You don't have to leave the Zurich area to watch wolves, bears and bison. Some wildlife parks here charge nothing, and a few city community centers keep goats, donkeys and llamas by the playground. Add the big zoos and working farms where kids pick fruit or meet a barn full of water buffalo. Here's what we checked, from Zoo Zürich to the llamas at GZ Heuried.
Zoo Zürich covers 27 hectares on the wooded Zürichberg. The Masoala Rainforest is a miniature Madagascar rainforest under one roof, with red ruffed lemurs, Aldabra giant tortoises and an 18-meter treetop walkway.
The Lewa Savanna holds giraffes, white rhinos and Grévy's zebras around baobab trees that double as feeding stations. At the Kaeng Krachan Elephant Park, kids can watch Asian elephants swim past an underwater viewing window.
Switzerland's oldest zoo, founded in 1869, is also the country's largest by area. It keeps 19 native and formerly native mammal species in large, near-natural forest enclosures: brown bears, wolves, lynx, moose, European bison, Przewalski's horses, wild boar, ibex, otters and marmots.
Between enclosures there are two playgrounds, one with swings and a zip line and a smaller one with climbing for young children.
Wildpark Bruderhaus is a forest wildlife park on the Eschenberg, just south of Winterthur, founded in 1890 and run by the city. Around 90 animals of ten native or once-native species live in large wooded enclosures: wolves, lynx, European bison, Przewalski's horses, wild boar, red deer and mouflon.
Info boards and nature trails line the gravel paths, and there is a playground, a restaurant and picnic spots with fire pits.
Knies Kinderzoo is a hands-on zoo run by the Knie circus family since 1962, with about 400 animals from 45 species by Lake Zurich. Kids can feed the elephants, ride ponies and camels, and loop the grounds on the electric zoo tram. Giraffes, cheetahs, penguins and a goat petting area round it out, with free keeper talks and a short animal film through the day.
The park sits on the terrain left by the 1806 Goldau landslide. In the free-roaming zone, kids feed sika deer and mouflons with the park's own food. Bears and wolves share one enclosure, owls live in a walk-in aviary, and a farm area has goats and donkeys.
Wet days suit the Zauberwald indoor playground and a landslide simulator. A wooden tower nearly 30 m tall looks out to the Rigi.
Walter Zoo holds about 100 animal species, from tigers, chimpanzees and Barbary lions to meerkats, red pandas and small-clawed otters. The tropical, savanna and reptile houses give a dry option on wet days.
Kids can feed some animals with the zoo's own hay pellets, watch keeper-led feedings, ride ponies and run between the playgrounds. Two fire pits by the flamingo pond come with free wood for grilling.
Juckerhof is a working farm above Lake Pfäffikon, with a farm restaurant, a farm shop and views across the lake. Kids get a playground, a goat park, a straw bouncy castle and play tractors.
The ÖpfelGarte grows nearly 6,000 apple trees into two mazes and a labyrinth, beside a barefoot trail. Each autumn the farm fills with giant pumpkin sculptures.
Bächlihof is a Jucker Farm visitor farm set among fruit orchards. Kids get a playground, a straw bouncy castle, play tractors and a goat park, and the farm keeps goats, rabbits, chickens and pigs.
Through a glass wall, families can watch the farm kitchen make soups, jams and oat drink. In summer there are blueberries to pick, and each autumn the farm hosts a pumpkin exhibition with carved giant pumpkins.
Riedenholzhof is an organic family farm on city-owned land. Its herd of about 100 water buffalo, calves included, lives in a barn that visitors can walk into from the open farmyard. Dairy cows, boarding horses and, in spring and fall, a few pigs share the farm.
From about June into fall, families pick their own berries in a field by the farm shop.
GZ Buchegg is one of the city's community centers, a short walk over the footbridge from Bucheggplatz. Donkeys, ponies, llamas and goats live in pens that families can stop by and watch, and visitors can help with the morning feeding.
Inside there's a self-run play room, a café with homemade cake where nobody has to order, and a stage for dance and theater made for young audiences.
GZ Wipkingen is a city community center on a meadow beside the Limmat. Kids run the lawn, climb the rope playground, swing, and dig in a sandpit with a conveyor belt.
The Wipkihof farm keeps mini pigs, dwarf goats, guinea pigs and chickens. On open-stable afternoons kids help in the barn, feed and pet some of the animals, and usually bake stick bread over a fire.
GZ Heuried is a neighborhood community center run by the Zürcher Gemeinschaftszentren foundation. Its Erlebnisgarten (adventure garden) keeps llamas, alpacas, goats, dwarf sheep and rabbits.
Inside, the open workshop stocks soapstone, wood, fabric, plaster, paint, beads and clay, so kids can bring an idea or pick a material and start. The cafeteria welcomes families whether or not they order.
GZ Bachwiesen is one of the city's community centers. Donkeys, ponies, goats, guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens live in pens that families can walk up to at any time, though visitors are asked not to feed them.
Inside, a café serves homemade cake and syrup for kids, and the wood workshop lets children build their own projects with staff showing them the machines, no course or sign-up needed.
