Virginia Zoological Park
Published on HivePostify by @byzantinecat · Thu Aug 20 2026
Good morning!
I recently traveled to Norfolk in southern Virginia, during which I visited two zoos, an aquarium, and a handful of museums. This post is on the Virginia Zoological Park, known more colloquially as the Virginia Zoo.
It is my first post on Virginia tourist attractions:
J1: Virginia Zoological Park (this post)
This is my backlog of other Virginia sites:
- Virginia Living Museum
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Virginia Air & Space Science Center
- Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center
All of the pictures in this post were taken by me except for the map of the zoo. If you want to use any of my photos, please contact me to first obtain permission.
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VIRGINIA ZOOLOGICAL PARK
3500 Granby St Norfolk, VA 23504
Website: https://virginiazoo.org/
Hours:
Open Daily, 9:30 AM - 4 PM.
Last admission is at 3 PM.
Cost (as of 2026):
Adults (Ages 12+): $20 Seniors (Ages 62+): $18 Children (Ages 2 - 11): $17 College Students: $12 Adults & Children through the Virginia PowerUp! Program for Medicaid: $7
(These prices include a $2.05 Conservation and Technology Fee so the base price is actually lower).
$2 discount for military, first responders, teachers, Norfolk residents, City of Norfolk employees and their dependents, and foster families.
Advance reservations are required for anyone attending during Sensory Friendly Morning.
Before Spring Break (April 4 - 12, 2026), there is a $2 discount to guests who book their tickets online in advance.
The Virginia Zoo participates in the AZA Reciprocity program at the 50% rate. Members of all other participating zoos (whether those zoos participate at 50% or 100%) get 50% off the admission rate at the Virginia Zoo. And Virginia Zoo members get 50% off the admission of all participating zoos (regardless of whether that zoo participates at 50% or 100%).
AZA Reciprocal tickets can be bought online or in person.
Since I was a member of Buttonwood Park Zoo, I got 50% off admission. However, the numbers are tricky because of the Conservation and Technology Fee. You would think that 50% off of $20 would be $10. But general admission is really a $17.95 base price + $2.05 fee, so with the AZA discount you have a $8.95 discounted price + $2.05 fee = $11 total.
Parking is free.
Estimated Time: 1 - 2 hours.
The Virginia Zoo is a medium-sized zoo that you can finish in 1 or 2 hours. I went to 3 of the free keeper/educator chats, visited the Asia and Africa sections three times each to try and see certain animals, and actively looked for employees to get trading cards so I actually spent 4.5 hours at the zoo, which is not typical.
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SUMMARY
The Virginia Zoo is a medium-size zoo that I would normally rate as "average" (2 stars) but the fun and compelling trading card system is enough to boost the rating up to "good" (3 stars).
The trading cards are new, having only been implemented in the past year and there are only around 20 at the moment. In addition, a lot of employees have not made it a regular habit of carrying cards and the card distribution seems rather random as opposed to the specific criteria and locations listed on the website. The only other zoo I have found that has a trading card system is the Oakland Zoo, which has had trading cards for a numbers of years and have well over a 100 different cards. Oakland Zoo has developed their system over time and many employees are good about carrying them. It's the main draw of the zoo for me and is enough to take an average 2-star zoo (Oakland Zoo) to an excellent 4 stars in the case of Oakland Zoo. Similarly, Virginia is a 2-star zoo that is currently at 3 stars due to their trading cards but if they are able to refine their system they could be up there at 4 stars with Oakland.
Besides the trading cards, the highlights of the Virginia Zoo included a baby orangutan. I was able to get excellent views of rock hyraxes and Patagonia cavies, which are rarer inhabitants of U.S. zoos. And I got some great pictures of Malaysian tapirs and a Cape porcupine.
The biggest disappointment was not being able to see much of the red panda. While there is a nice red panda habitat, the red panda spent most of the time in an air-conditioned hut. A better designed habitat could make one side of the hut into a window (maybe even a one-way window if privacy is important) or install a video camera with an interior view.
Like with many other zoos, the map makes the Virginia Zoo appear bigger than it really is. The largest concentration of animals are in Asia: Trail of the Tiger, African Safari Trail, Zoo Farm, and World of Reptiles & Friends. Large sections of the map are bereft of animals. There are a handful of turtles in the Turtle Oasis, alpacas in Flora Point, and no critters in the Animal Wellness Campus. I took more pictures than normal in the reptile house. I'm not sure if it's because Virginia Zoo has more reptiles than normal or whether it was because there were fewer animals outside which let me spend more time and battery power with the reptiles!
