giardino zoologico di pistoia

Arrived in Pistoia by train to visit zoo today. Zoo website tells you to take number 59 bus but beware that there are only a few buses a day wihin zoo opening hours! We were restricted to 3 hours there. Bus leaves from outside train station at 8am 12.05, 13.15 and returns 13 ish 15.17 then next one after 19.00!! Zoo itself very tidy and well kept. Info displays well written so everyone could understand. Lots of shade for a hot day or a rainy one like we had.Worth a visit if you are in the area with kids. Not cutting edge of zoos so some enclosures small by standards you'd expect these days but there is evidence of animal rescue and conservation so not just a money making venture. Animals seemed happy.

We had a good time and the children loved it, especially the play-park area. The entrance fee is reasonable (and proceeds go to preserving the wild lemurs of Madagascar) and the area is a good size. My only criticisms are that the staff at the entrance booth were very unfriendly and completely ignored our questions (she was talking to a friend on the phone so I guess she was too busy...).Our visit also made me curious to ask about their care for the larger animals because we noticed that some animals had fairly small enclosures (the elephants for example). I personally don't think animals of this size should be kept in a zoo but instead placed in a safari park, but i guess Italian practises are different... Also, be advised that if you don't speak italian there is NO information on the animals in any other language. Overall though it is a nice place and very well kept and very clean. 'Most' of the animals looked healthy and well maintained.

A place for all generations. Two years ago, we were on a real trip, we brought sandwiches and water, good humor and a smile on our lips ... My little granddaughter ( 2 years) saw the live animals that had previously only seen in picture books. She could see the beautiful patterns of zebra, giraffe very high almost to the sun and sky, and the elephant was as big as her home. They were all bigger than her imagination could imagine. The wolf was hiding, he was not as bold as in the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Small goatlings sweet as a fairy tale and there were more than 7 (as in a fairy tale).Teddy was too great for cuddling. There was a lot of excitement, and he was tired walking around, so little sleep and eat, and continued further study. The day was sunny and warm, forest sink us. We have heard various voting strange birds, monkeys made ​​us laugh and all in all it was great! The right place for children (and for me....psssst!) We strongly recommend it!

Our little one loves animals, so we headed for a Saturday at the zoo. €14,50 per adult, our toddler free, the tracks appeared a bit steep and sometimes not very well paved, which was a little difficult with our stroller. A nice "collection" of animals, but some of the enclosurers are really dated (hippos, giraffes, elephants, the tropical "dome") and need an upgrade, but the zoo is currently working on that. The lion's area has been done already and looks very nice! Don't expect to spend a full day here, but it's good for an 4-5 hour visit.Playing area for the kids is well maintained with plenty of benches and tables for BYO lunch. The restaurant is under average for Italian standards, as I also noticed from Italian families next to us. Really close to the motorway and free parking when we visited, but I noticed an entrance booth so I suppose in high season you'll have to pay.

My son and I spent a lovely day at this zoo,The landscape sometimes provided a bit of a challenge as the hills were a bit steep when pushing a stroller. Some animals live in a relatively small enclosure but you can easily see that the zoo is working hard to expand and give more space to all the animals,For €0,20 you could buy a little bit of food to give to the giraffes or the elephants or the goats,There is a nice playground for the children, big and small,And, for small (optional?) donation you can have your child take a short ride on a pony.

We had a bit of time to spare on our last day in Rome and had been to all the other attractions so decided to go to the zoo. We didn't have any expectations really but what a pleasant surprise. Very reasonably priced, €14 each, we recently paid about £100 for 4 of us at London Zoo which wasn't a patch on this one. The animals seem to be well looked after in good surroundings, apart from maybe the giraffes, elephants and zebras which had no greenery at all. We spent 4 hours here which we think makes it very good value. It is a bit out of the way though, we got a taxi from the Spanish Steps which cost €7.

