ZooTampa At Lowry Park
ZooTampa At Lowry Park
4.5
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
About
Experience wildlife like nowhere else! See Florida manatees receiving lifesaving care. Get up-close to a rescued Florida panther. Take a stroll down a shaded boardwalk – where you’ll find native birds, otters, alligators, bears, skunks, and other Florida wildlife – to the thrilling family water adventure Roaring Springs! Then see rare and exciting wildlife from Asia, Africa, and Australia. And so much more!
Duration: More than 3 hours
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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Admission tickets
from
$49.95
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  • Karen B
    Hudson, Florida2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Zoo Love
    My husband and I are annual pass holders. By having an annual pass it makes this zoo very affordable. Every time we visit we see new things depending on time of day and time of year. We find it fascinating to see their different behaviors at different times and different seasons. Our absolute favorite animals in the park are the Siamang monkeys. We have been fortunate enough to be there on days when they are showing off their athletic abilities swinging and singing, they are LOUD! The manatees are a very close second as they are near and dear to our hearts. I love that they have a manatee hospital to help recover sick and injured manatees and they do so with such enthusiasm. You get a lot out of talking to the staff that works with the animals. They love to answer our questions and we've learned so much. We have been to much larger zoos but we find that we enjoy this so much more. We can actually make it through the park in one day and see everything and they have so many new experiences every time we visit. Christmas time is probably most beautiful time to visit the zoo. We find it great to visit on cooler days and early in the day when the animals are more active. We love watching secrets of the zoo Tampa and we're actually learning many of the animals names and how they are trained so the veterinarians can properly care for them. There's not one single animal or reptile in that park that we don't enjoy seeing.
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written October 8, 2023
  • Jeannine G
    Indianapolis, Indiana5 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Treasure in Tampa
    What a treasure! My 4 year old granddaughter loved seeing the animals (that all looked very well cared for)! The zoo has a great layout. We watched several episodes of Secrets of the Zoo before our visit and were pleasantly surprised that some of the animals featured on the show were in their habitats!
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written October 21, 2023
  • AK Mama
    Fairbanks, Alaska50 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great zoo!
    There are volunteers throughout the zoo and John was at the upper manatee area on the day we were there. He was wonderful!!! Make sure to take the time for the Safari tour even though there may be a wait for it. Caroline was an awesome tour guide! We were able to see a month old baby rhino that wasn’t on exhibit yet. So tiny!!! The apes were active and entertaining. The app could use a little improvement, but has some good features so make sure you download it while planning your visit. City Pass is the way to go for admission if you’re visiting several places for several days. Make sure you book experiences in advance because they will sell out.
    Visited November 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written November 11, 2023
  • LUCIA J
    Arcadia, Florida4 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Overall Good experience but with incident
    We went to the Christmas Wild in the Lights Dec 2 I took my 2 grandchildren. Park was beautiful lights everywhere. We saw many animals. They had several characters on stilts talking to the children. They were amazing . especially the princesses. We saw a fun song show and played a game of selecting crocodiles swimming in water and the number on their belly determined the prize. The young lady running this was fantastic and made it so much fun for the kids. The only problem we experienced was an small ice cream dots booth with stuffed animal's and toys and treats. My granddaughter selected a small ice cream treat marked on the freezer cooler as 7 dollars. I gave the young man a 20 and he gave back a ten dollar bill and two pennies . I told him my change was wrong , He said the ice cream was $8.99. I showed him where the freezer it came from said $7.00. He was very rude and I did get agitated. He asked me if I wanted to speak to managements and I said yes. He then told me to not let her eat the ice cream that she had taken the lid off of. Management was not able to come over and I walked away frustrated with this young mans rudeness. As I walked around corner to leave two managements were sitting at a table talking Had their walkie talkies . Disappointing they could not get up and walk a few steps to help solve a problem. Over all everyone their was fantastic but this incident and the way it was handled will make me think twice about going back again and taking my grandchildren
    Visited December 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written December 29, 2023
  • Lorrie P
    Kennewick, Washington133 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great zoo experience
    It was a bit chilly going in January but we were still able to see most of the animals. It seemed the tortoises were the most reclusive and were hiding under the hay. The manatees were awesome and the primates were very active. We spent 4 hours and enjoyed it very much.
    Visited January 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written January 4, 2024
  • JoanMG
    Rockville, Maryland34 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    It's All Happening at the Zoo!
    We had an awesome visit. While a goal was to see the rare Shoebill Storks, I had many favorite experiences: seeing the large family of Orangutans interacting including the mother and baby descending from a rope and then baby nursing was a highlight. The underwater manatee exhibit was terrific; we spent a long time watching them munch on their lettuce - so fun to be able to see their faces clearly :) The penguin encounter was cute. Keepers were friendly and informative.
    Visited March 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written March 20, 2024
  • Beth P
    4 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Wedding Venue
    If you are looking for a unique Wedding Venue, this is the place! Our Family just hosted our son's Wedding this past weekend and our Wedding Coordinator Shelly was Fantastic! After the outdoor intimate wedding, the guests were able to feed the giraffes, and have 2 other animal encounters during the cocktail hour. The reception was fun, the food was fabulous, Denise and her team were on point! I simply can't say enough about this venue and staff! What a night for our family and friends!
    Visited April 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written April 23, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles4,114 reviews
Excellent
2,260
Very good
1,173
Average
453
Poor
143
Terrible
85