While I got to see most of the zoo residents, I did not see the Asian small-clawed otters, binturong, or African painted dog. Some of the maps reference a bison in Flora Point but that habitat was empty - newer maps and the website omit mention of any bison. I didn't see the yellow-backed duiker but small deer are often elusive at zoos. There is also an exhibit that formerly hosted prairie dogs but is now occupied by some turtles. I only got to see the red panda for a short amount of time and got brief glimpses of the alpaca and lion.
The Virginia Zoo has a variety of free Guest Engagement Activities, usually spaced out every 30 - 60 minutes. While I would have loved to have attended the Zoo Tales event, unfortunately, my flight did not arrive early enough to accommodate that. I did, however, attend 2 keeper chats (bongo & perentie monitor) and 1 educator chat (cassowary). The bongo chat was underwhelming - there was no formal presentation, it was just an employee hanging around to answer any questions. I passed by the area several times wondering where the keeper chat was before finally finding the employee. They were able to point out the 2 female and 1 male bongos though. The cassowary educator chat provided basic facts about cassowaries and had some sample feathers to look at. It would mainly appeal to kids. Besides me, there were only 1 or 2 other people at the bongo and cassowary chats. The perentie monitor chat, on the other hand, was extremely crowded with a large group of summer camp kids. The chat started off slow with the keeper answering a bunch of basic questions from the children. Where it got interesting is when the keeper did a feeding session for the monitors.
Here is how the Virginia Zoo stacks up compared to other zoos:
5 stars:
- San Diego Zoo (San Diego, CA) - Brookfield Zoo (Brookfield, IL) - Taipei Zoo (Taipei City, Taiwan)
4 stars:
- San Diego Safari Park (San Diego, CA) - Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden (Cincinnati, OH) - Oklahoma City Zoo (Oklahoma City, OK) - Milwaukee County Zoo (Milwaukee, WI) - Houston Zoo (Houston, TX) - Oakland Zoo (Oakland, CA)
3 stars:
- Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago, IL, Free) - Zoo Atlanta (Atlanta, GA) - Buttonwood Park Zoo (New Bedford, MA) - Butterflies of Cape Cod (Bourne, MA) - International Crane Foundation (Baraboo, WI) - Henry Vilas Zoo (Madison, WI, Free) - Indianapolis Zoo (Indianapolis, IN) - Sacramento Zoo (Sacramento, CA) - Santa Barbara Zoo (Santa Barbara, CA) - Fort Worth Zoo (Fort Worth, TX) - Fort Wayne Zoo (Fort Wayne, IN) - Zoo Knoxville (Knoxville, TN) - ZooTampa (Tampa, FL) - Busch Gardens (Tampa, FL) - Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens (Los Angeles, CA) - Detroit Zoo (Detroit, MI) - Virginia Zoological Park (Norfolk, VA) - Virginia Living Museum (Newport News, VA) - Minnesota Zoo (Apple Valley, MN)
2 stars:
- Audubon Insectarium (New Orleans, LA) - Audubon Zoo (New Orleans, LA) - Sarasota Jungle Gardens (Sarasota, FL) - Save Our Seabirds Wild Bird Learning Center (Sarasota, FL, Free) - San Francisco Zoo & Gardens (San Francisco, CA) - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (Vallejo, CA) - Franklin Park Zoo (Boston, MA) - Capron Park Zoo (Attleboro, MA) - Taylor-Bray Farm (Yarmouth Port, MA, Free) - Racine Zoo (Racine, WI) - Ochsner Park Zoo (Baraboo, WI, Free) - John Ball Zoo (Grand Rapids, MI) - Potter Park Zoo (Lansing, MI) - Antalya Zoo (Antalya, Turkey) - Marine Mammal Center (Sausalito, CA, Free) - Santa Ana Zoo (Santa Ana, CA) - San Antonio Zoological Society (San Antonio, TX) - Cameron Park Zoo (Waco, TX) - Dallas Zoo (Dallas, TX) - Caldwell Zoo (Tyler, TX) - Peoria Zoo (Peoria, IL) - Miller Park Zoo (Bloomington, IL) - Scovill Zoo (Decatur, IL) - Potawatomi Zoo (South Bend, IN) - Como Park Zoo & Conservatory (St. Paul, MN, Free)
1 star:
- Cosley Zoo (Wheaton, IL) - Stone Zoo (Stoneham, MA) - Timbavati Wildlife Park (Wisconsin Dells, WI) - Binder Park Zoo (Battle Creek, MI) - Happy Hollow Park & Zoo (San Jose, CA) - CuriOdyssey (San Mateo, CA) - Columbian Park Zoo (Lafayette, IN)
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Tags: #travel#travelblog#wanderlust#norfolk#virginia#zoo#animals#tradingcards#cute#giftshop