How to Plan a Day Trip to the San Francisco Zoo Park

Are you planning a full day outdoor activity with your kids or family? Are you interested in wildlife and close interaction with animals? If you are visiting San Francisco or live within an hour's drive to the area, the San Francisco Zoo Park would be a great place to explore. The SFO zoo has all attractions and amenities for people of all ages. One can combine a visit to the beach and the zoo for a day on the weekend. With proper planning, you would surely have a fun filled day at the zoo and the beach at SFO.

What makes SFO zoo popular among kids and adults is the close interaction with the wild animals and endangered species. The zoo park opens at 10 am to 5 pm in the summer and 10 am to 4 pm in winters. The family farm and kid's zoo are open from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. Kids would love to feed the goats and sheep and play with the ducks. You can get a hands on experience with farming, cleaning up the stables and play with the splashing ducks or playful sheep.

The San Francisco Zoo Park has a considerably big parking lot. However, it can be full during early mornings on weekends. The zoo parking might be full by 10 am on weekends. Hence, you could plan to reach the place by 12 noon to park inside the zoo campus. In case the parking lot is full, the security personnel would be standing outside the parking lot and providing you directions to park on the streets around the area. You could also try your luck and find a parallel parking spot quite easily after driving around the parking lot for 5 to 10 minutes.

Once you are done with parking, you would require the entrance tickets. There is no need to buy the zoo park tickets online. Even if there are lengthy lines, they get cleared very soon. The SFO Zoo also offers different kinds of membership options if you are interested. If you have kids or adults who would like to visit the zoo frequently, it would be a good idea to apply for a membership. It is affordable and comes with free guest passes, admission to various events and discounts at the gift shops and cafes inside the premises. The membership also provides you free entry to the bay area aquariums and zoo parks in several places in U.S.

While visiting the SFO Zoo with seniors or kids, you can rent wheelchairs, strollers, wagons and electric scooters for the whole day. These rentals are reasonably priced and can be returned as you leave the zoo. Since the place is located near the beach, it tends to be airy and windy during early morning and late afternoon. It would be a good idea to dress warmly in layers during winters. During summer, from may end onwards, it is fine to wear short sleeved dresses but carry a jacket in case it gets windy.

While walking around the 125 acres of the Zoo area, you would be ravishing and hungry. You are allowed to bring along picnic baskets and snacks with you to the zoo. Even if you do not have a picnic basket, you can buy snacks and lunch inside the zoo. There are food stalls at regular intervals and 3 cafes. You can find tasty burgers, pizza, hotdogs, ice cream and several other options of food to choose at the cafe. The smaller refreshment stalls sell popcorn, pretzels, soda, water and ice creams.

You would not have to worry about long lines and wait time at the food counters. The service is fast and the food is served hot. The quantity is filling enough and can even be shared among two people. For vegetarians, there are options of veggie burgers, veggie pizza, salads, fries and fresh fruit. There are plenty of restrooms around the zoo park. These are well maintained and neat.

Other attractions at the Zoo Park include puffer steam train rides, carousel and gift shops to buy souvenirs. It is also fun to watch the feeding sessions with giraffe, penguins, grizzly bears and the pelicans. It would take 2-3 hours to visit all exhibits at the zoo including the feeding sessions. If you reach the SFO Zoo Park by 9:45 am, you can spend 3-4 hours at the zoo and the remaining time at the SFO beach which is a 5 minute walk from the zoo.