Tiergarten

Zoos don't get too hot a press these days, but visitors to Vienna's Tiergarten (Animalgarden) will be hard pushed not to be won over. Vienna's zoo seems to be a model of how to get it right. The calibre and spaciousness of the enclosures are exemplary, coupled with a setting that's second to none. For this is the world's oldest functioning zoo (f.1752), occupying a gracious stretch alongside Schonbrunn Palace. Several of the animal houses themselves are beautiful period pieces, and you can pop in for tea at a splendid baroque pavilion. But what of the animals themselves? Amongst creatures great and small you'll find anteaters, crocs, monkeys, koalas, elephants and a pair of pandas - and that's just the tip of the ice-berg. All in all a top Vienna attraction.

Unlike any zoo I've visited anywhere else. Very viennese! Definitely go!

This was a top recommendation. A totally different experience to how I remember London zoo as a child. But I definitely felt like an awe-struck child again seeing all these animals. The aquatic rooms and tropical bits were especially good. And we enjoyed the pandas who had a new cub, something of a miraculous arrival we were told. A great day out!

My favourite place in Vienna