The Edinburgh Tour Guide
Edinburgh Zoo is the most expensive attraction we have put a price on in this city. An adult ticket is £30, which is more than the castle at £23.50, more than Holyrood Palace at £22, and more than the Royal Yacht Britannia at £23. That is not an argument against going. It is an argument for knowing exactly what you are buying, and on two counts, what you are buying is not what most people think.
Two things have changed and nobody is telling you. The giant pandas are no longer at the zoo: they do not appear anywhere in the zoo's own list of its 71 animal species. And the famous Penguin Parade has been cancelled for good, replaced by a smaller event that runs Fridays to Sundays, in autumn and winter only, at 2:15pm. With children it is still a good day out. As an adult with three days in Edinburgh, think hard.
Adult ticket
£30.00
Giant pandas
Gone
Penguin parade
Retired
What it costs, and the bit the price page does not shout about
These are the advance prices from the zoo's own booking flow, read on 21 September 2026. The zoo states that its prices include a small voluntary donation
, and recommends booking ahead because you could save around 10% compared to buying tickets on the day
.
| Ticket | Advance price | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Adult (16+) | £30.00 | Around 10% more if you buy at the gate |
| Child (3 to 15) | £22.50 | Must be booked with an adult, concession or carer ticket |
| Concession | £27.00 | Full-time students with ID, over 65s, unemployed, and people who require a carer |
| Carer | Free | One carer accompanying a paying adult, concession or child |
| Parking | £5 | Limited spaces, first come first served, fills early |
So a family of two adults and two children is £105, or £110 if you drive. For a British zoo that is unremarkable. What is worth saying out loud is that nothing else sells this ticket. We searched the big experience marketplaces and there is no Edinburgh Zoo product on them at all. Several ticket resellers rank well in Google for zoo searches. You do not need any of them, and going direct is how you get the advance rate. We earn nothing from that advice, because there is nothing here to earn anything from.
The giant pandas have gone, and the zoo is quiet about it
For over a decade, the giant pandas were the reason Edinburgh Zoo was the one British zoo people made a special trip for. They are not there now. We are not taking that from a news story: we read the zoo's own A-Z of its animal inhabitants, which lists 71 species, and the giant panda is not one of them. The only panda anywhere on the site is the red panda, a small russet tree-dweller that is a delight and is not what anyone means by “the pandas”.
We are deliberately not telling you when or why they left, because we could not confirm that from a primary source today and we are not going to repeat something we have not checked. What matters if you are booking is simply this: they are not there.
The penguin parade is cancelled, and this is what replaced it
The second thing Edinburgh Zoo was famous for was the Penguin Parade, in which the birds walked a route through the grounds. The zoo's own FAQ now asks Is the Penguin Parade coming back?
and answers, in one word, No.
It was originally postponed because of Covid, to stop crowds gathering along the route, and then postponed again because of avian influenza. With the avian flu risk lower, the zoo launched a replacement called the Wee Waddle. The penguins are invited out of Penguins Rock into an adjoining area, fed, and allowed to interact with keepers while visitors watch from behind a low mesh fence. It covers part of the old parade route. It is a smaller thing than the parade was, and the rules around it are where people will come unstuck:
Before you book a day around the penguins
- Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only. Not every day.
- Autumn and winter only, so as not to disturb the penguins' breeding, hatching and rearing season. A summer visit will not include it.
- 2:15pm, with the penguins back roughly 45 minutes later. In January, February, November and December the zoo closes at 4pm, so this sits near the end of the day.
- Included in normal entry and no separate ticket is needed.
- It can be cancelled at short notice, for weather or animal welfare, and the zoo states plainly that no refund is given if it is, because it is not part of the ticket cost. If avian flu returns to the UK it may be postponed again.
One detail worth knowing before you trust the dates. The zoo's Wee Waddle page says it will commence on Thursday 2 October
. 2 October last fell on a Thursday in 2025; this year it is a Friday. That page has not been refreshed for the current season, so confirm the running dates with the zoo before you build an afternoon around them rather than trusting the date as printed. We checked that against a calendar rather than assuming it.
So is it worth £30, and for whom
With children, yes. It is a proper full day, the collection is good and varied, the Wee Waddle is free once you are in, and £105 for a family of four is in line with what British zoos charge. If you have kids and a day to fill, book it direct and stop reading.
As an adult on a short break, it is much harder to justify, and this is the part the pages ranking above us do not say. The zoo is three miles west of the centre, so between travel and the visit it takes at least half a day. It costs more than any other attraction in the city. And the two things that made it a destination rather than a local zoo are now gone or squeezed into weekend afternoons in winter. A good zoo three miles out is still a good zoo, but if you have three days in Edinburgh it is competing with things you cannot see anywhere else.
