Blackpool Zoo

About this place

Blackpool's Asian elephants walk where aircraft once taxied: the zoo opened in 1972 on the old Stanley Park Aerodrome, and the airport's 1930s hangar and control building still stand on site, now the animal hospital and the education academy. A tree-screened site of a little over thirty acres sits around three kilometres inland from the Tower and the beach, and this is where families retreat when the Promenade and Pleasure Beach have worn them out and they want a calmer day among more than a thousand animals. Three areas carry the visit. Project Elephant, opened in 2018, gives the Asian herd generous indoor and outdoor space in place of the cramped old paddocks; the Big Cat Habitat, opened in 2023, brings African lions and Amur tigers up close behind glass; and at Orangutan Outlook the Bornean orangutans, youngsters born here among them, climb in full view. Round it off with giraffes, sea lions and Magellanic penguins at Active Oceans, the open Amazonia walk-through, the children's farm and the Dinosaur Safari trail of more than 30 life-size models, which small children sometimes prefer to the living animals. This is a family zoo without qualification: the ground is level almost throughout and every area is pushchair- and wheelchair-friendly, manual wheelchairs are lent free against a refundable £20 deposit if you book them ahead, there is a parent-and-toddler room by the play area and toilets at four points. There is no dedicated prayer room, so pray before you enter or find a quiet lawn. Food at the Lake View food court and the smaller kiosks is simple and child-oriented; bringing a picnic is the cheaper option and there is lawn enough to sit on. The whole site is outdoors, which is the main caveat in Blackpool: rain here belongs to every season, so pack waterproofs even in July. Gates open daily at 10:00, with closing pulling back to around 16:00 in winter and running later in summer, and last entry 45 minutes before, so allow a half day of three to five hours. Booking on the official website before you go saves £3 on the £24.99 gate price, a family-of-four ticket cuts the total further, and parking is £4.50 for the day. From the Tower it is a ten-minute taxi, or an hourly bus links the centre to the zoo.