Melbourne Zoo
Melbourne Zoo
4.5
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
About
Journey through a world of wildlife in the heart of Melbourne. Over 250 species from around the world can be found in the beautiful setting of Melbourne Zoo, just five minutes from the city centre. Stroll through the lush Asian and African rainforests, Australian bushland and even underwater! Walk where tigers roam and monkeys swing from tree to tree. See eye-to-eye with the Orang-utans in their special elevated exhibit, explore the Trail of Elephants and then head down the bush track to see unique Australian wildlife including koalas, kangaroos, wombats and emus. Submerge yourself in our underwater world to see Victoria's iconic Little Penguins, Australian Fur Seals and more! Meet the Keeper: Hear our expert keepers give daily talks about the animals in their care. Close-up Encounters: Book a close-up encounter with one of our animals for a great photo opportunity. Melbourne Zoo is also the proud winner of the Victoria Tourism Awards RACV People’s Choice category, voted by Victorians as their Favourite Metro Attraction in both 2015 and 2016!
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AU$49.00
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  • Mike S
    London, United Kingdom195 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Very enjoyable day
    Went to Melbourne Zoo primarily to do the Orangutan experience. Jake and Mia were superb guides who cared deeply and passionate about conservation. The experience was so special to see these beautiful animals up close. The Zoo itself was clean and tidy and the animals were well cared for. Easy access from the city via Tram 58
    Visited October 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 18 October 2023
  • Aussie_Tourist79
    Sydney, Australia582 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Brilliant Zoo, easily spend all day here
    We have been to a lot of zoos and highly rate Melbourne zoo. We easily filled in the entire day. There were plenty of places to sit, get some food and take your time exploring the grounds and discovering the animals. Butterfly houses are always amazing and the zoo has a well balanced variety of animals so most of your group will be happy and see something they want. We enjoyed toi many of the exhibits to list them all here. The zoo was top class. We spent most of the day and skipped a few exhibits as we were tired. Allow to spend the whole day here as you easily will.
    Visited October 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 14 November 2023
  • Jestaurant-reviews
    Wellington, New Zealand58 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    New Zealanders at Melbourne Zoo!
    A group of 7 of us are in Melbourne visiting from NZ. We initially thought the zoo pricing was a bit expensive at $46 AUD for an adult ticket. However, we ended up spending 5.5hours there and enjoyed our time immensely. The layout of the zoo was fantastic, as was the cleanliness of the facilities and paths around each of the enclosures. The staff we saw were all friendly and the cafe where we had lunch had a good range of options. There were also lots of spaces to stop for water or eat if you wanted to bring a packed lunch. The animals were all well looked after and had large enclosures that looked really nice. Our favourites were the tigers, meerkats and elephants. All in all, would be an espeacially good place for young families and kids as there are lots of interactive areas and cool animals. Highly reccommend!
    Visited November 2023
    Travelled with friends
    Written 20 November 2023
  • AbbottHsu
    Serang, Indonesia2,322 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    One day tour
    Pretty good, designated and well organized layout inside. Visitors can easily find the way to see all kinds of animals. Since it is semi-open space, you can feel the natural and primitive atmosphere by searching those animals. Too be honest, it is not easy to see lots of animals in close distance. Kids are so happy to take a look at those creatures. A good opportunity to teach and interact with kids in zoo. You can spend half day inside to explore what you want. However, sometimes some animals may hide, sleep or go anywhere so that they are not available when you visit. For me and kids, it is a wonderful experience to visit this historical zoo. Easy to take Trams or Metro trains here. Enjoy.
    Visited November 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 4 December 2023
  • Darkest_dreaming
    Redruth, United Kingdom419 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Lovely zoo
    Love this zoo! It’s got so much to see, so many different animal varieties, lots of places to stop and rest and refuel. The zoo isn’t particularly ’smelly’ like other zoos I have visited in the past so that’s hopefully a good sign that the animals (and park) are looked after well. I’ve since purchased an annual pass so am excited to go pretty much wherever we want and don’t have to pay an entry fee. Lots of shops in the zoo (I think at least 4?) and they have some lovely gifts in all of them.
    Visited January 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 6 January 2024
  • Stacey O
    Dallas, Texas18 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Beautiful zoo
    Melbourne Zoo is one of the nicest we’ve ever visited. It’s clean and well thought out. The animals appeared to be very well cared for and their habitats designed so they can be out if/when they choose. Unfortunately, the platypus wasn’t up for visitors the day we visited so we left Australia without ever getting to see one. 😭
    Visited January 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 9 January 2024
  • Aditya M
    Kathmandu, Nepal136 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Amazing day out at the Zoo
    We had booked the ticket online so it was really easy for to get in. The zoo is very big and divided into various sections. We didn't specifically do any tour as we just walked around the entire zoo area. We saw a wide variety of animals and they were well taken care of as well. We did see a lot of families with kids exploring the place. Most of the animals were visible however, the kangaroos were just sleeping so couldn't see them hoping around. The best thing was seeing the giraffes going about their daily things. There is a cafe right next to the giraffe section so you can order your drinks while admiring them. There is a completely different section for butterflies as well. We were also able to see little penguins as well. Overall, the zoo experience was really amazing for us.
    Visited December 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 26 June 2024
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4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles6,694 reviews
Excellent
3,792
Very good
1,968
Average
655
Poor
183
Terrible
97

