Sofia Zoo in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, was founded by royal decree on 1 May 1888, and is the oldest and largest zoological garden in southeastern Europe. It covers 36 hectares (89 acres) and, in March 2006, housed 4,850 animals representing 840 species.
Initially, the zoo was located in the park of the former royal palace, with the primary attraction being a Eurasian black vulture caught in Bulgaria and exhibited in a cage in the garden. Later, pheasants and deer were added to the collection, but since the exhibits and facilities of the time proved inadequate to accommodate a pair of brown bears, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria ordered a grant of land to be awarded to Sofia Zoo on the grounds of the former botanical garden, then in the outskirts of the city.
Monday | 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM |
Tuesday | 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM |
Wednesday | 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM |
Thursday | 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM |
Friday | 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM |
Saturday | 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM |
Sunday | 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM |
Boris Simeonov | Jan 21, 2018
The Sofia zoo has an impressive amount of specimens. You can easily loose over 2 hours here looking at all the different exhibits. There are many places to sit down and rest, many restaurants to grab some food. The zoo has parking and also has good bus options. The best time is if you can catch when the animal are being fed. Otherwise they might be sleeping. Enclosures are pretty big.
Michael Hendricks | Jan 11, 2018
I've been to a dozen modern zoos in the US. The Sofia zoo is better than most of them. At this zoo, you can see the animals up close instead of having them hide in a remote corner of the enclosure. Except for one jackal that had an injury on its back, the animals appeared healthy and cared for. The restrooms were clean too. My kids loved this zoo and its diversity of animals. I withheld the fifth star because the smell in the aquarium house was quite strong. Most zoos manage to keep that under control better.
F. Denis | Feb 21, 2018
Pretty zoo for only 4 leva the entry, some animals arz looking sad especially the tiger and lions in their cage. But I had a very nice afternoon there
Claudia Gio | Feb 3, 2018
Everytime I go there I start cring. The conditions that this animals are living in are absolutly discusting and unhumain! I hope that this will change in the near future, because that's horrible!
Craig Smith | Sep 11, 2017
Absolutely horrendous. Was so upset of the condition of the animals. Who can Iwrite to about this? It was cruel and inhumane. Filthy and the animals would be better off dead. Please someone do something about it. Is this Europe? No photos as I was too upset to take any and even visit all the animals.
Rositsa | Apr 5, 2018
-1 star because some of the animals could live in better conditions I think. Other than that, it is a great place to spend time with the children. Restrooms have a diaper change room. There is ice cream, burgers, popcorn, but not much choice of healthy food other than maybe a salad. The zone where tigers and lions are kept is renovated, it is great to see there are improvements.
Mina G | Mar 20, 2018
This is a desirable destination to take the kids or visit with friends. A lovely walk, nice playground and some coffee stalls. And of course the animals. Most interesting is the predators section and reptiles
John Fru Jones | Mar 28, 2018
I`d normally give this zoo 3 stars because some parts of it, like the entrance area, desperately need refreshing, but it`s soo cheap it deserves one more. :) And I see they`ve been renovating it, which is exactly what the zoo needs - a welcoming (not depressing) atmosphere and better conditions for the animals. It`s good for kids, especially in the newer areas, like near the birds. And there are playgrounds too! Unfortunately, bikes and scooters aren`t allowed.
Ralitsa Zaharieva | May 1, 2018
Waited on a queue to enter the zoo for the first time in my life, which gave me a spark of hope that it will be different after the renovation. Alas! Same old concrete, same old smell, same old poor poor animals... Just some awkward renovated cages, renovated public WC /didn't dare to check and use it to be honest/, few more new food&drinks stations. That was it. If you love animals and feel emotional better stay away from there. Or check it yourself and never come back.
Dimitr Bozkov | May 7, 2018
a large zoo on the outskirts of the city. parking terrible, toilets. I understand that you do not have much money, but this is not a good zoo. You can increase your admission. Rats walk at monkeys !!!!!
Odhran Roche | May 8, 2018
I had a really nice day here. It's very big, I expected to spend an hour there but it took more than two hours to see everything. They have a really broad range of animals, I've been to a few zoos and I was impressed by the variety. I also liked that they have domestic animals like mice, hamsters and gerbils. Some of the facilities need to be improved and I saw some lions that were either sick or very old but otherwise the animals were healthy. One odd thing was that I couldn't find the giftshop. Usually in zoos all roads lead to the giftshop and I wanted to buy something to support the zoo, but I couldn't find it. Entry cost was very low at 4 leva (2 euro) for one adult. If the facilities were better this would be a 5* attraction without a doubt.
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