Gembira Loka Zoo

It's a good educational and recreational place in the middle of the city. The zoo let the visitors pet some animals in the petting area. The "claw" section was good. The star was the Sumatran tigers. Visitors are allowed to have a picnic as well. The canteen was good and clean. The food was okay. The zoo is a non-smoking area, yet it provides some space to smoke as well. It would be better if the staff constantly reminded the visitors to keep the zoo clean.

Gembira Loka Zoo: A Fun Day Out for Animal Lovers in Yogyakarta

Kebun Binatang Gembira Loka, nestled in the heart of Yogyakarta, offers a delightful experience for families and animal enthusiasts alike. Having had the chance to visit myself, I'm here to share my thoughts on this popular zoo:

Positives:

Diverse Animal Collection: Gembira Loka boasts a wide variety of animals, from majestic Komodo dragons and graceful gharials to playful gibbons and adorable penguins. You'll find creatures from both Indonesia and around the world, making it a great place to learn about different habitats and species.

Spacious Enclosures: The enclosures are generally spacious and well-maintained, offering animals enough room to move and express natural behaviors. This is especially commendable compared to some older zoos, and it's encouraging to see the focus on animal welfare.

Interactive Activities: Beyond just observing animals, Gembira Loka offers interactive experiences like elephant and camel rides, bird feeding, and even touching sessions with certain animals. These activities can be particularly exciting for children and add a unique dimension to the visit.

Additional Attractions: The zoo goes beyond just animals, with various playgrounds, gardens, and even a water park (Gemoira Waterpark) providing additional entertainment for families. This makes it a perfect destination for a full day out.

Affordable Entry and Convenient Location: Gembira Loka offers reasonable ticket prices, making it accessible for most families. Additionally, its location within Yogyakarta city limits makes it easily reachable by public transportation or taxi.

Negatives:

Potentially Crowded: Depending on the day and time, Gembira Loka can get quite crowded, especially during peak season and weekends. This can make navigating the grounds and viewing some exhibits challenging.

Uneven Terrain: Some areas of the zoo, particularly those closer to the water park, have sloping or uneven terrain. This might be difficult for visitors with mobility issues or young children.

Limited Food Options: While there are several food stalls within the zoo, the options tend toward simple snacks and fast food. Visitors looking for a more sit-down dining experience might be better off bringing their own picnic lunch.

Overall Impression:

Despite minor drawbacks, Gembira Loka Zoo leaves a positive impression. Its diverse animal collection, interactive activities, and affordable price make it a great choice for a family outing or a casual visit for animal lovers. Just be prepared for potential crowds and limited food options. My recommendation is to arrive early on weekdays to avoid the biggest crowds and enjoy a peaceful experience among the fascinating creatures of Gembira Loka.

Additional Tips:

Wear comfortable shoes, as you'll be doing a fair amount of walking.

Bring sunscreen and a hat, especially if visiting during the midday sun.

Consider renting a stroller for young children to navigate the large zoo grounds.

Take advantage of the information boards and feeding schedules to learn more about the animals.

Most importantly, respect the animals and their enclosures.

I hope this review helps you decide whether Gembira Loka Zoo is the right destination for your next outing!

The area is green and so huge, it's a good place to visit if you go on a trip to jogja with your children

Good place for holiday with your family. The food on the area is also affordable. The animals seems well feeded and maintained.

On the inside, the bus transport can be used to go to one area to another because the zoo was huge.

One advise, please be in a good condition when going here. Although the bus is exist for transportation, you need to walk a lot on each area if you want to explore this whole zoo.

The zoo in the city of yogyakarta
U can tried speed boad

Entry ticket included boad in the lake of zoo

Its been a very long time more than 10 years not visiting zoo, and Gembira Loka was that amazing -of course many thing to improve but they did it very well after all. There are various animals here looks cute and happy enjoying their life -despite the hot weather at Jogja ofcourse. The staff was very helpfull, informative, and i respect the staff who tell story about orang utan, he focused on saying that the visitor can get a picture with Desi without paying, he also not forcing the animal. That action deserves absolute appreciation.

I hope every one that has the opportunity can help these animal with visiting zoo more often, DONT FORGET TO TIP OBVIOUSLY!

A lot of improvements have been made so far from my last visit (more than 10 years ago). The sign guides, provided map, and shuttle transport are very helpful. I hope that one day Gembira Loka can add Koala to their collection. 😇 Keep educating kids about animals and their nature. Thank you.

Always become best choice to visit when having vacation at Jogja for education. I think has good maintenance and clean. Easy to find parking and not to long time to buy ticket...
Update 2nd visit... there is some new facilities for monkey... very nice...