Natalie N
2 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
My partner and I did the roar and snore experience at Melbourne Zoo on Friday the 17th of January 2020. Something we have wanted to do for years so we were very excited.
The night started great with a complimentary glass of wine and some sushi to pick at. (We did have to supply our own alcohol other than that 1 glass). Upon unpacking our bags I was in a bit of shock to see that our beds were 2 very thin mattresses that had a plastic cover and no sheet on top. With only our doona and pillows packed I wasn’t keen to go to bed that night. There was also a pole in the middle of the tent so we had to configure the 2 mattresses in order to both be able to sleep under our doona. This meant my partner was sleeping up against the back of the tent which hung inwards - not what we were expecting at all.
The night walk was great, really cool to see the animals at night time. We got an amazing close up experience with the lions which I’ll never forget. One of our guides actually took at least 2 phone calls during the tour which did feel a bit unprofessional, when as guests we were sort of waiting to move on or our other guide would have to step in and continue on with what Stella was saying.
Our dinner was underwhelming. Dry bread rolls, sausages, burgers (which weren’t hot) some corn and salads. All served ourselves (buffet style) too.
The experience with dinner at Werribee on the sunset safari was by far more of an experience than this was. Also our supper consisted of scones that were cold and hard - straight out of the fridge.

We both had shocking sleeps and I even had sore hips in the morning from the beds but we were keen to have a continental breakfast and see more of the zoo.
I couldn’t believe that for breakfast we had to wait about 15 minutes for someone to bring some milk for us and that I had to line up with about 15 other people to cook my own toast. My partner just had a bowl of cereal. That is not a continental breakfast. There was croissants which were beautiful BUT there was nothing to put on them, no ham or cheese or anything. Felt very effortlessly thrown together.
Our morning tour which from memory is listed as ‘behind the scenes’ was lining up and being called up in pairs to pat some kangaroos. I was honestly expecting to see the lions get fed their breakfast or the elephants doing some enrichment.
A number of times zoo staff were complaining about being understaffed which i understand must be hard during this time in Australia, but I don’t believe as paying customers we should suffer for that. Our guide had some food to feed the birds but told us “everyone is too busy” so we didn’t do that. We were then dismissed with free entry to the zoo for the day which we only spent about 30 minutes in to see the animals we missed over the last 16 hours or so as we we're tired and un happy.

For close to $500 for my partner and I to do this experience I feel ripped off and it’s a lot of money for us.
It’s the first zoo experience I haven’t come home boasting about and recommending to all my friends.

I don’t know if this is a normal response from this experience or if we just happened to get dealt a lousy day/night.