Was expecting this zoo to be a bit disappointing compared to other Zoos we have visited, but we were pleasantly surprised. The zoo is nicely landscaped with lots of shrubs and picnic areas and benches. There are lots of animals including elephants, hippos, giraffes, bears etc. Although most animals seemed well cared for,some of them did seem to be in rather small boring enclosures with lots of concrete and little to do. The bears had an enormous enclosure, whereas the elephant area looked very dull and small. The poor lonely sea lion looked very fed up and bored.You can buy pellets to feed some of the animals and there is a large modern play area. We spent three hours wandering around here and enjoyed it, although I did feel a bit concerned about the welfare of some of the animals. People were allowed to bring their dogs to this zoo, which made a nice change.

I have been planning for this trip for about a month and was very looking forward to this experience. When we arrived there at about 9am, they told us that the bus to the zoo will come at around 12, which is very late and it was very hot to wait in the sun under a bus shelter. What happens? the bus did not arrive so we wait for another hour as the next bus had to come at around 1.15pm and it did not arrive either. I will never recommend this to my freinds as it was a bad experience for me

My daughter and I made a trip to the zoo last week. We were very disappointed over the lack of spacious accommodation particularly for the large animals. Two elephants, two hippos, two giraffes and a zebra accommodated in small concrete compounds with no space to roam. Three panthers kept together in a small area. They were obviously a star attraction and the accommodation does replicate their natural habitat except for the amount of space available. Another current star attraction are the two brown bears. Their accommodation is excellent with plenty of space. However it would seem to be to the detriment of the other large animals which perhaps are not quite so poplar with visitors. Visitors can buy pellets to feed some of the animals and the children loved to feed the goats in the children's zoo. I noticed that there were no hand washing facilities in any of these areas so parents should make sure they take plenty of hand wipes with them or be prepared to make several trips to the bathrooms.

Had a good time to have a walk with my daughter. I am not a very Zoo's fan but you can see a lot of animals.

it took us ages to find this zoo because it had no signage and when we got their the admisssion was medium priced. there is a nice restaurant with nice food such as pasta's, salad's, meat's and lots more. the first part of the zoo is nice with new, large, clean, cages, their is brown bears, wolves, lynxes, birds, leopards, deer and lots more. the middle part of the zoo smells as their is a petting-farm with goats, sheep, rabbits then we saw camels, polar bears in a horrible cage, more birds, a very nice lion and tiger cage with lots of educational facts, flamingoes and ducks and also a poor sealion cage. the next part is the african themed the cages are tiny, old and dirty this includes: giraffe's, hippo's, rhino's, elephant's, ostriche's, merrkats and more. then their is lots of birds, a small smelly kangaroo and emu cage, a nice reptile house and crocodiles plus a few more cages. at the end their is a nice gift shop. overall it really needs to improve some of its cages as they are tiny, smelly, old and dirty but there is a few nice cages.

This Zoo is great to visit, also on a warmer day. There are a lot of trees so there is a lot of shadow in the Zoo. The areas for the animals are great but for the bigger ones they are a little bit too small (Elefants/ Hippo's/ Giraffes).

Even if I don't like to see the animals in cage ,I have to recognise that the zoo is very big and the animals are kept in good conditions.

I love animals. I came with my brother, sister and my mom. It's a very small zoo but very fun!! You can get so close to the animals! It's amazing! I got to pet a Giraffe! They have a very large selection of birds. I wasn't very fond of the birds but other wise I was quite impressed! The zoo kinda reminded me of the movie "We Bought A Zoo". It's very quiet and there wasn't very many people there!! It didn't take us very long to do the zoo. About 2 hours. But I don't regret it at all!!! If you happen to stop at pistoia or are staying close to, make sure you can make plans for this zoo!! It's one you won't want to miss!! Plus it's very easy to get to the zoo, just take the train to pistoia, then take a cab or the bus that is right by the train station and will take you to the zoo!! Don't miss this zoo!

This zoo is a bit of a mix. You get in and there's a pretty good bear enclosure. The tigers and lions are fairly well set up too. My problems with this place were the really poor enclosures for the elephants, giraffes, zebra, rhino and sealion. Just a concrete slab to walk up and down on, the sort of thing you used to see in England in the 80's. I'm quite into my nature and wildlife and I found it really sad. The two year old daughter didn't seem to mind though.