Chester Zoo - Layout and Facilities

Layout and Facilities

Mobility scooters are available near the main entrance, as is locker and buggy hire.

The zoo is bisected by a public bridleway, Flag Lane. For many years, a single bridge (now called Elephants' Bridge), drivable by zoo vehicles and powered wheelchairs, near the elephant exhibit was the only crossing place within the grounds. A second crossing, passable by pedestrians and mobility scooters, called Bats' Bridge, opened in April 2008 near the Twilight Zone, has improved the ability of visitors to circulate.

There are other ways to travel around the zoo:

• A transportation system, now generally known as the monorail, with a station near the elephants and a station near the lions. It runs in a circle.
• A water bus operates on a canal network within the zoo in peak season, but it stops at only one place.

Visitors must pay extra for using the monorail and the water bus.

Chester's catering facilities include the Café Bembé near the main entrance which opened in 2006. June's Pavilion is in the middle of the zoo. The Oakfield Restaurant, in a Victorian mansion house near the lion enclosure, and the Acorn Bar, are both used for private functions as well as catering to zoo visitors.

There are children's play areas, shops, kiosks and several picnic lawns around the zoo. A second pedestrian entrance is located in the southeast corner of the zoo behind Oakfield House.

For a long time the public entrance was at the east end. In recent years the public entrance has moved to the north side, west of Flag Lane, near the elephants, and the old car parks at the east end are being built over with service and educational buildings.

The zoo owns land outside the public area, and uses that land to grow food for its herbivorous animals.