loves2travelandmore
Forest, Virginia553 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
The Tampa Zoo was enjoyed by young and old. It does require a lot of walking. Parking lots were full around 11 a.m. on a pleasant President's day so we had to wait for someone to depart, but once inside the zoo, it was easy to see the animals. Buying a Tampa City Pass online allows entry to the Florida Aquarium at Tampa Bay, The Zoo at Lowry Park, Busch Gardens, and a couple of other venues at a discount.
Written February 17, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Siobhand
London215 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Couples
Had an enjoyable day here, although very overpriced.
The giraffe feeding experience was good but very brief literally 5 mins per person but then again it's not very expensive.
The aminals themselves seem well looked after, although some look quite sad and there didn't seem a lot of enrichment in the enclosures.

A lot of the zoo was closed, such as the water ride but we still managed a good few hours of walking around.

We stopped at macaws landing for something to eat, absolutely disgusting. Greasy food that tasted anything but freshly cooked and was very expensive.

Written January 21, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Cheryl Bers
2 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2020
At the $39.95 price of admission, per individual, I would think more actual animals could be acquired. Allow an open "avoid the line" concept to purchase online tickets for the day of (I was on the website at 12:19 only to learn the cutoff was 12:00 to purchase a $3.00 savings.

Lower the admission price since a lot of exhibits were closed due to COVID; however, didn't understand why these exhibits were closed anyway; mask wearing and being outdoors; I did not bring any children, but $27.00 for a child to enter is also ridiculous.

There was only 1 bear, 2 tigers (they say the 2nd one was inside); no lions, 2 elephants, 1 giraffe, no apes nor chimps, only small hardly visible monkeys, 1 panther, 2 alligators (in FLORIDA? should have been crawling with them!)

I will note on the positive, the aquarium was explicit-it was indoor and NOT closed so why were other indoor or walk-thru areas? There was a marine biologist student available to answer questions about the medical holding tanks, which are remarkable for the care of marine animals that become injured.

The grounds themselves all natural habitats for the animals, if there were some to put in them..but very impressive with the boardwalks, rock formations and waterfalls throughout the park.

Not a good value for the $40.00 admission, wish I could say so.
Written July 17, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hello, We apologize for your unsatisfactory experience at ZooTampa and appreciate your honest comments. We have fortunately been able to open up all of our habitats that had unfortunately been closed to COVID 19 and are operating at 100%. Some of our animals would be naturally solitary in the wild, with the exception of mating seasons, such as our bears, tigers and Florida panthers so we are unable to have them out on the main habitat at the same time. We also let the animals have the choice of going to their outside habitat or not. We do have 7 elephants, 3 giraffes and 5 alligators but they may have not been visible at the time. We thank you very much for the kind comments about our biology interns and our manatee critical care center. As well as our horticulture design. We will be sure to pass on these on to the team!
Written August 17, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

johnsnova73
Myrtle Beach, SC9 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2019
Graet place to visit. I see a lot of people on here crying about the price, just remember it is used for taking care of all of the animals there as well as the cost of everything that goes along with taking care of all of the animals that they have. Maybe some of you, before complaining about the price you should find out if the Zoos in your state is payed for by the people visiting there or being paid for by your state government. Or subsadized by the government. This zoo is bought and paid for by itself, and there are an awful lot of cost with taking care of animals. If you people that did not like the price you could have left and not stayed. Nobody made you stay. It really makes me mad when someone complains about something that is doing all of the good that they are doing for their animals. These people love what they are doing and you can see that they all love their animals. Keep up the great work that you are doing for these animals.
Written January 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kendyb06
Norwalk, OH61 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Family
Too start this zoo is on the pricy side. We have a membership to a zoo near us and with our pass was able to pay half price at the Tampa zoo. There is no way we would have done this zoo at full price. With that said, it is a nice zoo. Clean, easy to get around and a bunch of animals.
I didn’t feel as if the zoo met to its price compared to the zoos we go to near our home. There isn’t much closeness to the animals. Many of the exhibits were being worked on or didn’t have the animals out. Nothing fancy or very memorable.
My kids did have fun and we did spend almost a entire there.
Just, also, beware of parking. There are no designated parking spots. We saw numerous people giving up on trying to find a spot and just making up their own parking. Be prepared to walk.
Written January 20, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

