1866 and many of the buidings date from this time and are considered historical buildings in their own right.

I was persuaded by a friend of mine, from Milan, to go try the zoo. As it was, he had not been there before!

I am not a great fan of zoos anyway and this one did not seem special.

However, we did get to see the rare red panda very close-up and it was worth the visit just for that

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It’s next to Heroes Square and Varosliget.
It’s a huge area with a lot of animals. Don’t forget to visit elephants’ cage which is a beautiful building and also the monkeys and chimpanzees which are really funny!
In the zoo there are also giraffes, bares, a tiger, lions etc. Ticket costs 1500HUF and it worth visit not only if you have kids with you.

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Zoo is right across the road from Szechenyi baths, so we decided to go there after.

Ticket price was 1300 forints ($6.50) per person. You can also buy some animal food right after entering the Zoo.
I had a nice time, especially in the gorillas room - it was amazing to look up close through the glass window at those huge animals.. and they were looking at us..

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I realise that this may not be everyone's cup of tea, visiting a zoo. The zoo which was built in 1911 has a collection of over 2000 animals and a childrens area where they can encounter animals close up. This zoo also has an unusual moorish elephant house, a conservation and research centre, and an ongoing building program . The zoo itself is set in City Park which has a number of attractions. When I visited there was ice skating at one end of the park and a transport museum at the other.