I’ve always been a kid at heart, and I still love a lot of the things I did when I was young. This past weekend, I went to visit the San Diego Zoo, which I’ve been wanting to visit ever since I moved to California. Fun fact: the San Diego Zoo is located in the Balboa Park area of San Diego and is voted by TripAdvisor as the #1 zoo in the world!
Seriously guys, the zoo is huge – it took us all day to get through everything – and they’re currently building another new area! They have everything from snow leopards to polar bears, pandas, jaguars, giraffes and more. They even have the most adorable little koalas!
If you want to do it all in one day, it’s definitely possible with the right planning. We were able to see all the animals, and still had time to fit in a little shopping at the end (my favorite, of course)!
Top 5 Tips For Visiting the San Diego Zoo
- Wear comfy shoes – and I mean comfy! There is a ton of walking to do (unless you take the Kangaroo Bus) so be sure to dress comfortably and take care of your feet. I’ll admit, my feet started hurting towards the end of the day, but I was happy that we walked instead of taking the bus – it let us linger longer at certain exhibits, and allowed us to see the animals up-close!
- Bring water and food. As you can imagine, beverages and food are a bit expensive inside the zoo. The food is decent, but if you’re on a budget, I would suggest bringing your own lunch and snacks. The one thing we definitely needed was more water! I only brought two water bottles and I definitely wish we had brought more.
- Get a map. Make sure you get a map as soon as you enter the zoo, even if you’re one who likes getting lost. The zoo is a bit of a maze and the map definitely helped us stay on track so that we could see all of the animals!
- Take the Skyfari. These hanging gondolas are so fun and are wonderful when you want to give your feet a little break! (Obviously my feet were hurting a ton..) The Skyfari takes you for a breezy view over the entire park – I suggest grabbing a quick snack to bring with you before hopping on the ride! We ended our day with this, which was perfect for relaxing and taking in beautiful views of the zoo, Balboa Park and glimpses of downtown San Diego.
- Get there early. As I said before, the San Diego Zoo is huge, so be sure to get there early if you want to see everything! (P.S. parking is free, #winning) The animals had just been fed when we got to the zoo, so we enjoyed watching them eat and run around in the earlier parts of the morning, whereas in the afternoon, most of them were napping (of course), so plan accordingly.
Most of all, take your time, and enjoy! The San Diego Zoo is a beautiful place; I can’t wait to go back and see all the cute little animals again!
xx.
