I would recommend going in the morning. Because it was hot in the afternoon, we didn't see many animals.

What a beautiful day out!
Took the class on a day out to the zoo and had a genuinely really pleasant time. We started at the dinosaur trail, and these are always a classic - but this one was special. The dinosaurs were animatronic and moved/spashed water and hid in the bushes. Really quite interactive and plenty of designated places to take some photos. I’d say this trail is wheelchair/buggy accessible too!

There were plenty of restrooms dotted around. Almost all exhibits had a bathroom nearby, which was fantastic. There was also one smoking shelter by the flower archway/giftshop which was hidden nicely and had a bench and two bins.

The enclosures were a pretty dignified size for the larger animals, like the sunbear and the lions - which was wonderful for them, but it did mean we didn’t see too much of them (to be expected). However, all of the larger animal enclosures had viewing points that were accessed by stairs and meant you could try and scout out the sleeping lions from a birds eye view! (the capybaras, snow leopard, penguins, lions, sunbear, tiger all had view points). The indoor enclosures were quite a short walkthrough in a humid space but it was a good laugh. The armadillo was.. the fastest animal in the room by far.

They had two ‘walkthrough’ experiences which was really fun. You could walk through a push gate entrance to see the goats upclose, and they provide hand sanitiser and a hand washing station at the exit too! You can also walk through a push gate entrance to walk beside the Emus and Wallabys! Although, I do recommend being cautious around the Emus as they had an attitude. (I understand…)

As for the food? Incredible. I counted 3 total large canopy seated areas, entirely shaded and plenty of benches to eat packed lunch or food purchased from the stalls or restraunt. The restaurant was reasonably priced (£9 for a burger and fries - student said ‘five guys would charge double and they taste the same) so I think that was a compliment, because the food was packaged well and looked great! The chips were skin on fries and cost £4 and oh my! The portion was phenominal we shared between three people.. and I love chips. There was also another restaurant by the sunbear, and I can’t comment on the food as we did not buy any but the staff filled our water bottles which was nice! (bottle of coke was £3.50). They also filled our water bottles at the main restaurant too!

All in all, we had a good time. The gift shops had a great selection in both, just note that they do not take cash in the zoo and it’s hard to get signal - so transfer any money over beforehand! Great day - great memories. 🤍🎀

Great day out with our Granchildren, loads to do.
Kids aged 4, 7 and 10 they all had liads of fun

Very simple, but well organized!

Really great place to travel with! People are great there esp Simon who was our first aid. Very friendly and positive person!

Wow, what an amazing zoo. My whole family had a fabulous time. There's so many animals to see and activities for the whole family. Diffently recommend.

Nice but small, and some animals were nowhere to be seen. It is also super expensive for food and souvenirs.

Amazing first time experience better than London Zoo had great fun with the boys

Absolutely brilliant place with lots to do

Hertfordshire Zoo is a fabulous place to visit. The staff and keepers are incredibly nice, friendly and helpful. Also, all the animals are extremely well looked after with huge, well maintained enclosures with a big emphasis throughout the zoo on conservation. There are regular zoo talks throughout the day so you can learn more about each animal and there are also amazing experiences. I loved it so much that I became a member! Not to mention that Peter Sampson, Lynn Whitnall and their entire family are absolutely lovely, friendly people. There is something very special about Hertfordshire Zoo.

Beautiful

Fantastic place. All facilities on-site, very well maintained and beautifully built. Second time coming here, and I can say we’ll return again! Can’t describe in words how beautiful this place is for kids. Plenty of playgrounds, you’ll spend most of your day here as there are just sooo many spots you can’t miss for your little ones to play! Keep up the good work everyone🙏🏼❤️

We went a week ago with our 4 year old son and in general we really enjoyed visiting this zoo, though the animatronic dinosaurs were a bit too realistic for our son and we had to quickly move back to the animals! I see some people complaining that the enclosures aren't big enough but I thought they looked pretty reasonable in size and well landscaped (I have seen cramped and old fashioned enclosures in other parts of the world - so think I have a broad view on this). The only thing I would complain about is the coffee from the cafe - probably the worst and most disgusting supposedly freshly ground coffee I have had the displeasure of tasting! It was so bad I took back the first round and asked them to use a different machine... and it all tasted the same. Like old rank filtered coffee left out in the rain. But don't let that put you off - just avoid the coffee!

Amazing zoo 👍🏽
The dinosaur part was very gd felt very realistic ( my daughter did not enjoy the dinosaur part ) .

The food was okay , very clean zoo and my daughter loved seeing the animals more .