If that is you, here is what the same half-day and roughly the same money buy instead. These are our own affiliate links and we earn a commission on them, which is exactly why we have put them after telling you that the zoo is the right answer if you have children.
Edinburgh Castle Guided Walking Tour, Entry Included
Ninety minutes with a guide and castle entry included, in the middle of the city rather than three miles out. Rated 4.89 across 5,830 reviews, which is the deepest review history of any castle tour we found.
Highlands, Loch Ness and Glencoe Day Trip
Thirteen hours and most of the Highlands for £55, against £30 for a half-day at a city zoo. The obvious comparison if the question is what to do with a whole spare day. We compare the coach operators properly on our Highlands page.
Opening hours, and the winter trap
The zoo plans to open every day of the year except Christmas Day, and last entry is one hour before closing. That last rule is what catches people out in winter.
| Months | Open | Last entry |
|---|---|---|
| January to February | 10am to 4pm | 3pm |
| March | 10am to 5pm | 4pm |
| April to September | 10am to 6pm | 5pm |
| October | 10am to 5pm | 4pm |
| November to December | 10am to 4pm | 3pm |
| Christmas Day | Closed | |
In the four darkest months, then, you have a five-hour window at most, and some indoor enclosures close 30 minutes before the zoo does. The zoo also warns that Koala Territory has restricted opening times and tells you to ask on arrival, which is worth doing first if the koalas are your reason for coming.
Two more things in the zoo's own words, and they are more useful than they look. First: Edinburgh Zoo is located on a hillside so we recommend that visitors wear comfortable footwear.
It is not a flat site and the walk back up is real. Second, on whether you will see a particular animal: The animals are free to do what they want all day long.
Nobody can promise you a koala.
Getting there, and the airport trick nobody mentions
The address is 134 Corstorphine Road, EH12 6TS, on Corstorphine Hill in the west of the city. The useful thing, and the reason this section exists, is that the Airlink 100 stops directly outside the front entrance. That is the same airport bus we cover on our airport transfer page, and it makes the zoo one of very few Edinburgh attractions you can reach straight from the airport without going into town first. If you land mid-morning, or have a late flight out and hours to kill, that is a genuinely neat solution to a dead half-day.
| How | Detail |
|---|---|
| Lothian 12, 26, 31 | Stop outside the entrance. Pick up in the city centre or near Waverley and Haymarket. The zoo says they pass every few minutes |
| Airlink 100 | The airport bus. Stops regularly outside the front entrance en route between Edinburgh Airport and the city centre |
| Citylink coaches | The 900 from Glasgow, 909 from Stirling and 904 from East Kilbride all pass the zoo |
| By train | There is no station at the zoo. Come into Waverley or Haymarket and take one of the buses above |
| Driving | £5 to park, spaces limited and first come first served, and the car park fills early in school holidays |
| By bike | Close to the Carrick Knowe cycle route, with Sheffield racks on the pavement outside |
Three legitimate ways to pay less
Not discount codes, not resellers. All three are the zoo's own schemes, and the first one is the sort of thing that is almost never mentioned alongside zoo tickets.
Ways to bring the price down
- Kids for a Quid. Show a valid ScotRail Kids for a Quid train ticket on arrival and you get one free child admission, worth £22.50. It works on walk-up tickets or alongside an adult ticket bought on the zoo's site, and it cannot be combined with other offers. If you were already taking the train somewhere in Scotland with a child, this is free money.
- The benefits scheme. Reduced-price tickets for people receiving Universal Credit, income-related ESA, income-based JSA, Housing Benefit, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit or Income Support, for up to six people per household. You must have received a payment in the last month and bring proof plus named ID. Crucially these must be booked online in advance: only full-price tickets are sold at the gate.
- Groups of 15 or more get a discounted rate, coach parking and a dedicated support team.
And one that costs nothing at all: you can bring a picnic. The zoo says so directly, and there are picnic benches around the site plus lawn space. On a £30 ticket that is a meaningful saving for a family, and it is the same trick that works at the National Museum.
What is actually there now
Seventy-one species are listed in the zoo's own A-Z. Without the giant pandas the headline animals are less of a draw on paper, but the collection is broader than most people expect. Among the ones worth planning around:
- Queensland koalas, which very few zoos in Britain have, on restricted hours
- Three penguin species: king, gentoo and northern rockhopper
- Big cats and large mammals: Sumatran tiger, Asiatic lion, cheetah, Nubian giraffe, greater one-horned rhinoceros and pygmy hippo
- Chimpanzees and a large primate collection, including gelada baboons, drills and several lemur species
- The ones people photograph and then look up: Malayan sun bear, sloth bear, Pallas's cat, red panda and Przewalski's wild horse
Two practical rules from the zoo that catch people out: anyone aged 15 or under must be accompanied by someone 16 or over at all times, and dogs are not permitted, assistance dogs excepted.
