The North of England Zoological Society

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

Hajveri Trading Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

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.

Liam Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

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

Carl Nattrass Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

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.

Christine Charlton Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

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.

Mark Russell Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

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

Dawn Garwell Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

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.

Emily Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

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.

Dan Kelly Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

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.

AJ Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot

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".

Nyela Donor · Mar 26, 2026 Trustpilot