Goldau Zoo
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| Address |
Parkstrasse 40 6410
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| Telephone |
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| How to
Find it: |
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| Open: |
1 Nov-31 Mar: 9am-5pm
1 Apr-31 Oct: 9am-6pm; Sat & Sun 9am-7pm |
| Prices: |
SFr16; concessions SFr14; children SFr10 |
| Area: |
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No of Species |
No of Animals |
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Star
Rating |
| Mammals |
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Conservation |
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| Birds |
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Enclosures |
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| Reptiles |
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Education |
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| Amphibians |
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Recreation |
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| Fish |
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Research |
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| Total |
0 |
0 |
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Click here for a Link to the Zoo’s own Web Pages
Write a
review of this zoo
This critique last updated:
Mar 2008
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Official Description Discover the wonders of nature and the animal kingdom at Switzerland's premier animal park, situated in the beautiful boulder-strewn wilderness of Goldau. Many of the animals here are free-roaming and can be petted and fed – with care of course! Unlike ordinary zoos, visitors can get up close to a wide range of wildlife, including deer, mouflon sheep, billy goats and chamois, in areas that closely resemble their natural habitats. There is also a chance to view wild animals such as bears, lynxes, marmots, wild cats and racoons.
Goldau has spacious grounds featuring two tranquil lakes dotted with swans, ducks and geese – the perfect spot for a family picnic. Children also enjoy a huge park with swings, watchtowers, sandpits and climbing nets. The star attraction is a 20-metre long slide, providing plenty of thrills and spills.
The species here are mainly European and the concept is to educate visitors about wildlife conservation through presentations, exhibitions and guided tours.
Visitor Reviews Goldau Zoo, Switzerland I visited Goldau Zoo for the first time on August 5th, 2005 and soon decided that it is well worth visiting for its spectacular alpine location and unique terrain, if not for its animal collection. Surrounded on all sides by impressive mountains, some of which were snow-capped, the zoo park itself is strewn by enormous rock formations among which visitors ascend and descend steep rugged paths interspersed at regular intervals with barbecue areas where sausages (bought on site) can be roasted. Despite its twenty-five year existence, Goldau Zoo has a remarkably small animal collection for such a well-known zoo. Free-ranging animals which are visitor- fed with food sold in small cardboard boxes a little larger than a pack of cigarettes include European mouflon (on my visit I saw only females and juveniles), fallow deer (again I saw only females) and Sika deer (subspecies unknown but possibly Japanese- Vietnam hybrids) and possibly a roe deer. Other mammals include European bison in a large flat paddock, wild boar, alpine marmots, European wild cats, raccoons, alpine ibex and Syrian brown bears. Birds included owls and raptors. A large lake attached to the zoo and skirting the main road from the railway station contains waterfowl. This can easily be missed by visitors if they fail to see the sign pointing to the path leading to it. The day I visited the zoo it appeared to be packed to capacity and the cafeteria was barely managing to cope with the demand for its services – the latter situation not helped by the curious system of handing out numbered tickets once one had paid for the food. I expected the food to appear according to the sequence of the ticket numbers but this was not the case. Some customers’ numbers were called within 5 to 10 minutes while others took up to 35. The numbers were called out by microphone to those waiting outside but this was only of use to those who understood the local dialect, no attempt being made to give out the numbers in what I might term standard German more likely to be understood by tourists. Sales of the small boxes of animal food were considerable, most children urging their parents to repeatedly buy more of them.
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