If you want an experience at the Zoo, do the sunset safari at Werribee! That is an experience!
Written 21 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Barblaraine
Nambour, Australia393 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Family
Today we headed out to the zoo in Melbourne. Got to see a couple of lions, 1 tiger, wild African dogs, snakes, lizards, 2 snow leopards, elephants, 2 giraffe, 3 zebra. We went into the butterfly enclosure was very warm inside but so many different kinds of beautiful butterfly. The zoo is very well maintained & laid out, u can easily see all the animals in about 4hrs. We didn't get to see any of the shows. It's not to expensive for entrance & parking. A couple of cafes & eating places as well as a souvenir shop. Worth a visit I think.
Written 16 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Heather87
739 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2021 • Solo
I’ve been to Melbourne Zoo quite a few times and on this occasion, came to attend the orangutang close up encounter. That’s one of the reasons I was inspired to give my review its title. What I love about Melbourne Zoo is that it has a strong sense of history. For example, our host for the encounter showed us one of the original animal enclosures (very different to today’s ones) and told us about Molly; an orangutang who died prematurely due to the ignorance of visitors and staff alike who fed her sweets and cultivated her tobacco addiction. At the same time, the Zoo has evidently made the effort to move with the times, even providing glimpses into its future strategic planning. Again, this was demonstrated during the close up encounter where Jade informed participants about Zoos Victoria’s campaigns against palm oil due to the part it plays in destroying orangutang’s habitats. It’s for this reason that I provided the alternative title ‘The Book of Three.’ Anyone who’s read Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles will know the latter describes the past, present and future.

Naturally there’s plenty of animals to see. I didn’t get around to all of them as I wanted to see the Dino Lab, which is only available until May; however, I enjoyed seeing the lions, snow leopards, giraffes, orangutangs, meerkats and giant tortoises.

If you get a chance to see the Dino Lab while it’s there, I think you’ll enjoy it. The animatronics are pretty good and I had a great time pretending to be scared of the dinosaurs. It also made me feel a bit nostalgic reminding me of ‘The Land Before Time.’

One thing I’m not too impressed about is the food options: there’s several eateries but not many choices of food. Very limited sandwich range, some hot food and a couple of salads plus cakes and cookies; even the bistro’s menu is very limited and salads are the only healthy options. For this reason I’ve downgraded Melbourne Zoo from a 5 to 4 star rating.
Written 18 April 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jennie M
Warrnambool, Australia13 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022
Attended the Melbourne Zoo for a roar and Snore package. The event never started until 6.30, where we were met by our hosts Ash and Catherine. We then were led into the zoo to park our cars. Then instructed to put our belongings in our tents straight away. We were then told we were having drinks and some snacks. No sooner had we finished that than we were told to go into the dining room for dinner. We then had roast potato and pumpkin, some sort of pasta, and gnocchi. The pasta was revolting, had no flavour at all, and the gnocchi was no better. I then said to my friends, is that it, when in came several pizzas. The food we were served was disgusting, especially when you have paid nearly $300 each. We then went straight onto a walk at night in the zoo. We didn’t really see much at all, and were totally rushed the whole night. There are no showers and the toilets are not that close as described in the instructions. Next morning we were hurried through an ordinary breakfast with not even any time to go to the toilet, before packing up and vacating our tents and then going out into the zoo again. Then out of the zoo back out to the car park. I would never do this again, or recommend it to anyone else. It was far too rushed, no time to meet or talk to the other people in the group and I just wonder what we paid for. And as mentioned earlier, the food was so bad!!! A total rip off!!! We have been to Werribee Zoo twice for their sleep overs and it was unbelievable. Food was great, and accomodation exceptional. When you pay that much money you should get something worthwhile. The only good thing was the staff, Ash and Catherine, who were very kind and did the best they could do under such a limited time frame. And I am sure the food had nothing to do with them. Tents were quite good, no power but that wasn’t so much a problem, and the beds were very comfortable. Totally over priced.
Written 25 October 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Cruiser324757
Williamstown, Australia10 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
Went and saw Missy Higgins at the twilight zoo absolutely brilliant best night out. Very chilled atmosphere only thing is make sure you read the terms as no alcohol allowed into the zoo can purchase at the zoo. They confiscated my Asahi (boo hoo) all good had a great night.
Written 11 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

