Metro Richmond Zoo

Finally made it to the Richmond Zoo! What a fun time this was. Since this is privately owned, it is a little different than the other zoos I’ve been to, but in a good way. You are a little more up-​close and personal with some of the animals, which is definitely cool.
One of the highlights was feeding the giraffes! It is absolutely amazing to see what beautiful creatures they are, and how hungry they seem to be as well! Ha! We also enjoyed a tram ride, which gave an awesome view of some of the animals, like the rhinos! Not gonna lie, I’m not good with heights, but I’m glad I tried it out!
The variety of animals is great. Cheetahs, various monkeys, bats, kangaroos, etc. This is a great place to bring family, friends, or a date!

I loved this zoo. It was the highlight of a recent trip to NC & VA. It’s a small zoo, but there is a lot of interaction with the animals (feeding the giraffes was amazing!) all of the animals seemed happy, and there were babies of every kind to reinforce that thought. If I lived closer, I would be here every day!

We visit every year! The animals appear to be happy, the habitats are clean. appear realistic and seem to inspire playfulness in the animals. Walking paths are well kept and it is easy to find seats to rest, if needed The train ride and the sky ride are always a fun. way to see some more animals — or the same animals from a different perspective! The rest rooms and picnic area are clean and easily accessible. Now there is a zip line through the zoo — can’t wait to try that out! Whatever the ages of your group, a trip to the Richmond Zoo is a good choice!

Fun time! We always have a great time here. The parakeet cage is awesome with kids. They won’t want to leave.
I haven’t been here in a while. They have made some upgrades. Looks nice. Will love to to the zip lines when my kid gets older.
The one draw back is not having caffeine in any drinks. The soda machines have caffeine free soda and Gatorade and water. But you can’t get a bottle of coke.

As far as Zoos go, nothing will ever compare with the Smithsonian in my mind.
This zoo is great for kids, though. They have a lot of monkeys. I mean, monkeys everywhere. They have a nice petting zoo (though you can’t actually mingle with the animals which is a bit disappointing). They do have giraffe feeding areas which the kids loved. There is a very nice playground where you can let the kids run rampart and relax a bit at the tables; but beware, there are yellow jackets and wasps EVERYWHERE. So if you’re allergic you may want to steer clear of the food area. The food, was actually really good and well worth the prices; I’d say way better then anything you’ll get from a fast food joint and for a lovely price.
They have a train ride, a skyline and a carousel which are all extra. I recommend the train ride over the skyline. The skyline will show you things that you’ve already walked past; and although it’s cool to see from above, IMO it’s not worth the $ 3.00 it costs. The train, however, will take you back to a special part of the zoo that’s «off limits» unless you do the Zoo. You will go into a free roaming area with about 5 – 6 different species including ostriches. I was really excited for this «free roaming area», and although it was cool, I don’t think I’d do it again. Maybe if they added a few more species.
They also have an adult and children zipline adventure that goes over the entire zoo. It seemed pretty awesome and I may go back eventually just for that.
The things lacking from this zoo are pretty obvious, in my opinion.
Firstly, no caffeine. That’s right, they don’t sell ANY caffeine. I don’t understand why, exactly… But no caffeine. That really killed me and my friend when we were trekking through in the heat and needed sugar to «put up» with the kiddies.
Second, unless you’re here to see monkeys, you may be disappointed. They do have one lion, and two tigers, some zebras, rhinos and giraffes, but mostly everywhere else you look you’ll see monkey upon monkey. I don’t remember seeing any bears, there’s one snake, one tortoise, no real inside exhibits outside of the bat area. No real birds outside of a few cranes, peacocks, chickens and what not.
Thirdly, no inside areas to cool down at, at all outside of the bathrooms (Which didn’t feel like they had AC on anyways), and the gift shop and the bat room. There’s no inside dining facility (which really sucks if you’re allergic to bees and wasps). They did have some cool down fans spread throughout the park but other than that, nothing really.
Overall, yeah it’s a nice trip. It took us, with two kids and stopping to eat and play at the playground and do the sky line and the train ride, about…3 hours total to see the entire place and be done.

The zoo is borderline. .. many of the enclosures seem too small for the animals. The treeline adventure was fun. The reason I’m giving it 2 stars rather than 3 is due to a bizarre policy where they do not sell caffeinated drinks. No regular Pepsi, just diet caffeine free. Every drink in the vending machines is caffeine free. I asked several staffers and they all said «it’s the director’s choice» — who knew there was a caffeine free cult that runs a zoo in the Richmond suburbs! Won’t go back to the zoo, but will come back for the rope/​zip line course and make sure I have a regular Pepsi in the car!

