Rio Grande Zoo

"Animals galore"

The Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque is an impressive zoo for a moderate sized capital city.  This zoo packs a lot of animals in its space, 200 animal species in 64 acres.  This zoo feels bigger than it actually is because there is so much to see and do.  The zoo is divided by geographical regions making it a good way for kids to learn where all of the different species live.  I like that the exhibits are situated very close together making it easy to keep several children together and entertained all at once.  The zoo has plenty of shade for resting and there is plenty of picnic and play areas for the kids.    

My kids’ favorite exhibit was the polar bears, where we viewed bears swimming underwater and saw them climbing on the rocks.  We also had fun feeding birds in the huge koi pond and playing in the shooting water play area, a perfect place to cool off on a hot summer day in Albuquerque.

Rio Grande Zoo is part of the Albuquerque BioPark, which includes the zoo, Tingley Beach, Botanic Garden and Aquarium.  Very reasonably priced combination tickets can be purchased to visit all of these attractions in one day.  However, visiting the Rio Grande Zoo can be an entire day’s activity on its own.