Gembira Loka is one of my favorites zoo! The ticket is worth the experiences. Despite some people said that the ticket is way too pricey but the services and quality of the zoo are great! I have my lunch at Flamingo canteen and the food tastes delicious. There's a lot of animals and some of them have open cages. The bird zone is my favorite. I took pictures with snake and some birds. The keepers are so nice and friendly. I bought the ticket around Rp75.000 and it's include riding the train and ship as much as I want. I ride it for around three times maybe. Gembira loka is such a huge zoo so I need around 4 hours to explore every inches of this place. I'm having fun being here with my sister! The sad thing is it rains when I visited the zoo, if you want to visit Gembira loka zoo make sure to prepare your raincoat or umbrella. And some of the snake cages is under maintenance so they're kinda messy. Overall it's a nice place to visit with your family and friends

Fun and educational zoo, very recommended to brings your family and kids to teach them about various kind of animals. An option for travelers to take some pictures of some local spesies. They have various facilities, from souvenirs and gift shop, pray room, bus to help you commute around the area, cafeteria, some sessions from zoo keeper to present an attraction for you.

We went on weekday and it wasn’t crowded. very big land and they have more variety of animals than even Singapore Zoo. The price is very cheap, $20 for 4 people. The train rides and the boat is free. It was really good zoo and the animals are kept very healthily that is the best part.

There are so much unique and memorable experience here!. One of the best zoo that i've visit. This zoo have so many animal collections like farm animal, Aves (birds), mamalls, fishes, reptiles, and many more. What i love is the birds area, they have a dome that let us interact with the birds face to face. This zoo is worth it to visit!

The one and only real zoo in yogyakarta, it is an old zoo, but with a lot of renovation recently, they get rid of the "old and dirty" images that have been the image of this place for years. They have wide variety of animals, from small animals inside a terrarium, to big mammals. The area have a lot of trees to shade you from the sun when it is scorching hot, since most of the area is outdoor. Just bring a mosquito repellent, because of the trees and a lot of water and outdoor area, there are many mosquitoes inside this zoo.

Truth be told, we were hesitant on going in the first place, due to some of the Google reviews. But after daring ourselves, for the sake of our son, we did not regret it one bit 😊

The Zoo were clean and well kept, they really stepped up their game basically, after many reviews saying otherwise. Map & directions were also easy to read. Decent size of a Zoo too, nothing so huge that would take forever to cover, hated that on other Zoos.

The variety of animals are good as well, wished they had Giraffes though, would be perfect total package 👌🏻

Other big plus would have to be the shuttle rides, they were clean, and we truly appreciate the acrylic partitions in between the seats, you know these days. Schedule of pickups are very frequent, so we could ride and enjoy the whole Zoo grounds over and over.

To sum up, the overall experience were awesome and enjoyable 💪🏼

Would highly recommend new visitors to give it a try.

Thank you Gembira Loka, for providing such an unforgettable experience for us and especially my son 👌🏻

PS: Giraffes addition in the future, perhaps 😁

Green place in town. A selection of animals like pets, fish, birds (incl. some penguins), primates, reptiles, a few wild ones, and elephants. You can buy feed there for some animals. Ticket -60-80 thousand- covers every amusement like boat & train rides. It's worth it as you can hop on/off the train around the zoo. If you're hungry, there are lots of food & drinks/icecream vendors etc, & you may bring your own food. Lots of souvenir & toy shops, too. Toilets are in some spots. A prayers room is available. Recommended to have rural/forest vibes inside the human highly populated city!!

It's my first time visiting zoo in Jogja⭐
There's a lot of tree so you don't have to worry about need shades to cool down (except elephant area).
No queue at all for ticketing, just buy then enter, 2 persons got 1 physical ticket, glad my friend gave it to me as souvenir 🥺
They have a lot animals inside as well, some need pay more for pet session.
If you want to look the animals completely one by one, you should goes around by walking, after you finish all routes, you can try their small train to enjoy sighting again while also rest your sore feet👌🏻
They also have interesting souvenir shop at the exit, too bad they didn't put the price tag, I was interested to buy some souvenir for myself 🥲
Very wonderful experience going to zoo as an adult, would like to visit again in the future!♥

What an awesome zoo! We're a family from Australia with a 5 yr old son and 3 yr old daughter. We've had the privilege of visiting zoos round the world and we were extremely impressed by Gembira Loka. The wide range of species especially those native to the region, was really cool to see. The zoo is very clean, presentable and the animals seem well taken care of. Loads of interaction with the animals where you can fee the elephant's, birds, tortoises and many more. All the signs are in local language but nothing google translate couldn't handle. Highly recommend for anyone with young kiddos. Plus it was extremely affordable!

Overall a fun and educational zoo. We loved our time there, parking was easy and a lot of accessible path for stroller or wheelchair. Restaurants and restrooms are also readily avaliable although the foods are rather expensive.

Amazing place for kids. Petting zoo, feeding different animals, birds were the highlight of the trip. Ample shade throughout the zoo, well marked direction.
My baby loved it, way better than Rangunan zoo from Jakarta.

A lot of species to see in here and you can pet some animals , entry tickets include mini bus and boat for free . Also the view was so gorgeous.