ByThis was a fun zoo. Although not as big as we are used to animal wise, I enjoyed their exhibits BC they didn’t seem as restrictive for the animals as the bigger zoos.
We loved feeding the giraffes and had never had that experience before.
There is a ski lift type ride that goes above and all around the zoo as well as a zip line. My toddler enjoyed the safari train ride.
The food is cheaper than most zoos and my son loves his safari hat that his kids meal came in.
The zoo is great for a few hours of fun and we got a membership because if you go twice it pays for itself.

Second year coming here. Kids and I always have a blast. Staff curtious. Animals plentiful and active if above 45 and below 90. Lots of feeding times too. We have a seasons pass and love how it comes with free food and animal treats.

The Richmond Zoo has gotten better and better over the years. Feeding the giraffes is always a favorite activity so make sure you buy the food when you get your tickets. They have all sorts of well maintained exhibits of animals that all ages of children can enjoy. From feeding the birds and letting them land on you to seeing the bears and lions everything is great!
They have playset in the middle if parents need a rest and I also love that they let you bring in your own food to picnic. They have also added a ropes course for older and adventurous kids. Like Andy B. mentioned the staff is always friendly and courteous. If your family really enjoys it, they even have a yearly membership option.

I loved this zoo when we would come to it, I loved walking around looking at all of the animals. Just enjoying what was all around me. I loved having a picnic lunch with my family here. I also loved coming to my local zoo with my school on a field trip.

A mini zoo, I enjoyed seeing the animals. But I would have enjoyed it more if the animals had better enrichments in their enclosures. Most seemed bored and like they needed things to do to help them keep their minds active and not look so sad just sitting there. Would have liked to see the rhinos have at least a bigger space and some pasture. The small aviary seems the best set up for the animals. :/

Family oriented and intimate setting. Knowledgeable staff. Don’t overset expectations. This is not the DC or San Diego zoo. But excellent family fun. Don’t forget to try the zip line!

My first visit to this zoo was about four years ago and I just went again a couple weekends ago.
New things: there’s the zip line attraction which I wasn’t able to do but it was quite expensive. an additional $ 45 for adults. It sounds like alot of fun though because you can zip line over top many of the animals and open fields all over the zoo.
The one thing that stands out about this place compared to other zoos is that it’s more interactive. The best attraction here is that you can HAND feed the giraffes! They come up to you about your height and you can feed them when the put their head over a railing. It’s sooooo cool! The giraffes are very friendly and I never had a problem with them. Although they might play with you if you don’t have food… haha
Admission isn’t too expensive and you get a cup of animal feed for two bucks which isn’t bad at all. You can also hand feed deer, goats and llamas. They also have free roaming chickens and peacocks all around the park. Another interactive part about this zoo is they have an area where you can feed many small birds.
Last time I went on sky ride which was pretty cool because it gives you an aerial view of the the entire zoo. This time I went on the tram ride which was cool as well b/​c it took you to an open field that wasn’t open to walking guests and you’re up close and pesonal with Elk, Moose, Deer, Ostriches, etc.
The only bad thing I had to say was that there was a specifc feeding time for the otter feeding and we stayed up until about 20 minutes after it was supposed to happen and it never did so that was kind of a let down.

Great little zoo with happy animals! It is clean, well maintained, and fun!
We rode the sky ride– a hoot to sail over the rhinos and lions-​like a bird’s eye view of the Savannah.
For a small zoo, there were surprisingly tons of things to see and do. Feeding the giraffes was a lot of fun, with their sticky long black tongues!!! Plus the budgie adventure was adorable with tons of friendly parakeets descending on all of us, seed sticks or none!
A great way to spend some time outside with the fam while visiting Richmond!

Not a bad zoo. Some exhibits were nice some you couldn’t see any animals in. The exhibits you couldn’t see any animals had grass as tall as me and I’m 6 feet tall. The only reason I gave more than 2 stars is because where else locally in VA can you hand feed giraffes!!! What an incredible experience that is. The lion exhibit I wasn’t impressed with as you only can see a corner of the exhibit. I wanted to ride the lift across the park but had my 1 year old so that was a no go. I also wanted to explore the tree top adventure they just started but again I had my child. The food was not good so I recommend eating prior or bringing your own food. I know I’m all over the place but stay with me here haha… I rode the train ride through the African safari but was not very impressed as there were not a big variety of species and you could not feed them. Overall I enjoyed my experience but would rather go back to Norfolk zoo or the DC zoo.

