Visit Beauval Zoo: tickets, prices, schedules

Are you going to visit the Beauval Zoo, known as the most beautiful zoo in France? Here’s the main thing to know about this Beauval zoo!

Located on the French commune of Saint-Aignan, in the Loir-et-Cher (41), the Beauval Zoo is a vast animal park with 10,000 animals of 600 different species on a surface of 40 hectares. It is one of the largest zoos in France and Europe. With its reputation and its tourist and hotel attractiveness – the park has four luxury hotels – the zoo attracted 1.5 million visitors in 2018.

Would you like to visit the Beauval Zoo? This is our mini tour guide!

History of the Beauval Zoo

The story of the zoo created in 1980 tells that Françoise Lajunias alias Françoise Delord, then presenter of the shows at the Bobino Hall (Paris) receives as a gift a couple of passers-by from Africa (beak-of-money). It later procures two grey Mandarin diamonds and its collection flies to 400 animals. It is in the inability to accommodate all her specimens that she decides, with her husband Jacques Lajunias (alias Jacques Delord), to open an animal park in Beauval: the future Beauval zoo was born, which will be the launch of an entire life dedicated to animals and their protection.

In 1980, at the opening, the park already has more than 2,000 birds, which is a unique collection in France from the outset. In 1989, the animal park was home to its first faves and first primates, thus becoming a zoo that will not cease to collapse later and rise to fame in France. The zoo is gradually dominated by green plains, tropical greenhouses, panoramic basins and landscaped islands where to welcome white tigers (subspecies of the Bengal tiger), orang-outans, chimpanzees, snakes, Nile crocodiles, otaries, raptors, pandas, lamantins, gorillas, hyenas, white lions

In 2016, Beauval Zoo holds 3,000 mammals, birds and reptiles. At the end of 2018, the Beauval Zoo can boast a total of 450 births per year – sometimes very rare species – in the zoo.

What to see and do at the Beauval Zoo?

The largest zoo in France, visiting the Beauval Zoo allows to see thousands of animals, sometimes threatened, protected and/or endangered, more than 600 species across 40 hectares . By visiting the collection 10,000 animals from the zoo, one wanders between tropical greenhouses, green plains, landscaped islands, voliers and basins.

The Beauval Zoo is so vast that it imposes a guided journey on the visitor to fully enjoy it: the animals are compartmentalized in 94 spaces and enclosures (Lemurian islands, Flemish water plan, nursery, giant turtles, African savannah, white tigers, lions house, vivarium, suricates and lycaons, etc.) The most emblematic residents of the zoo are certainly the two giant pandas of China.

The Beauval Zoo thus has 11 dedicated spaces : the greenhouse of large monkeys, the greenhouse of birds – 1,500 birds from all over the world -, the tropical greenhouse of gorillas and lamantins, an African plain - where to see a dozen herbivorous species: rhinoceros, gwe, giraffes -, the basin of the otters, the Australian greenhouse, the plain of the elephants of Africa, the Asian plain, the field “On

You still have time to visit the Beauval Zoo? Enjoy the different shows and entertainment offered by the park:

– “ Masters of the Air » in the outdoor theatre (from March 30, 2019): bird show – “ The Odyssey of the sea lions » in the aquatic amphitheatre (from March 30, 2019) show of otarie and educational animations on the life of animals. - In particular, you can realize internship to learn to treat animals !

How to visit the Beauval Zoo?

Start by downloading the map below to find you in the field (you can download the application of the zoo, very convenient): do not look to visit the Beauval Zoo in the digital order because the animal enclosures are not hijacked in the order.

Enlarge the plan

What is the best time to visit the ZooParc de Beauval?

Depending on your stay in Beauval, please wake up! When you arrive at the opening of the park at 9am, you avoid the crowd and too long queues. The best time of the year to visit the Beauval Zoo is in July and August, but for more tranquility (and less world), prefer to come during the spring and early autumn months.

How long does it take to visit the Beauval Zoo?

The ideal is to plan an entire day on the Beauval site. If you don’t have a full day to devote to the visit of the zoo, you should know that a minimum of 5 hours is enough to discover the entire zoo, as well as to see the bird shows, “The Masters of the Airs”, and the sea lions, “The Odyssey of the sea lions”.

Is it possible to eat on site at the Zoo de Beauval?

It is forbidden to picnic in the zoo. To restore you, know that the zoo has 12 catering points throughout the park. Otherwise, tables and picnic benches have been installed near the parking lot: you can take your lunch break before returning inside the zoo but be careful, think about getting you a buffer out!

How to get to Beauval Zoo?

To visit the Beauval Zoo, it is recommended to devote a whole day. Since the park is located around Blois between Tours and Vierzon, there are several ways to get there:

• By car

From Paris, you just need to take the A10 towards Orleans, before Vierzon, Tours, and finally Saint Aignan before joining the Zoo so the access is facilitated by signposts. At the start of another city, you can choose the direction of Tours, Blois or Vierzon (choose nearest).

• By bus

It is possible to come by bus to the Zoo de Beauval. From Paris, you can book a return trip online which includes a break in the medieval town of St Aignan on Cher. You'll get to the park at 10:00. Take 2h45.

• By train

If you opt for the train, just stop at Blois train station before taking the shuttle to the Zoo (about 1 hour drive for 4€ the return trip). Careful, however, it does not work every day and is only operational from late March to November. To learn more, think about see schedules before you leave.

Timetables and rates for the Beauval Zoo

HORARI

The Beauval Zoo is open every day from 9 hours:

• Giant pandas

- From November to February: from 9am to 4:30pm - April, May, June, September: from 9am to 6pm – July, August: from 9am to 8pm – March and October: from 9am to 5pm

• Hippopotamus reserve

- From November to February: from 9am to 5pm - April, May, June, September: 9:30 am to 6:30 pm – July, August: from 9am to 7:30pm – March and October: from 9am to 5:30pm

• Tropical lights

- From November to February: from 9am to 5:30pm - March, April, May, June, September: from 9am to 7pm – July, August: from 9am to 8pm – October: from 9am to 6pm

• Shops

– November and December: from 9am to 6pm – January: from 9am to 5:30pm – February: from 9am to 6:30pm – March and October: from 9am to 7pm – April, May, June and September: from 9am to 7:30pm – July, August: from 9am to 8:30pm

In November and December the shop is closed at 6:30 pm on weekends, holidays and school holidays.

RATES

• Ticket 1 day

- Adults (after 11 years): 29 € – Child rate: (3 to 10 years old): 23 € - Less than 3 years: free

• Post 2 days

– Adults: 43,50 € - Children : 34,50 € - Less than 3 years: free

• ZooPass 1 year

– Adults: 58 € - Children : 46 € - Less than 3 years: free

Note that the app can be downloaded to better guide you through the paths of the zoo and to find answers to all its questions about animals: or how to have a guided tour on your smartphone (but not abuse it to fully enjoy it)!