Visiting Pandas at Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland

My Daughter is obsessed with Pandas. Like completely obsessed. She has teddies, clothes, her bedroom is panda themed, and she even has a Panda onesie. So seeing Pandas in real life has been on our bucket list for a while now. We were lucky enough when we visited Holland earlier this year to get to see them. But when we were planning our holiday to Scotland, knowing that there were Pandas not too far away in Edinburgh we just had to make a trip there happen too.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from our visit to Edinburgh Zoo. I knew that there would be Pandas, but other than that I was clueless. I was surprised when we arrived to find that the zoo was very much in the city. I thought the sat nav must be confused as it was telling me we were nearly there and all I could see were houses and shops. However once you get inside the zoo you wouldn’t know you were still in the town, it’s spreads out up a big hill and you feel like you are very much in the countryside.

Pelicans.

There was a huge range of animals, pelicans, penguins, kuala bears, lions, tigers and so many different types of monkey! So even though Oldest was only there for the Pandas, there was something for everyone and we had a full day wondering around and seeing all of the animals. Quite a few of the enclosures you could actually go inside of and be right up close with the animals or birds, including lemurs and wallabies. I’ve never experienced this at a Zoo before, and it was really fun for the kids to get so close.

Inside the Wallaby enclosure.

The Penguins were one of my favourites from the day…

Ezra and a penguin having a little chat.

Spot the Otter.

A Kuala hugging a tree!

There was a bridge over the Zebra enclosure so you could get really close up!

The Squirrel Monkeys were one of the highlights for the children, they were so amazing to watch running and climbing and playing.

Flamingos; Ezra’s 5th favourite animal apparently. When do you stop having a list of favourite animals I wonder?!

The Pandas

We went to see the pandas on 3 separate occasions during our visit. I think in busy season you can only go at set times and you book a visit, but luckily we could go as often, and as for as long as we liked. The first time we could only see one panda and she was asleep. Second time we could see them both and they were moving around inside a little bit, but on the third time we got to see one of them outside eating bamboo, which is always so cute to watch! Safe to say we had to drag Oldest away and she was on cloud nine that day. I think she was hoping they’d mistake her for a real Panda and put her in the enclosure with them!

If you get chance to go you won’t regret it, and be sure to eat in the restaurant there! I’m not easily impressed by the food on our days out, it’s often a bit average and over priced, but not only was the pricing fair, the food was amazing. All 3 children finished everything on their plates, which alone is the highest of praise, but I would genuinely go back there for that Mac and Cheese alone! Ok now i’m hungry!

All in all it was an amazing day out, and a perfect ending to our holiday in Scotland.

If you want to see how we got on the last time we visited Pandas you can do so here. It wasn’t without some dram though, you have been warned!

You can also read about some of our other adventures in Scotland below…