Not bad if you’re in the area, but not worth driving for more than an hour when the NC zoo is just a few hours away. Most animals have little to no room to roam, and many lack water. Good for smaller kids who have never been to a zoo, but an insult to those who have been to larger zoos.
Price is about $ 5 too much for what you get, especially considering there is very little staff anywhere.

Stopped in Richmond on our way to Myrtle Beach. We spent the day here and had some amazing experiences! The kids had their first experience on a ropes course and zip line. They got up close and personal with so many animals! Feeding the giraffes was a highlight, as well as the Budgie aviary.
No locker rentals, but we were there early enough to get a close parking space so we could run to our car for the cooler. The zoo itself is well organized and easily traversed. We were surprised how close we were to the animals!
Only one small food stand, so pack a picnic. Bring extra cash to feed the animals and birds.
Memories we made here, and that’s the whole point of our vacations. Glad we stopped.

This review is specifically about the new Zip Line feature. The 10 – 15 min training prepared us for the course, the staff were thorough and helpful. The course is mostly challenges at the beginning, which was a surprise, but also fun! Once you clear the challenges, it all zip lining through the zoo… and that’s the pay off! I am not athletic, but I really enjoyed pushing myself… and was impressed by how well constructed and maintained he course was. They also do a great job of spacing out the groups so that we did not feel pressured to go faster than we were comfortable going!
There is also a kids course that looked fun too… we would bring our small kids back for sure.
If these two 40 something’s can do this … Anyone can! $ 45 well spent!

first thing first. Who doesn’t have a baby changing station in their bathroom at the friggin’ zoo??? I struggled to change my baby’s diaper in their steaming hot bathroom on her stroller. Zoo is full of kids and strollers and I just didn’t get it.
This zoo is basically the giraffe petting zoo and it is worth a trip just for this experience but don’t expect too much more from this place. I had a fantastic day with my princess today and spent most of the day feeding, touching, kissing the friendly giraffes. There were rhinos, tiger, lion, goats, zebras, monkeys, penguins, orangutans, chimpanzees, and a whole lot of birds.
It is not a large zoo so you can walk the whole thing in about an hour on a not so hot day. There are a few concessions and what they sell are basics of basics: chicken nuggets, hot dog, fries, sodas, snow cones, soft serve ice cream, and smoothie. They don’t have lids nor straws for their concerns with litters hurting their animals (I saw paper napkins and whole bottled water in their pens). They don’t even have water to sell. There are vending machines with water and sodas through the zoo and they are $ 2 each. They also have change machine for tokens and animal food dispenser that’s broken. I advise you buy the feed (both for animals and birds) at the gate.
The staff are ALL not helpful. Not even a bit. NONE of them even made eye contact nor smiled while in passing. The ticket booth gal didn’t even suggest buying the animal feed before going in. The concession stand had a broken soda fountain and they have the slowest service in the entire concession world. They are non apologetic even they saw me with my baby sweating and melting, dehydrating to death (twice stood in line) but not a single word of explanation, apology for making me wait (first time there was no one but ME!). The second time their soda fountain broke and I waited at least 10 minutes and all I heard was them telling the customers in front of me «at this point, all we have is water»… so I left (again.)
I saw three other unhappy looking employees congregating outside the concession at that time. I guess it takes at least 5 people to fix a damn soda fountain on the hottest day of the year.
Well, now to the wonderful animals. The giraffe. They are so up close and personal. They come right up to you and let you feed them. They come close to you and let you pet them so there are a ton of photo opportunities. If it wasn’t for the staff, I would have given them a 4 star even with the tiny size and lack of other «wow» points. Oh well.
Oh also, if you are military, you get a dollar off with your ID.

First time visiting this zoo with my daughters school. I have to say I was disapointed. They had all the basics, giraffes, tigers, pythons, bears and apes. They even had rhinos, elk, orangutangs, birds, gigantic turtles, steroid size goldfish and random farm animals. But the setup of the zoo was small and too far away from where we were standing to really get a good look. I realize for safety purposes we need a respectable amount of. Distance away from the cage, but its so far away you cant see around the trees to see the animals. The most annoying thing was how small it was. We walked through the entire park in under 30mins.
Will i be going back –probably not. I can see the dame animals for free at May ont
Do I reconmmend it to other people — ehhh yeah I guess. I wasnt overly impressed though.