Edinburgh Zoo Tours and Activities

Edinburgh Zoo is the biggest wildlife facility in the city, at 33 hectares in size. Begin your visit on the Budongo Trail, an enormous chimpanzee enclosure. These highly intelligent apes run, climb, jump and play in their new environment, which is a combination of open-air space and a number of indoor rooms. Chimps are the closest primates to humans, and you can learn more about the likenesses and differences between the two species with some top-quality interactive computer games and fabricated skeletons.Next up, go and visit two of the stars of the zoo: Tian Tian and Yang Guang. These two pandas are hugely popular, regularly drawing big crowds. Entry to this area is free of charge, but you will have to book ahead of your visit. Tours visit these wonderful endangered creatures every ten minutes.Other protected species can be found in the Aviary, such as the Bali starling, which is extremely rare. The closest surviving relative of the dodo, the Nicobar pigeon, also lives here. A lecture is given to the visiting public on Edinburgh Zoo's birds every afternoon.Jump aboard the Hilltop Safari at the duck pond, and check out the baboons, antelope and the fearsome big cats. Your driver will provide commentary and information on all of the enclosures you pass during the course of your journey.A large collection of plants cultivated for their medicinal properties are grown in the Physics Garden, with some even grown in the shape of different parts of the human body!Away from the zoo, you can check out the pandas and squirrel monkeys, or watch the penguins dive on the live zoo-cams on the zoo's website. This allows you to catch a glimpse of what to expect before your visit, or look back on your trip after you go home. There's also a bird-box camera, which operates over a few months of the year.Open every day, Edinburgh Zoo keeps different hours depending on the time of the year. Check the website before you visit. The zoo is situated on the side of a hill, so make sure to wear appropriate shoes. It's a 4.8-kilometre trip from central Edinburgh, and there are four separate Lothian Bus routes which stop directly outside.