If you are still weighing this against everything else in the city, our things to do page ranks the lot by what we think is worth the money, and how many days you need is the better page if the real question is whether a half-day out west fits at all.
Quick answers
How much are Edinburgh Zoo tickets?
Booked in advance on the zoo’s own site: £30.00 an adult (16+), £22.50 a child (3 to 15), £27.00 concession and free for one carer accompanying a paying visitor. Children’s tickets have to be booked alongside an adult, concession or carer ticket. The zoo says advance booking saves around 10% against buying at the gate, and that the prices include a small voluntary donation. Parking is £5 on top.
Does Edinburgh Zoo still have giant pandas?
No. The zoo’s own A-Z of animal inhabitants lists 71 species and the giant panda is not among them. The only panda on the site is the red panda, which is a different and much smaller animal. If the giant pandas are the reason you were going, that reason has gone. The Queensland koalas are still there, and Edinburgh remains unusual in Britain for having them.
Is the Edinburgh Zoo penguin parade still running?
No, and the zoo has said it is not coming back. Its own FAQ asks whether the Penguin Parade is returning and answers no. It has been replaced by the Wee Waddle, in which the penguins are invited out into an area beside Penguins Rock and fed by keepers. The Wee Waddle runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only, during autumn and winter only, at 2:15pm for about 45 minutes. It is included in normal entry and needs no separate booking, but it can be cancelled at short notice and no refund is given if it is.
Is Edinburgh Zoo worth visiting?
With children, yes: it is a full day, the collection is genuinely good and £105 for two adults and two children is normal for a British zoo. As an adult on a short city break, it is much harder to justify. It is three miles west of the centre, it eats at least half a day with travel, it is the most expensive attraction we have priced in Edinburgh, and the two things it was most famous for are now gone or restricted to weekend afternoons in winter.
How do I get to Edinburgh Zoo from the city centre?
By bus. Lothian services 12, 26 and 31 stop directly outside the front entrance and can be picked up in the city centre or near Waverley and Haymarket stations. The Airlink 100 between Edinburgh Airport and the city centre also stops outside, which makes the zoo one of the few attractions you can reach directly from the airport without going into town first. The address is 134 Corstorphine Road, EH12 6TS.
How long do you need at Edinburgh Zoo?
The zoo does not publish a figure and we have not timed a visit, so rather than invent one, here is the constraint that actually matters: last entry is one hour before closing, and in January, February, November and December the zoo shuts at 4pm. That leaves a five-hour window at most in winter, on a hillside site, with some indoor enclosures closing 30 minutes before the zoo does. In April to September you get until 6pm and the arithmetic is much kinder.
Can you get Edinburgh Zoo tickets cheaper?
Three legitimate routes, all from the zoo directly. A valid ScotRail Kids for a Quid train ticket gets one free child admission on arrival. People receiving Universal Credit, income-related ESA, income-based JSA, Housing Benefit, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit or Income Support can book reduced-price tickets for up to six people per household, though these must be booked online in advance because only full-price tickets are sold at the gate. Groups of 15 or more get a discounted rate and coach parking.
Can you book Edinburgh Zoo tickets through a tour site?
Not through the big experience marketplaces, no. We searched and there is no Edinburgh Zoo product on them at all. The zoo sells its own tickets and that is the cheapest way to buy them. Some ticket resellers rank well in Google for zoo searches; you do not need them, and the zoo’s own site is the one that gives you the advance rate.
About this guide
Written by Diego Fresno, Independent travel writer and researcher. Every price, opening time, bus route and discount scheme on this page was read directly from edinburghzoo.org.uk on 21 September 2026, with each URL checked for a 200 response before any figure was used. The statement that the giant pandas are gone comes from the zoo's own A-Z of its 71 animal inhabitants, not from a news report. The penguin parade's cancellation is quoted from the zoo's own FAQ. Deliberately not claimed: when or why the giant pandas left, which we could not confirm from a primary source; how long a visit takes, which the zoo does not publish and we have not timed; and anything about the food, which we have not eaten. The zoo sells its own tickets and no marketplace carries them, so nothing on this page earns us anything from the zoo itself. The two tour cards are affiliate links to alternatives, placed after the verdict rather than before it. Verified: August 2026. About the author →