Artis

Love– Love– Love this ZOO! A full sized zoo in the middle of Amsterdam! Impressive! Starting with a 2 € donation, I opened my huge colorful map and began to explore. I started with the outer perimeter and worked my way in 4 hours. Went on a weekday, busy with kids and dey camps, but fear not, it was more calm and organized than expected.
Highlights: Giraffes, beautiful creatures that would tower over us and look down at us in wonder. The elephants were beautiful, wish they were closer to photograph.
The small primates house was cool, you’re able to get up close and touch a sleeping sloth, curled on a tree branch, small monkeys ran and played inches above your head. Beware, they pee often and freely, peeing on two women who were unaware. * yuck*
There is a large bird house with birds flying freely which was cool.
Butterfly house was nice, I found there to be more moths than colorful butterflies.
Kangaroos were cool to see. The big cats were sleepy on this chilly grey afternoon.
Vultures exhibit had actual carcass’ of smaller birds and rodents, amazing and disturbing at the same time.
Least fave was the Aquarium. Being to many aquariums both international and domestic, I was disappointed with this exhibit as a whole. The lighting is dark in most of the exhibit which takes away from the beauty of the fish, also makes it a walking hazard. The quality of the water was sad, the aquariums seem neglected. Cloudy, murky and dark shouldn’t be what you see at an aquarium. The diversity of the fish was nice, I hope they work on this.
A lot of empty, abandoned cages where birds used to be.
There is a lot of construction going on, building bigger and better.
This zoo has a lot of places to sit and eat, more than I have ever seen and a bit pricey.
Highlight– saw the camels. People were yelling for their attention, no response. I walked over, yea you know… I did it. I said «What day is it?» and the sitting camel turned over and looked. lol. hilarious. leave it to an american… got the pic though!
Would come again, early in the day and hopefully after construction is completed.
Not all signs/​information placards are in English, so often you’re not able to read/​understand what your seeing.

With neatly manicured grounds, an unsurprising confluence of tulips, bird pens shaped like Dutch-​style houses and enclosures with animals a few arm’s length away, this zoo felt spacious and inviting. Although I had seen the requisite elephant, giraffe and lion (in smaller enclosures than looked adequate) the clear standout at this zoo is the underground aquarium which is not only a massive building onto itself but also a whole new world (cue «The Little Mermaid» soundtrack). I have never seen white starfish with red highlights, seeing a lion fish the size of my head was scarily mesmerizing and the rattlesnake colored shark must have been photoshopped. My admission was free via the Amsterdam card but I would gladly pay the 20 Euros again, even for the aquarium alone.

My boyfriend and I had a great time! I have been to the San Diego Zoo many times and can’t believe this zoo I rated so far behind. There are so many exhibits and animals to look at… we were there for hours. The sculpture gardens and architecture were one of our favorite parts as well. Definitely highly recommend to anyone visiting or looking to spend 2 – 3 hours on an amazing activity.

For a zoo in the middle of a city, there was quite a bit to explore. For all the spots they were selling food or souvenirs, you can’t help but wish they gave that real estate to the animals to have more space to roam. Another place where admission is free with a city pass.

Superbe zoo, le cadre de l’établissement est superbe, la décoration, l’entretien des lieux est irréprochable. Une grosse diversité d’animaux est présente. Je conseille de le faire, ce n’est pas juste un zoo parmis tant d’autres mais un magnifique endroit!

Artis is an ok zoo, it’s fairly big for such a city with limited space. I’m not very found of zoos, I don’t like looking at caged animals in any way.
Artis have very small facilities for some animals and they look very uncomfortable with little space, which makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, or at least I do. It’s like they don’t have a lot of space to walk or do their business or something. They look frustrated or sad and are usually staying close to each other. I also think it’s too expensive for what you get.
The area with all the butterflies is pretty nice. You can walk in a closed spacious room and be amongst the butterflies and they can land on you. That is pretty sweet.
Some say it’s good to take kids so they can see animals etc, but if you can, go to a place such as the apenheul here in the Netherlands, a huge area where the monkeys can walk «free» (although the bigger monkeys are locked up and look rather sad).

