San Francisco Zoo

I have been going to this zoo for over a decade. I love this zoo.Great zoo with tons of animals to see.Well kept tropical gardens. Since the zoo is located next to the ocean, the zoo rarely smells.Entrance fee is high. $31/ adult and $13 for parking.Sad to hear that the silverback gorilla died. Wish they can mention that on sf zoo homepage.I do miss the friendly hippo (now at another zoo), bald eagle , and peacocks roaming freely within the zoo.Excited to see the panda soon. Hope sf zoo can post timeline of when the panda is expected on SF zoo website?*I read some negative comments about animals at the zoos "sleeping too much" or "sheltering inside and are unavailable". I mean...what do these people expect from these animals at the zoo? (Eye roll) yes, weather, time of day that you visit , and their mood does affect what you see at the zoo. That is part of the zoo experience : ).

This is my happy place! I absolutely love this zoo and believe the animals are treated very well. I enjoy seeing so many changes being made, with revamped enclosures and inclusion of stimulating activities for the animals. I also enjoy reading about each animal and hearing their stories. Enclosures as well as the entire zoo is very clean. Staff is very friendly and knowledgable and it is clear that they have a passion for what they are doing. Parking is available in their spacious lot for a base rate, with it a little higher on weekends. (I paid $13 on a Sunday). There is free parking outside of the gates, however I regularly see cars that are broken into, so park at your own risk. I prefer in the lot where there's security monitoring. There are a few food options, the main one being in the cafe. They also offer hot drinks for those cold SF days as well as beer/seltzers for adults. It is on the pricey side so we often bring in a lunch and eat at the tables or in their open field, next to the garden, picnic style.

We love coming to the San Francisco zoo, especially when they have the most amazing resident free days! The zoo staff is always so friendly and informative about the animals, the habitats and the enclosures at the zoo. There are plenty of places to grab a quick bite or if you want a more hard lunch, there is the leaping lemur café, which has hamburgers, chicken tenders and assorted deli/ hot ready style foods.There's also a large playground which my kiddo loves to enjoy after seeing all the animals.The summer school zoo is relatively large and there are quite a few animals to see, but there does feel like to be a lot of dead space between the main attractions.Our favorite thing to do is the Savanahh Trail where we see the giraffes, zebras and gorillas!! This is such a fun and friendly zoo. I'm so glad it's located on the outskirts of San Francisco near Ocean Beach. Parking is approximately $11 in the lot or you can try your luck and park in the neighborhood near Sloat!

I had a great time. The animals look well maintained, maybe a little bored or sad. The staff were friendly. The price was ok.

I love a good zoo! The ecological work that they do is often unseen and unappreciated, as the zoo itself is not really the showpiece of this effort. My bar for zoo standards has been set really high, since as a kid, I often lived close to the San Diego Zoo. I did visit this zoo years ago, and appreciate their efforts. On my visit pre-Pandemic, I appreciated the work that they were doing on the habitat, which incorporated building a baobab tree--five years later, and they are still working on that tree.This time we were visiting off-season, but I did not see any price drop for the visit. We did get a discount, but it was still $48.00 for two people. However, parking was reduced to $9.00 and there were plenty of spaces.We wandered around after photographing the map to find our way. I wanted to see the wolverines, who were all the way across the park, so it was a scenic walking tour. On the way, we passed the train tunnel for the "Little Puffer." By the time we got to the wolverines, the "Little Puffer" was whizzing along beside the enclosures, spouting steam and sounding its bell! We had eaten a delicious sando from George's Deli called the "Little Puffer," before coming into the zoo, but I didn't know what that name meant until I spied the Little Puffer in action, pulling a bunch of open cars loaded with kids!Since it was winter, most of the large animals were sleeping or semi-hibernating, but we did get to see the Wolverines, a peaceful camel, and a gigantic rhino that looked like a tank! The penguin pool is always fun, since they are such playful birds, and obviously love the water so much.We rounded the bend and came upon the tiny train station. People were boarding and it only cost $7.00 to ride! Excited kids were dragging their parents onto the seats, as we settled in! Moments later the whistle blew and we were off on a fun ride twice around the zoo!

Lots of the attractions were closed due to renovations. While it is still nicer than the Sacramento Zoo, it's worth the drive to go to San Diego's as theirs has way more animals and exhibits to see.

It was ok. Oakland Zoo is better... This place is on the beach, so it was a little cold and most of the animals were hiding or sleeping. Large place, however. More restrooms and food options would've been nice. $7 for a water. Bring your own! And bring lots of quarters and pennys for the souvenirs. Worth visiting, but don't have high expectations.

Lived in Bay Area my whole life and this was my first visit.Had mix reviews from friends and I seen both sides.There was a lot of empty areas, looked like old movie sets. Many spots around the park looked run down and definitely needed some attention for improvement.Even though locations that did have animals look like they could've been kept up a lot better. The train tracks are rusted over so the train has not been working in sometime. There were only two spots to find beverages or something to eat. If you go for the animals that are there, still awesome to see.Be ready to walk, have good shoes. Bring a coat, it is right near the ocean and the breeze from it.Most important was my daughter had a great time. Loved seeing the animals.Will we go back, I feel we need to, help support what was an amazing park.

Despite many people stating that the zoo was better before, I still found the SF Zoo to be a worthy visit. Since we went during a holiday, tickets were $31 instead of $28 for a weekday. There was an additional $1 processing fee per ticket. Given we went near opening, there was still space in the parking lot. Upon leaving, we paid $13 for parking. Although there were hoards of people at the entrance, check in was fast and easy. The map out front was relatively accurate with the exception of a few closed enclosures. However, the list of daily shows and activities were completely off. There appeared to be a shortage of employees as we stumbled upon only a handful of people. There weren't people holding the expected shows nor manning the doors for the aviaries. While I enjoyed how close we got to the animals, it was easy to break rules as there wasn't any reinforcement. Otherwise, every exhibit and enclosure appeared to be quite spacious. Most of the animals were happily munching on their breakfast in the morning. The lemur collection was by far the most extensive and lively at opening. The penguins were similarly active and many swam towards the visitors. The reptiles weren't as plentiful but were well maintained. The glass was very clear so they were visible despite the humidity. Although the birds weren't numerous, the aviary exposed us to more uncommon species. While I'm used to being enclosed with smaller birds, I was surprised to see large birds walking and flying around. We took 3.5 hours to thoroughly go through all the exhibits. While I think parking should be included with admission, I otherwise was satisfied with the animals and their maintenance. There were a handful of closed enclosures but there were still plenty of fun animals to see. Just don't wait for any of their shows cause the schedule wasn't accurate.

What a wonderful day at the San Francisco Zoo!!I went with some friends and had an amazing time. I shared lots of the photos I took.We were first told by the employee at the front window, that they do not provide paper maps any longer. My friend was pretty upset, because as he said, what if you don't have a cell phone or access to a QR code? A very nice employee named Susan, came out to us and brought us a paper map. She said a lot of times the children will lose them or throw them on the ground. Therefore, they don't give them out any longer. My friends and I were so grateful that she came out to give us one.I was a little disappointed that the map didn't have a way to find out where the sloths were. There was no alphabetized key to look, and they were not labeled on the map at all. Several of the exhibits were closed, due to construction (to improve the zoo). We asked a few different employees where we could find the sloths and we received different answers each time.Finally, we found them inside a building at the end of the trail. They unfortunately were curled up on a branch at the very top of their habitat. So, I couldn't get the photo I had hoped to take. :(All in all, it was a fabulous day! There were a lot of photo opportunities, which was my main focus.