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Report: I spent the night in the London Zoo!!

We had one night in London last night before a flight home. I was looking around for a single-site visit and came across London Zoo Stays: https://www.londonzoo.org/plan-your-visit/zoo-experiences/lodges-sleepover-at-the-zoo

We had a fabulous time! We arrived at the zoo at about 2:30 and we were free to wander until our Zoo Lodge meeting at 4:30. We met our 8 other families - there are 9 lodges - and checked into our little cabins.

They are right in the middle of the very cool Land of the Lions - an extremely thematic lion enclosure area.

Our night included a one-hour private walking tour after the zoo closed and then we had a nice included dinner.
Once it was dark, we were escorted back out into the closed zoo for more behind-the-scenes touring.

We were led back to our cabins at about 10 and were free until 7am the next morning - we had to stay inside the little 9-cabin village. At 7, we were free to wander the entirety of the Land of the Lions on our own, watching the lions wake up (and ROAR), with no one else around.

Then we were taken to a nice breakfast buffet and then one more private 1-hour tour.

The staff that runs this are so knowledgable, so friendly, and just so happy to be showing us around the zoo.

This was just a fabulous experience. It’s pricey - but we really felt it was a good value for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Our original plan was to have a 350 pound budget for a single room hotel night. Instead, we spent 416 pounds and got - two days’ worth of zoo entries (value: 140 pounds total), a night in a lodge, dinner, and breakfast, AND our 3 private after-hours zoo tours.

This books up well in advance - so if you’re interested, book early.

Posted by
355 posts

This sounds so fun! Thanks for your trip report about this experience.

Posted by
1447 posts

Thanks for posting!! Sounds such fun.

I haven’t been to the London Zoo since my children, all working professionals these days, were small, but this is one for the bucket list!!!!

Posted by
2779 posts

Thanks! I think it might appeal to a few people! We were smiling the whole time - the lion talk, the penguins, the Mangalitsa pigs (look these up!!)

And one super cool thing the staff did during our tours was to feed the animals special treats while we were there - so the animals were right close in front of us, enjoying treats.

I should add that we didn’t even have any children with us - it’s not required. Everyone else had children. The Zoo actually runs adult (14 and up) nights every once in awhile but we were limited to this exact night - and it worked out well. The children asked WAY better questions than the adults:)

Posted by
355 posts

Valerie, good to know that children aren’t required for the more frequent family nights. This sounds really interesting.

Posted by
17092 posts

Wow, what a fun and unique experience!! Pretty decent value for all that's included, too. Good on you for sharing!

Posted by
9148 posts

Valerie, that is such an incredible experience! Who would have thought that could be done? Thanks so much for telling us about it—it definitely sounds like it was worth the price.

What were the cabins like? Did they have different sizes depending on the size of the family?

Posted by
2779 posts

They did have different bedding set ups! A family of 2 adults and 2 children could stay in one. It's tight but cozy. We had two mini twin beds in ours...maybe 4 inches narrower than a twin??

A fine bathroom with shower stall. A coffeemaker with coffee and tea. A little front porch with chairs.

Posted by
22184 posts

That is wonderful. Thank you for sharing. I love these sorts of things.

Posted by
3273 posts

Valerie, thanks for sharing. Your stay at the zoo sounds wonderful! Something unique and interesting. I bookmarked the link for future reference. They have single lodges!

Posted by
3720 posts

What a cool experience and leave it to you, to know about it! My oldest adult daughter would love this, so if I ever take her to London, we are doing it.

Posted by
355 posts

I’m definitely going to book this experience for my next trip to London (which is overdue😊) if the timing of the zoo’s availabilities can work with that of my visit to London.

Posted by
3078 posts

Oh wow, what an amazing experience! I love doing different things like this. Thank you so much for sharing, I need to check this out!

Posted by
1005 posts

This sounds great! I’ve been wondering if we could do a trip with our grandson in a few years. This would be a great activity.

Posted by
4485 posts

Wow, what fun. We have friends whose son and grandson live in Greenwich they visit 3-4x a year. I’m testing them the info now.

Posted by
2779 posts

I'm so glad people are seeing this!!!!! You won't regret doing the overnight...especially if you have some kids with you:)

Posted by
34898 posts

so glad you posted this, Valerie!!! I drive past the Zoo often and never knew about this wonderful idea.

We love visiting animals but an African safari is beyond us. This sounds like the next best thing.

We'll be looking it up!! Thanks again.