Beauval Zoo, tips and tricks for visiting the park

Created by one woman's consuming passion, Beauval Zoo is the story of a life dedicated to animals and their preservation... In 1980, a small bird park was opened. Then, white tigers, tropical greenhouses, the African savannah, manatees and gorillas, koalas and okapis all came to enlarge Beauval over the years. By following through on her dream, Françoise Delord built one of the world's most beautiful zoos, housing hundreds of species in innovative, modern facilities.

40 years later, Zoo de Beauval boasts 4 greenhouses housing birds, great apes, sloths, reptiles and Australasian animals, and 3 plains featuring: herbivores of the African savannah (giraffes, white rhinoceroses, wildebeests, antelopes), African elephants and Asian herbivores (Indian rhinoceroses, Malaysian tapirs, antelopes...).

Zoo de Beauval has often been the first to present certain rare animals in France. Today, this is still the case with animals such as okapis, manatees and Indian rhinoceroses. It is the only zoo in France to present giant pandas, koalas, Goodfellow's dendrolagas and Tasmanian devils.

With around 900 births a year, Beauval is France's largest maternity hospital! In any case, it's a real winter for the preservation of endangered species. Among the spectacular births, the arrival of panda twins Huanlili and Yuandudu in August 2021 has caused quite a stir. They can be seen every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., frolicking and crabbing.

In short, with so many animals, so much entertainment and so many spaces, you're wondering how to make the most of your visit to the Park? Here are a few tips to help you make the most of your getaway. Zoo de Beauval recommends a two-day visit, but if you're well organized, it's possible to do it in one day.

To begin with, the park opens at 9am. We advise you to arrive about 30 minutes before opening time. In fact, even before the zoo opens, there's a long queue to get into the park. Of course, to avoid wasting time at the ticket office, it's imperative tobuy your tickets in advance to avoid waiting at the cash desk.

As in all major parks, visitors tend to follow the itinerary from beginning to end, without doing everything in the end. To save time and avoid the crowds, we advise you to take the tour in reverse and go straight to the back of the park, where there aren't many people yet. Of course, the hardest part is getting past the enclosures without stopping every 5 seconds to get to the back.

For our visit, we therefore decided to start with the Giant Pandas, the park's main attraction, which was then in danger of being overrun. To help us, the park provides an application that we highly recommend you download before your visit. It allows you to select the animals you absolutely must see, and to create your own itinerary if you wish. With its geolocation and map functions, it also helps you find your way around. What's more, by activating notifications, it can also warn you when the entertainment and shows you want to see are about to start, so you can move around to make sure you don't miss them.

After our visit to the kingdom of pandas, rhinos, elephants and wolves, we opted for the gondola ride from this area toUluwatu, where we found the Equatorial Dome. This was followed by a visit to the dome, where manatees, Komodo dragons, giant tortoises and other monkeys awaited us, before heading out to discover lions, meerkats and other hippos.

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Time for lunch. It's worth noting that picnics are not allowed inside the park, so you'll have to leave the zoo to take your lunch in one of the 2 areas provided, which can be a waste of time. For lunch and refreshments, the park has no fewer than 15 different outlets. We'd advise you either to eat early, like 11:30 or even 11:00 on the open spots, or after 2:00 to avoid the lunchtime crowds. Some hidden restaurants, such as Estoqua, La Roseraie or Seregenti, have shorter queues than others, so make the right choices depending on where you are, it can save you more than an hour.

Thanks to our notifications, we were then able to go on to theSea Lions Odyssey show, in other words, the sea lion show, followed by the fabulous Masters of the Air show, featuring an incredible aerial ballet. In the heart of a large green theater, over 600 birds twirl above your heads, in a 3,000-seat hemicycle. Owls, cranes, pelicans, storks and company join forces for a breathtaking spectacle .

Once our shows were over, we quietly finished our visit in the Around the World Zone, discovering tigers, monkeys, pink flamingos and company, before taking this path back to the parking lot.

All in all, a fine day well spent, without wasting too much time. So remember, get organized and make the right choices before your visit. Note that Zoo de Beauval is open every day, including public holidays, so make the most of it.