David S
Nottingham, UK55 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020 • Couples
Now, I know Melbourne Zoo is normally a brilliant place to visit. As a bye-yearly visitor to Australia and Melbourne, I’ve visited it before.
And so when we called in this Wednesday (March 4), found many enclosures empty and others with the bare minimum of animals, to say we were underwhelmed was an understatement.
Two koalas, eight penguins, one Tiger, two lions, three elephants, two giraffes, three sea lions etc were nothing like the numbers we normally see.
Not only that but the brilliant sea lion viewing pool, though open, revealed no sea lions at all, in fact nothing at all but water thousands and thousands of gallons of it.
Yes there were some enclosures which were as
you’d expect but these were very few and far between and totalled just three or four.
I don’t know what went wrong on that day but I’d be surprised if something didn’t. It was a singularly strange experience and meant that there were very few photo opportunities to remember the visit by, in-line our previous visits when there has been dozens.
Written 6 March 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kim J
Brisbane, Australia15 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
The Zoo is very easy to walk around and the different exhibits are set up very well. I thoroughly enjoyed my half day viewing the animals. Having a tram stop at the entrance made it very easy to get to.
Written 7 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

shazm1
New Plymouth, New Zealand47 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Family
Were there mid afternoon and did not get to see some the main animals in action. No sign of the tigers. Other big cats sleeping. We felt some of the enclosures seemed a bit tired. The seals seemed bored and we felt that area of the zoo could have Ben better. Seemed a bit sad. Maybe we were suffering from holiday fatigue as it was our last day in Melbourne but we left disappointed. Had a much better experience at the aquarium.
Written 12 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi there, Thanks for your feedback. We apologise for the disappointment in not being able to see some of the animals. We're very proud to have large, green enclosures that provide lots of areas for shelter, however, unfortunately this means that seeing the animals can sometimes be a bit tricky, particularly at certain times of the day. We're sorry to hear you thought they seemed tired, we can assure you the welfare of our animals is our number one priority, which includes the upkeep and state of the enclosures. We've passed your feedback onto the relevant teams. Kind regards, Zoos Victoria
Written 14 January 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Marsha
73 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2022 • Friends
Roar and snore tour Melb zoo was a great experience and the two guides were fantastic but the tour itself felt very rushed. Arrived Saturday night 6.30pm in the dark would of been better arriving in daylight. Set up of the camp was very good and comfy beds, food just a pass but the tour of the zoo was excellent. Seen behind the scenes and had a good amount of time with different animals and the guides were very informative and interesting. Worth doing
Written 1 May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Justin H
Back Bay, Canada98 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Solo
Generally speaking, there was a lot to do and see at the Melbourne Zoo, which would normally be a great thing that would give a 5* rank.

However, customer service was inconsistent when needed, especially at the Ben n Jerry ice cream shop, where I was in line for a long time, only to suddenly be ignored and people behind me being served ahead of me; I never spoke to the staff as I was patiently waiting to be served, but when I encountered this, I had to leave. Shops selling soft drinks required a bar code to scan to operate the dispensers, but at least one dispenser at one shop allowed me the opportunity to refill for free as much as I wanted.

Additionally, I came in with a Melbourne Attractions ticket, but the staff had some difficulty in validating my ticket to let me in the park. I understand there can be difficulties with third-party tickets, but more could have been done to ensure a smoother process in getting in.

There were also two tiger enclosures in completely different locations within the park, but no tigers even remotely visible; because there were two enclosures, it was difficult to know if one was a temporary enclosure and the other was the actual enclosure.

I normally enjoy going to zoos, but I need to see better efforts, especially with some customer service issues, before I can enjoy visiting this zoo again.
Written 31 December 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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