Had a great Autumnal weekend in Vienna and had plenty of time to see the whole of Schöbrunn Zoo across the two days. It was a very popular spot with many tourists visiting, in fact for sure this is the zoo that I’ve seen the most tourists in. Had great weather which meant almost all the animals were outside – makes for a good visit. It’s a large zoo so I definitely would have struggled to see everything in one day as well as dedicating a solid amount of time to the pandas, I think two days was pretty perfect!

I stayed right across the road from one of the entrances to the park, so on both days I entered via the Hietzing entrance which was right by the pandas, so I started my trips around the zoo to see the other animals from there. Now despite having visited before, I really only remembered a few things about the zoo – those were the polar bear home, the wolf hillside and the rocky cliffside where the I think the takins and deer now live – which is very little compared to the whole zoo! A few new things have opened, like the giraffe house and I really liked that space a lot, a nice mix of new and the traditional space and I think it works really well for the zoo.

I got very lucky in the time that I visited because there were so many animals with babies/young ones! There was a little giraffe, a baby orangutan hanging on mum’s back, grey fuzzy flamingos, the most adorable trio of fluffy baby cheetahs which I was so lucky to have a great view of, my first time seeing baby capybaras, an adorable little baby sea lion, a giant baby king penguin and the sweetest little baby elephant which I think was also my first time seeing a baby elephant! Honestly what success they have had! So in addition to the pandas, all the babies were of course a highlight to my visit^

I bought an annual pass for my visit, this was easy to do at the ticket desk when I arrived, I just handed over my passport and paid! It’s a paper ticket in a plastic wallet and your name is printed on the back with the barcode and details. For an adult I paid €65 (the price this year has increased to 69, but I still think that’s great value), with a day ticket costing €29 I think it’s a really good deal. I visited on 2 days on this trip, so of course, the perfect excuse for another visit! I was there on a Friday and Saturday, the main restaurants and food spots were open on both days, so I picked up a pizza for my lunch, while there were some additional snack/coffee stands also open on the Saturday and I got some fresh fries seeing as they were right next to the pandas! I was there in October so I would assume everywhere would be open during peak season. There weren’t many places to eat inside, unless I was really blind and missed them, so be prepared for being outside. There are also 2 gift shops, a small one in the middle of the zoo, this just had a few key souvenirs but I managed to pick up my Yang Yang magnet here, and a larger one at the exit.

The zoo is located at Schönbrunn which is just outside the main city centre but is very easy to reach on the metro or tram. On this visit I stayed at the Austria Trend Parkhotel Schönbrunn which is right at one of the entrances to the park so it was only a 5 minute walk from the hotel to the zoo entrance, really perfect for me! It was a nice hotel in a good location with some restaurants and supermarkets nearby, plus easy access to the metro, so ticked all the boxes and I would recommend it.