I already posted about visiting the pandas at ZooParc de Beauval back in March 2022 (where did the time go, I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since this trip!), I’m now finally getting around to posting about the rest of the zoo. It is a huge site with so many different animals to see – and I took so many photos it was hard to narrow them all down. Because of the size, this is definitely not a 1-day type of place – with the distance it was for me to get there, we stayed on-property in one of the Zoo’s hotels for 3 nights, so we ended up with 2 full days and 2-3 hours in the afternoon that we arrived. This was a good amount of time to see everything on a first visit, but could easily go back for that same length of time again. Going in March was pretty good because the Zoo was never particularly busy, or because of the large size, people were generally very spread out so you could always get a good view of all the animals. The Zoo is conveniently split into 3 areas, it’s very possible to walk all the way across the zoo, however they have installed a very convenient telecabine which you can take between the north entrance by the lions in the Zone Nord all the way over to the opposite site of the zoo in Zone Sud by the elephants – this had shorter operation times than the opening of the zoo, so getting there at opening time means a walk all the way over to Zone Sud to get to the pandas, and if you miss the last one back, a walk all the way back at the end of the day. Some of the cabins even had a glass floor so you could really see everything all around, I’m not sure I liked this so much seeing the ground go past beneath me! This was a great way to get a good view of the whole zoo plus you were directly over some of the animals. The Zoo also has plenty of play areas for kids, and plenty of restaurants and food/drink kiosks – which ones are open just depend on the time of year, so on our visit most of the small kiosks were closed.
Zone Nord
The North zone of the zoo features on of the entrances, on our visit this was the only open entrance and it’s a pretty big plaza so was never too busy. From here you can either go straight into the dome or head around the outside directly into the parc. The dome is just spectacular, for one it’s huge but it features so many animals – I particularly liked seeing the manatees, pygmy hippos and giant otters in their underwater viewing areas. In here was also a cafe and restaurant plus a gift shop. On our first full day, we saved the dome for the end of the day, opting to go to the parc first in the morning, stopping by the kudus and bongos, then going to the other areas and at the end of the day coming back to enter the hippopotamus area – this has a net covering because there are also many birds calling the hippo enclosure their home – and see the African wild dogs and lions before heading in to the dome. On our second full day we decided to do the dome first and also took this time to go to the gift shop while it was quiet (we were the only customers). Because we were technically there during the Winter season, the Les Maîtres Des Airs wasn’t showing yet so we didn’t see this but from videos it looks amazing. And at the time of our visit the new expansion to this area wasn’t yet open, so now you can also see there some more birds, small primates, flamingos, anteaters (this I would have loved to have seen!) and the coati’s have moved here from the Zone Centrale where they were on our visit.
Zone Centrale
The Zone Centrale is the middle-zone of the zoo and where the South entrance is located along with two more shops – this area was having some renovation work done on our visit so the entrance, shops and some of the nearby animals were all closed/off show on our visit, I was a little disappointed not to be able to go to the panda-specific shop or be able to see the capybaras, but that can be for next time! From the Zone Nord into this Zone, the first thing you see are the sea lions – again there is a sea lion show, but this isn’t on during the Winter. However the trainers were doing some preparations for the upcoming season, so the sea lions were out and doing work with the trainers during our visit. In this area there were a huge range of animals to see – I was super happy to see the racoons as I think this may have been the first time I had seen them in a zoo, and the otters, coatis and small penguins were cute too. All of the cat species were in this area, and there were so many to see, I really liked seeing the jaguars as it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any, and I think this was also the first time I had seen pumas as well. The African savannah area was also here which is a mixed species savannah area, however on our visit the animals were all kept separate with the giraffes (a large herd and even a pretty new born baby one, so adorable!) inside. There was some work going on at the viewing area, so we think this is why. There was also a fennec fox which was super cute, and again, this was the first time I had seen one in person. The last animals to see on our way over to the Zone Sud were the primates – there were gorillas, orangutangs and chimpanzees with quite impressive troop sizes. We went to one of the gorilla talks/feeding sessions and it was great to see the whole troop outside and interacting with each other – and only a few scuffles over a piece of food! The indoor areas for these animals was also very nice.
Zone Sud
The Zone Sud is the final area of the zoo, and is the area where I spent most time because this is where the giant pandas are located in the Chinese area. But before getting to the pandas, whether coming via the telecabines or whether walking from the Zone Centrale, the elephants are the first animals to come across. There were a couple of separate enclosures and it looked like a male was being kept separate from females when we were there – these spaces were huge with one enclosure being up a hillside which was very nice. From here we took the path by the farm area, where there were goats, ponies and some very fluffy bunnies – this was the main route from the telecabine station up to the pandas. From this walkway there was also a good viewpoint over the snow leopard enclosure. This was a lovely space and I got such a good view of the snow leopards, they even were coming right up to the glass at the front of the enclosure. The furthest corner of the zoo was definitely the quietest, here we passed the camels, arctic wolves and brown bears – the wolves and bears had very lovely spaces, the bears were especially great to watch and were enjoying playing with some fire-hose enrichment items and in the lake. We never really saw many people out at these viewing platforms. The panda area also has, of course, red pandas, which were always very active and entertaining. There was also an Asiatic plains area, but I didn’t get very many good photos of this – here there were Malaysian tapirs and Indian rhinos. But the area also had fishing cats, which I did manage to spot in their very well-foliage-covered home. And the final area to mention is the Australian part, this was a very nice indoor space with both tree kangaroos (another first for me) and so many koalas which were incredibly adorable all sitting in their trees.
Your Visit
Getting to Zooparc de Beauval
ZooParc de Beauval is in the Loir-et-Cher region of France, a few hours south of Paris. We relied on public transport to get there – we flew into Paris CDG and took a train from there to Tours, then switched onto a local train to get to St Aignan-Noyers sur Cher. We got in touch with the hotel before our stay so they could help us book a taxi from there to the hotel, which was around a 10 minute drive (past the entrance to the Zoo). During the main season, there is a shuttle bus available from Blois and possibly also St Aignan-Noyers sur Cher train stations. I would definitely consider this as an option if you’re without a car (which would be the easiest way to travel to the Zoo).
Where to stay
ZooParc de Beauval has 5 hotels as of 2023 – which gives plenty of choice at a range of distances from the zoo and at a range of price points. We stayed at Les Pagodes de Beauval, the Chinese themed hotel. This is an approximate 7-min walk from the zoo and is directly opposite Le Jardins de Beauval (Indonesian themed) – these are the only hotels with a recommended walk to the zoo. The walk was easy and signposted, the only thing was on our visit the south entrance of the zoo was closed, so we had to first walk there, then take the directions to the north entrance, making the walk more like 15-20 minutes (and uphill on the way to the zoo). Luckily it was always nice weather and we did the walk in daylight, so had no issues. The hotel was nice and the room was large – I booked a twin room with the balcony as there was a Winter-deal on for my travel dates in March 2022. The room was at the back of the hotel with a beautiful view over the gardens and local countryside. The sunrises in the mornings were just beautiful.
We had all our breakfasts and dinners in the hotel restaurant, which was spacious and never too busy (although we were there in the Winter season; there were 2 time slots to book dinner). There was plenty of choice at both meals, although the food was the same everyday which may not suit some visitors. The best part were the desserts – so much choice and all delicious, I was glad we had three nights so I could enjoy almost everything!