This is our favourite zoo after our first time visiting today. The zoo is spotless in all general areas I.e toilets but the animal enclosures are also absolutely beautifully clean, the water is all clear too with no floating debris! The enclosures are spacious and look fulfilling for the animals with plenty for them to do. The high viewing walkways are absolutely amazing, we got there at opening time and still felt like we could stay longer and we didn’t leave until the end of the day. All the keeper talks are very engaging and the keepers themselves are very knowledgeable and approachable and happy to answer any questions. The food was all very reasonably priced and the staff were all very friendly. We had a beautiful day and got to see lots of majestic animals with glossy shiny coats. Would highly recommend!

We visited this week, took a day off of work and took my 3 year old Niece who loves Dinosaurs, we were travelling nearly 2 hours so decided to purchase lunch whilst there to save it sitting in the car and having to drag it around with us, definitely the right choice to go mid week, it wasn't busy at all and you could spend time looking at the animals without feeling you had to move to let someone else look. We had already decided that we would do the dinosaurs first, then have a doughnut whilst we waited for the train, here was our first disappointment, the doughnut shack was shut, as was the loaded fries place next to it. We thought maybe just because it was quite so we went to the other side of the zoo to check out the Bamboo kitchen, it was also shut, as was the Restaurant Pangea, tumble jungle food, Dino Bites and the ice cream cottage, Luckily we had brought a couple of small snacks for the child but we were really hungry by this point and had spent over an hour going round the zoo trying to find somewhere to eat. We finally found the sun bear cafe which is located up on the platform that runs around the top of the bears, this was limited to toasted sandwiches' and croissants, not great for gluten intolerances but i had no choice, it was give myself stomach ache for the rest of the day or be hungry. Our toasted sandwiches' were only toasted on one side and really left a lot to be desired. on the way out we found that the gift shop sold ice-creams so were able to spend £3.50 on a magnum for the niece. Yes £3.50!! I checked the website to make sure i hadn't missed anything in 'things i need to know' and it clearly stated "All of our food is freshly made on site each day". A nice zoo, not too big, a fair bit to see but not being able to get anything to eat really, really let it down. We wont be making the 4 hour round trip again.

Value of money. Good place to go with family.

Hertfordshire zoo (used to be Paradise Park) is a smaller zoo but has lots of animals to see and they're constantly growing and developing new exhibits. I joined as a member (one for annual payment) so can go for the day or just a few hours. There's talks every half an hour throughout the day where you can hear keepers talking about their animals, sometimes see them fed, or see them more active. This zoo is definitely worth a visit and the talks/signs around can inform you on the need for conservation and which charities they partner with.

Cafés/food is limited and the gift shop is very generic so a packed lunch can be a good option, there's an outdoor seating area near the Gibbons, benches in areas of the park, indoor bench by the tiger or tiered outdoor seating at the world of birds.

P.S. I highly recommend attending the 1pm bird show in 'world of birds' as you get to see several of their birds flying and showing you some of their natural behaviours which are quite something!

Amazing place for youngsters

Nice variety of animals easily accessible grand children enjoyed the play facilities

Great zoo, bigger than I thought. Great day out.

Very good day out. Great little zoo.

Excellent if small zoo. They appear to have mainly gone for animals that do not need to roam as they do not have the vast spaces Whipsnade has.
Do not ignore the dinosaurs over the road from the animals, they were epic!

Love this place- taken the kids several times and they love it more each time. The new lion & bear areas were fab. Clean & tidy and well run with friendly helpful staff everywhere.

We booked to visit the zoo as we had got tickets to the Warner brother studios and booked a hotel, realising this was near by it was a must for us. Firstly our children love one zoo three so seeing where it was filmed was a yes from them. We arrived first thing and had no issues with parking, we had pre paid for tickets online and it was easy to scan in. We explored the dinosaur area first and then enjoyed the talks around the zoo which were all very informative and a great way to teach our children even more about the animals they were seeing. On the day we had booked it was later announced that Aaron, Tyler and Cam would be three so that made our children even more excited to meet them in person. We did wait in line for almost two hours but the kids played and ate during this time and I must say it was worth it. They were so lovely and friendly answering the kids question.
The zoo is beautiful, the layout, the displays of plants around and the enclousures all are well looked after and to high quality and the keepers and staff were all amazing. There was a good range of food and drinks around that were reasonably priced and there is a little gift shop which had nice items in. If we were closer I would for sure buy membership for the year, however two and a half hours is a bit far each way for us! We look forward to returning in the future and continue to follow the zoos excellent work on social media and one zoo three is a very loved and watched program still! Also to be noted that it’s a great price for a day out and offers a great playground as well as a splash area as well. Fab day - don’t hesitate to go and watch the bird show and time the talks so you can benefit from the fab knowledge! The summer evenings on offer atm look fab! Again if only we were closer!