Zoo Atlanta: Tickets, Hours and Planning Your Visit

Zoo Atlanta is at 800 Cherokee Avenue SE, in historic Grant Park. Its story began in 1889, when businessman George Valentine Gress bought animals left behind by a bankrupt traveling show and donated them to the City of Atlanta. The zoo opened to the public in Grant Park that April.

Today, visitor areas include the Ford African Rain Forest, African Savanna, Scaly Slimy Spectacular, Zambezi Elephant Center, Living Treehouse and Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Giant Panda Conservation Center. The Ford African Rain Forest opened in 1988, creating habitats for gorillas, including Willie B.’s first outdoor habitat.

The African Savanna’s elephant environment was completed in 2019 and is more than three times the size of the elephants’ former habitat. The area also includes lions, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, meerkats, warthogs, ostriches and kori bustards. Western lowland gorillas have a 1.8-acre habitat divided into five areas; one is not visible to guests.

If you’re planning time beyond the zoo, you can pair the visit with a walk around Grant Park and its green spaces.

Zoo Atlanta’s daytime admission prices for Select Your Date tickets vary by date. General admission is free for children under 3. The zoo also offers a 10% daytime-admission discount to active-duty, reserve, veteran and retired U.S. Armed Forces members and up to three accompanying people. You can get that discount in person at Zoo Admissions.

For ticket choices and admission details, check the official site before you go.

Zoo Atlanta is open year-round except on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Listed hours are 9 a.m.–5 p.m. on weekdays, with last entry at 3:30 p.m., and 9 a.m.–6 p.m. on weekends, with last entry at 4:30 p.m. Schedules may change without notice.

Plan around the zoo’s closing routine: animals begin going in for the day 30 minutes before the grounds close, and food stands close one hour before closing. Zoo Atlanta estimates an average visit at around three hours, so arriving well before last entry gives you more time on the grounds.

Zoo Atlanta is about a 14-minute drive from Travel Inn Atlanta. Public parking is available in the Cherokee Avenue lot and the Grant Park Gateway facility. The listed rate is $3 per hour, up to $12 per day.

The Cherokee Avenue lot is at 800 Cherokee Avenue SE. Pay at a pay-on-foot machine or use ParkMobile with the zone number posted at the lot. Grant Park Gateway is at 759 Boulevard SE; take your ticket and pay at a pay-on-foot machine on any level before exiting.

You can also look into public transit. MARTA route availability may change, so use the agency’s current schedules, real-time information and service alerts to plan your trip. For more on getting around the city, see this Atlanta public transport guide. Zoo Atlanta also lists a Relay Bike Share hub on Cherokee Avenue in front of the zoo.

Manual wheelchairs rent for $14 plus tax per day, and electric scooters rent for $33 plus tax per day. Find rentals at the Explorer Store or Safari Outfitters just inside the front entrance.

Electric scooters are limited, offered first-come, first-served without reservations, and unavailable for 21+ events. Scooter renters must be at least 18; manual wheelchair rentals have no age restriction.

Zoo Atlanta offers sensory-inclusive resources, including a sensory-processing map. Animal ID signs in the African Savanna have QR-linked videos with audio, ASL interpretation and captions. Videos in the Zambezi Elephant Center also provide audio, ASL interpretation and captions.

Service dogs and miniature horses trained to perform a disability-related task are permitted; emotional-support animals and other animals are not. Service animals cannot enter certain marked areas, including the petting zoo, Living Treehouse aviary and walk-through building, Monkeys of Makokou viewing decks, giraffe feeding area and behind-the-scenes areas.

Children under 12 must stay with a responsible adult at all times. Zoo Atlanta also prohibits balloons, glass containers, drones, recreational balls, outside alcoholic beverages, and non-motorized scooters, bicycles, skateboards and skates. Weapons are prohibited except as permitted by law.