I used to think that zoos were nothing more than animal prisons, but now that I have a child, I’ve reconsidered that position. Now I think it’s a great place to take my 1-​year old who looooooves animals, because she gets excited seeing all the animals and can run around on the paths to her heart’s content without me getting worried she’ll be run over or something. However I did see a sign about lemurs running free, so that’s a danger, and there are some small foot bridges that go over water which have no railings or anything to keep her from going over the side, so that’s kind of scary too.
But they do have little kiddie rickshaws you can use for free with a 2 euro deposit, so if your little one gets tired of walking you can cart them around behind you. Just keep an eye out for any rampaging lemurs.
It’s nice that they have the animals behind water barriers, aka moats, so they can be on your level and they’re closer to you than other zoos that have animals in a deep pit that you look down into. The lions and other big cats were pacing back and forth, which wasn’t nice, and I couldn’t find the giraffe anywhere, but I guess that’s a consequence of packing so many animals into such a small area.
The admission cost is outrageously expensive, especially when you consider that most of the staff is probably volunteers, and they rent out their facilities for meetings and banquets all the time, so they’re not relying on admission price alone for their funds. But if you’re a local with children, then it’s not so bad, since you can come back within 3 weeks of your visit and buy a membership for 75 euros minus the cost of admission that you paid, usually 20 euros, and the membership lets you come back as many times as you want for a year. If you need a place for your little one to blow off steam on a regular basis, then that is not such a bad deal.

Great zoo, but extra $ 3 euro for a map on top of the hefty entrance ticket? No thanks. The signs are mostly written in Dutch but they have pictures of the animals as well. Self-​explanatory.
They had some cool and active animals… the chimpanzees were having a turf war which was fun to watch!
Definitely not comparable to San Diego zoo but a great place to visit in Amsterdam.

I saw dead baby mice about to be fed to reptiles.
You ain’t never gonna see that at the Bronx Zoo, yo.
Oh yeah, I saw a llama shoot like 100 chocolate pebbles out its azz. That was cool.
Camels, elephants, llamas, goats, baboons, bulls, lions, leopards, turtles, lizards, gators, snakes, spiders, birds, and friggin foreigners… its all here.
These lil penguins run at you. No joke. I was scurrred.

Das Fazit vorweg: Ein toller Zoo, der sich lohnt in einen Amsterdambesuch eingebaut zu werden.
Irgendwie steht bei uns bei jedem Städtetrip ein Zoobesuch mit auf der Agenda. ;) Viele große Zoos haben wir so schon gesehen. Der strahlend blaue Himmel machte den Zoobesuch zu einem schönen Erlebnis. Parkplätze sind in großem Maße vorhanden.
Aber Achtung — Parkgebühren am Automaten 4,-€ pro Stunde. Für Zoobesucher pauschal 9,-€, wenn man an der Zookasse oder im Zooshop zahlt. Steht aber nur im Kleingedruckten und an der Zookasse wird man beim Eintritt nicht darauf hingewiesen. Kann also schnell teuer werden, wenn man dort lange verweilt.
Der Eintritt kostet für Erwachsene 19,95 €, was auch nicht günstig, aber angemessen ist. Zoopläné gibt es für 1,99 € — wir haben uns aber auch ohne gut zurecht gefunden. Einfach dem ‘Arktis Wandeling’-Rundgang folgen. ;)
Der Zoo bietet alles, was das Tierliebhaberherz begehrt. Von den ‘Klassikern’ wie Elefanten, Löwen, Giraffen, Gorillas, Pinguinen usw. über exotischere Affengattungen, die ich persönlich teilweise noch nicht kannte, bis hin zu heimischen Tierarten. Auch Aquarium und Reptilienhaus gibt es. Also auch wer kleine Krabbelviecher mag, kommt nicht zu kurz.
Wir sind knapp drei Stunden durch den Zoo geschlendert ohne uns zu hetzen — mal als Zeitmaßgabe auf den Weg mitgegeben. ;)
Manko finde ich dort die teure (!) Verpflegung. Bsp.: Minisandwich (!) mit Smoothie für 6,50 €. Sorry, das war seinen Preis nicht wert… Man sollte sich selbst verpflegen in meinen Augen, wenn man etwas braucht. Ich wäre wohl ins Poffertjeshuis gegangen, um eine meiner Laibspeisen zu mir zu nehmen, aber hatte geschlossen… :-/​
So, lange Rede, kurzer Sinn: das vorweggenomme Fazit kann ich nur nochmal wiederholen. Es lohnt sich. :)
Die angesprochenen Parkgebühr– und Verpflegungsmankos sind mein Stern Abzug. Rein von den Tieren her: Fünf Sterne.

I have mixed feelings about the zoo.
First of all the price. HOLY CRAP!!! Outrageously high. For me and my daughter it was 36 Euros ($ 50.00). Then, after overcharging for entry, they have the audacity to try and charge 3 Euros ($ 4.30) for a map.
The habitats for the animals were very nicely done and are larger than most zoos which is really nice to see. There was a really nice selection of animals from all over the world.
There is a kids play area, which was overrun by kids around the 10 – 12 year range shoving all the little kids around. The management needs to restrict the age and height of kids allowed in the play area. Otherwise the play area is cool.
The Planetarium was pathetic. They have a few displays of largely nothing and then a movie theater showing movies about space. If I wanted to watch a movie I could have stayed home.
I would highly recommend saving your money for other things and skipping this zoo.