ms5
Atlanta, GA97 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
This was our first visit to the Lowry Park Zoo. We've watched it featured on Nat Geo channel these past few months and as we were going to be in the area for a few days, I decided to take my 2 tweens. I was surprised by the cost of the tickets $39 each for adults and $29 for kids and although they have a special "pay for the day & get the rest of the year free" - it was pricey! Even without the special - it's the same price anyway. Although I chose the special, we live too far away to make it worth that price but I can see it being great for those who are closer We live in ATL and the Atlanta Zoo is only $28 adults and for $20 kids. Given that the Atlanta Zoo seems to have a bigger variety of animals, I was surprised by this. That's why I didn't give it a 5.

We got there before it opened (on President's Day forgetting that everyone was off from school that day) but we still enjoyed the zoo without a lot of crowds. We felt like it was hard at first to see both the Florida section and the Asia section without a clear flow to go by. I think we had to back track a bit to see things we missed. We did wait for the tram ride to see the backside of the Africa exhibit. But it was a very reasonable wait time and it moved quicker than I expected. I think it was worth the wait as we got to get closer to the white rhinos that way and the mom and baby were right up by the fence as we passed.

I think the kids and I all loved the Manatee exhibit the most. Lots of viewing windows and we got to see them eat although I think they probably do that all day long. They are such gentle creatures that it's calming to sit and just watch them float by. I also appreciated being able to view the Medical pools and see the great work that the zoo was doing to help save manatees.

We didn't eat much except we did get some ice cream at one of the stands. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't overpriced and that we got good portions. I personally thought the Luscious Llama flavor was pretty good. We didn't pay for any additional rides that were available since I couldn't justify paying for them on top of the tickets.

We definitely were glad that we visited. I couldn't imagine being there on a super hot day in the summer because even though there are definitely a good amount of areas with shade - they were usually because of trees with nests in them from the local birds. Which means you literally have to watch out for birds dropping a big surprise on you!
Written February 21, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Michele K
Bridgewater, Canada155 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Couples
We enjoyed our visit but it really wasn’t any better than other zoos we have visited. I really don’t understand the whole rides and animals thing but realize it must be to maximize profits. We went in the morning and headed right to the train for the safari which honestly was a disappointment after doing other safaris in the past. You really can’t see the animals because of all the cages, thought it would be more like our Disney safari experience and it is not. We enjoyed seeing the manatees which was our real reason for visiting and found a few of the employees to be helpful with information etc which is always nice. We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t feed the parrots(lorikeets) as feeding times were not listed anywhere or we would have arrived at the specified time anyways I am an adult so I dealt with my minor disappointment but it really should be advertised that you can only feed at certain times. We bought the Tampa city pass and used this to get in. We ended up only using 3 of the passes in our booklet so it wasn’t worth it for us. We find Florida attractions expensive but it does seem to be the norm these days. We wouldn’t return but I don’t regret visiting once.
Written January 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Neil S
Calgary, Canada40 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020 • Solo
The Tampa zoo is relatively small, but has lots of interesting animals u dont see in most zoos eg. Okapi, Tapir, Indian gharial, it took 2.5 hours for me to walk it. Great manatee exhibit, African elephants had a massive area to roam , I would highly recommend, free parking.
Written March 14, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Katie K
Liverpool, NY13 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Friends
Visiting my parents and I try to pick a place i haven't been to. This time one of the places was the zoo, we all had a great time seeing the animals.
I was disappointed with the price of almost $40 per person, also multiple exhibits were closed, along only 1 option for lunch (not great), all the other eating places were closed.
I can now check that off my Florida to do list.
It is a lovely zoo and I think everyone should see the beautiful animals, the team of employees were extremely friendly and informative.
Written February 19, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jennifera64
Danville, VA186 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020
The zoo was a bit pricey (as is everything in Tampa), but they were offering admission for the rest of 2020 with your ticket purchase, which I did even though I probably will not be back (you never know!). I felt like this was a typical zoo. They had the usual animals in residence, but did have a few that I had not seen before (or, I should say, some not so typical of most zoos). Asia and Primates were the best sections. Wallaroo had koalas (behind glass - difficulty seeing with the glare), but no kangaroos (I'm wondering if they don't because Busch Gardens has so many?). The biggest disappointment to me was not being able to see the okapi. Some habitats/areas throughout the zoo were being renovated, so not all animals were on display. Some were just inside, I guess??
Written March 7, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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ZooTampa At Lowry Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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