The elephant house
Ornamented domes and coloured Zsolnay tile — a building more mosque than menagerie, and among the finest zoo architecture anywhere.
Martin Belam (currybet) from Niederalm, Austria — CC BY-SA 2.0 · August Dominus — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Szilas — CC BY 4.0 · Szilas — CC BY 4.0
Three hours minimum, four with stops at feeding shows and play areas. Come at opening: the animals are more active in the morning and the zoo is calmer before the school groups arrive.
Yes, and it is the ideal order: the zoo in the morning with children, lunch and a picnic in the Városliget, then the baths in the late afternoon. They are three minutes apart on foot.
Yes: cheaper than Vienna or Prague and larger than visitors expect, and its historic architecture adds a dimension modern zoos lack. For families with children under ten it is among the best days in Budapest.
Kiosks and restaurants with limited choice at relatively high prices. With family it is better to bring a snack — the surrounding Városliget is full of places to sit and picnic.
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Budapest Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in the world: it opened in 1866, seven years before Buda and Pest merged into a single city. It sits inside the Városliget park, minutes on foot from the Széchenyi Baths and Heroes' Square — which makes it in practice part of a full day rather than a separate excursion. What sets it apart from other zoos is its architecture. Its early 20th-century buildings are significant works in their own right: the elephant house, with ornamented domes and coloured Zsolnay tiling, looks more like a mosque than an animal enclosure, and the main gate with its stone elephants and columns is among Budapest's best-known frontages. They were designed by Károly Kós and other architects of the Hungarian national movement, and have been restored in recent decades. The collection is broad: elephants, rhinos, African species, a glasshouse tropical hall, an aquarium and a polar section. The "botanical" in the name is genuine — the zoo is registered as a botanical garden too, with rare mature trees. Allow at least three hours, and come early with children. Facilities are clean, paths are level and stroller-friendly, and family tickets save a good deal.
Ornamented domes and coloured Zsolnay tile — a building more mosque than menagerie, and among the finest zoo architecture anywhere.
Stone elephants, columns and early 20th-century ornament — a famous frontage photographed even by people who do not go in.
A warm glasshouse of plants, birds and reptiles — an excellent refuge on a cold or wet day.
The zoo is registered as a botanical garden too, with rare specimens over a century old — a detail everyone misses.
Állatkerti körút 6-12, Városliget, Pest 1146