Rotterdam Zoo With Kids
This morning we headed out to check out the Rotterdam Zoo. Although we can drive there, and probably will in the future, today we biked to the Delft train station and took the #40 bus (the local bus organization is called: RET). The bus takes about 30min and drops you off less than a block from the new main entrance to the zoo. (Parking is normally €8 but with a season pass it drops to €5.) You can rent a cute little zoo stroller for €2.5, but beware, the stroller is only a one-seater. We opted for a carrier and had H walk. When I drive I will bring our two-place stroller with us. As a note, the Rotterdam Zoo is actually closer to our house than the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was to our home in Colorado!
The Rotterdam Zoo is hands-down one of the best zoos I have been to. The animals are close and offered from multiple views. There is so much to see here we were not able to do and see it all in our morning visit. (That’s why we got season passes!)
Most of the enclosures have indoor viewing areas or are completely indoors, which makes this an acceptable outing for a rainy day. This is basically most days in the Netherlands!
The zoo is FULL of baby animals. It has been a year of births for the zoo. We were able to watch two baby gorillas with their moms. One cheerfully playing, venturing just a bit away from mom and the other feeding in the corner. A baby elephant found himself stuck trying to run up the side of a sand pit. We did not see the polar bear babies but that is at the top of the list for our next visit. Oh, and two new giraffes are on the way too.
There is an indoor playground, which seems to be a thing most places have here. The playground is quite advanced and was not at all suitable for little O and barely manageable by H. Kids slightly older though were enjoying what in the U.S. would pass for a low ropes course.
The zoo is quite large. We worked our way from the main entrance to the city side entrance and hit a few little things on the way back. There is a “train” that runs between the entrances. (It has covered cars pulled by a golf cart.)
We sampled two of the restaurants available at the zoo. We stopped in for coffee and cake around ten and then for a full lunch around noon. At lunch we all split two soups with bread and a chicken satay plate with fries and pickled vegetables. The lines were long, so I would advise going to lunch a bit before or a bit after noon. After lunch, we made the mistake of walking past the indoor playground. This was a mistake because we cannot walk past a playground without stopping for H to play.
There are also a ton of activities each day (feedings, presentations and special tours), none of which we participated in on our first visit. I promise to update you though if I find something amazing.
The Rotterdam Zoo is certainly worth a visit and we cannot wait to go back!
