Chiang Mai Zoo

Chiangmai Zoo is a very unique place in Chiangmai. The zoo is not too big you can spend around 2 hours here Recommend to pay for the Golf Cart. Kids will love it and of course more flexible than the Zoo Bus. Now there are 2 new zones, Dinosaur Island & Snow Dome. We did not try these new zones this time. In my opinion the Dino Island is looked nice especially during Summer time because there is the water park inside :) Do not miss the Aquarium and Penguin zones !!

A Must-Visit in Chiang Mai! ​Chiang Mai Zoo is a massive, hillside park with a great variety of animals. The Giant Pandas and the Aquarium are the absolute highlights! ​Vibe: Lush, forest-like, and very peaceful. ​Pro Tip: The zoo is huge and hilly, so renting a golf cart or taking the shuttle bus is a lifesaver. ​Best For: Families and nature lovers. Don't miss feeding the giraffes!

It’s a cool, old-school zoo. It’s more grand than I expected and definitely bigger than I remembered. I used to go there when I was very young, mostly to see the pandas 🐼 (RIP). The zoo itself is HUGE. You literally cannot walk the whole thing as a human being. Be prepared to buy a tram ticket (or rent a golf cart), unless you want to add a mini marathon into your zoo trip. With the tram, you can see around 80% of the zoo from the road in about half an hour. Add another one or two hours if you want to explore it more thoroughly. The animals look well-fed but also quite lonely. Some sensitive Western visitors might feel that certain enclosures are too small. Personally, I don’t think it’s that bad. The zoo is clean, well maintained, and the animals seem to be taken care of properly. The only real con, I’d say, is that the staff here are a bit too chill. The local stereotype about northern Thais being slow might actually be true. I went specifically for the red panda feeding session and arrived before the scheduled time. The staff didn’t show up at all, even after 40 minutes. In the end, I had to call the zoo and report it before anyone came. This was especially frustrating because I had just seen an official press post from a week ago informing the schedule, and I rushed my whole morning just to be there on time. I’ve never had this kind of issue at other zoos. I liked the experience overall. It’s very sparse and literally located in the jungle, so the animals are actually living within nature. The vibe is great. I even got to feed hippos, so my life feels complete now. Compared to the Night Safari, this is a very different experience. This is a true old-school zoo: animals in cages, animals in boxes, boring their lives while you wander through a vast green, almost empty space at a relaxed pace. Night Safari, on the other hand, are packed with shows and activities, forcing you to rush from one spot to another to catch everything. I still prefer the Night Safari, though. PS: The dinosaur zone is basically a kid water park. Don’t fall for it, unless you think 5–6 dinosaur animatronics are worth the extra price.