Beautiful zoo set in the middle of Amsterdam. I really enjoyed the layout of the exhibits and the lawns and open spaces that made it feel more like a park than an exhibition.
The best part though was the abundance of young animals! Young monkeys, giraffes, goats, birds and baboons were always running around and causing a ruckus. Much more active and engaged than the zoos in North America. We didnt have time to visit the Insectarium or the Planetarium but this zoo is the perfect place to spend an afternoon.
The only thing that worried me at times was the size of the enclosures. Some of the animals (sea lions, bison, jaguar) need a lot more space than they currently have.

I’ve been to a couple of the best zoos in the world, so it’s difficult to live up that same standard. I think it’s quite nice for being in the city center and offers a lot more than I expected. They have most of the large animals you’d want to see, although some cages are small for those animals, which I wish they could fix. We had a great time walking through the different areas on a sunny day and will go back another sunny day since we love animals! I’ve also been in the planetarium and liked it a lot. I think Artis is a bit pricey though…

It’s a sad thing to see those animals in little cages, that it’s a hurting thing… let’s make sure Artis is about to do something about it, cause it’s definitely not worth the visit…

Vaste musée zoologique. Compter 20 € tête avec le plan du parc à 2 €. Magnifique. Toutes les espèces animales. On se sent libre. J’ai beaucoup aimé. Prévoir parapluie (20 € achat sur place!). Cantine universitaire pour compenser le prix de l’entrée, compter 10 € pour manger quelques spécialités mais bien sûr rien de gastronomique.

Yikes.
I should have known that a zoo in the center of a city wouldn’t have proper space for large animals.
Alas, I had to take an out-of-town’er here and boy do I wish I wouldn’t have paid a penny to support such a horrendous place.
Large cats: Lions & Jaguars — both are in incredibly tiny enclosures. The lions look underfed and are incredibly squeezed into what is no larger than an Amsterdam apartment yard.
The Jaguar had abrasions and cuts on his leg, meat exposed, likely from pacing back and forth, which he did the 15 minutes I watched him. Total sign of distress.
Elephants: TINY enclosure. Again, the pacing back and forth showing severe signs of anxiety.
Giraffes are in an enclosure that is small, but they could at least pace a little bit further.
I can NOT believe this place has been allowed to continue for so long. It’s completely mind boggling that Amsterdam city has given the permission for such an outrage AND, I’m pretty blown away that people actually pay money to support this.
I would never, ever, ever return. I would never, ever, ever recommend.
In fact, I left the zoo feeling incredibly heart broken over what I saw.
I’ve seen better zoos in third world countries. Perhaps the Dutch aren’t very connected to animals.

Not only mammals and birds but there are FISH! Great variety of all species. Friendly staff and beautiful birds everywhere. Small enough to see in a few hours but enough variety to spend the day if you desire.

I just love monkeys. I had to go.
Money was running low at this point of our trip so we took a gamble coming here but it was absolutely worth the money.
Almost every animal you could wan’t to see, and some you might not want to (ahh the insectarium!). Monkeys, lions, bears, ELEPHANTS, penguins, sealions, camels. the list goes on.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen an elephant before.
Also had a planetarium and a petting zoo, all in a beautiful setting which was clean and tidy, looking more like a park than a zoo.
A perfect afternoon stroll.
Could be doing with some more interactive stuff using touch screen technology, if I was pushed to find a fault.
Won’t ever forget those monkeys.

We went to Artis and really enjoyed ourselves — there was a great variety of animals and we were blown away by the restaurant décor (modern, rustic, very well done). Zoo restaurants are usually cheesy and not very inviting, but these restaurants were light and airy and so unbelievably welcoming, which was definitely a plus when it started to rain.
We would highly recommend the zoo to anyone visiting who either 1. has children or 2. likes zoos.

North American zoos, step aside. My mind has been blown by Artis!
I’ve been to many zoos across North America, but none compare to this one.
First of all, the layout. The order makes sense, isn’t too spread out (you can see almost all of it within a morning), and has lovely gardens in between to take breaks, relax, and enjoy the zoo.
Secondly, restaurants! I could never have imagined a zoo where I could sit super close to the animals (in this case, the flamingos in the Flamingosserie) have a reasonably priced, tasty lunch (which included a club sandwich with turkey, bacon and egg, and a heineken) at a sit down restaurant in a zoo! Normally zoos are so overpriced and you sit at a bench and shovel it down.
FINALLY (and most important!) the ANIMALS! There were baby animals everywhere — gorillas, lions, seals, penguins, elephants! I have never seen so many baby animals in a zoo! There is a great variety of exotic animals — but not only that, you actually SEE them up close! You could reach out and touch a penguin (if you really wanted to /​to many children, if your parents aren’t looking).
I couldn’t recommend a zoo more. If you’re visiting Amsterdam, why not take a day and 18 euros and go visit the zoo!