You don't have to leave the Zurich area to watch wolves, bears and bison. Some wildlife parks here charge nothing, and a few city community centers keep goats, donkeys and llamas by the playground. Add the big zoos and working farms where kids pick fruit or meet a barn full of water buffalo. Here's what we checked, from Zoo Zürich to the llamas at GZ Heuried.
Zoo Zürich covers 27 hectares on the wooded Zürichberg. The Masoala Rainforest is a miniature Madagascar rainforest under one roof, with red ruffed lemurs, Aldabra giant tortoises and an 18-meter treetop walkway.
The Lewa Savanna holds giraffes, white rhinos and Grévy's zebras around baobab trees that double as feeding stations. At the Kaeng Krachan Elephant Park, kids can watch Asian elephants swim past an underwater viewing window.
Switzerland's oldest zoo, founded in 1869, is also the country's largest by area. It keeps 19 native and formerly native mammal species in large, near-natural forest enclosures: brown bears, wolves, lynx, moose, European bison, Przewalski's horses, wild boar, ibex, otters and marmots.
Between enclosures there are two playgrounds, one with swings and a zip line and a smaller one with climbing for young children.
Wildpark Bruderhaus is a forest wildlife park on the Eschenberg, just south of Winterthur, founded in 1890 and run by the city. Around 90 animals of ten native or once-native species live in large wooded enclosures: wolves, lynx, European bison, Przewalski's horses, wild boar, red deer and mouflon.
Info boards and nature trails line the gravel paths, and there is a playground, a restaurant and picnic spots with fire pits.
Knies Kinderzoo is a hands-on zoo run by the Knie circus family since 1962, with about 400 animals from 45 species by Lake Zurich. Kids can feed the elephants, ride ponies and camels, and loop the grounds on the electric zoo tram. Giraffes, cheetahs, penguins and a goat petting area round it out, with free keeper talks and a short animal film through the day.
The park sits on the terrain left by the 1806 Goldau landslide. In the free-roaming zone, kids feed sika deer and mouflons with the park's own food. Bears and wolves share one enclosure, owls live in a walk-in aviary, and a farm area has goats and donkeys.
Wet days suit the Zauberwald indoor playground and a landslide simulator. A wooden tower nearly 30 m tall looks out to the Rigi.
Walter Zoo holds about 100 animal species, from tigers, chimpanzees and Barbary lions to meerkats, red pandas and small-clawed otters. The tropical, savanna and reptile houses give a dry option on wet days.
Kids can feed some animals with the zoo's own hay pellets, watch keeper-led feedings, ride ponies and run between the playgrounds. Two fire pits by the flamingo pond come with free wood for grilling.
Juckerhof is a working farm above Lake Pfäffikon, with a farm restaurant, a farm shop and views across the lake. Kids get a playground, a goat park, a straw bouncy castle and play tractors.
The ÖpfelGarte grows nearly 6,000 apple trees into two mazes and a labyrinth, beside a barefoot trail. Each autumn the farm fills with giant pumpkin sculptures.
Bächlihof is a Jucker Farm visitor farm set among fruit orchards. Kids get a playground, a straw bouncy castle, play tractors and a goat park, and the farm keeps goats, rabbits, chickens and pigs.
Through a glass wall, families can watch the farm kitchen make soups, jams and oat drink. In summer there are blueberries to pick, and each autumn the farm hosts a pumpkin exhibition with carved giant pumpkins.
Riedenholzhof is an organic family farm on city-owned land. Its herd of about 100 water buffalo, calves included, lives in a barn that visitors can walk into from the open farmyard. Dairy cows, boarding horses and, in spring and fall, a few pigs share the farm.
From about June into fall, families pick their own berries in a field by the farm shop.
GZ Buchegg is one of the city's community centers, a short walk over the footbridge from Bucheggplatz. Donkeys, ponies, llamas and goats live in pens that families can stop by and watch, and visitors can help with the morning feeding.
Inside there's a self-run play room, a café with homemade cake where nobody has to order, and a stage for dance and theater made for young audiences.
GZ Wipkingen is a city community center on a meadow beside the Limmat. Kids run the lawn, climb the rope playground, swing, and dig in a sandpit with a conveyor belt.
The Wipkihof farm keeps mini pigs, dwarf goats, guinea pigs and chickens. On open-stable afternoons kids help in the barn, feed and pet some of the animals, and usually bake stick bread over a fire.
GZ Heuried is a neighborhood community center run by the Zürcher Gemeinschaftszentren foundation. Its Erlebnisgarten (adventure garden) keeps llamas, alpacas, goats, dwarf sheep and rabbits.
Inside, the open workshop stocks soapstone, wood, fabric, plaster, paint, beads and clay, so kids can bring an idea or pick a material and start. The cafeteria welcomes families whether or not they order.
GZ Bachwiesen is one of the city's community centers. Donkeys, ponies, goats, guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens live in pens that families can walk up to at any time, though visitors are asked not to feed them.
Inside, a café serves homemade cake and syrup for kids, and the wood workshop lets children build their own projects with staff showing them the machines, no course or sign-up needed.
