Korkeasaari

I first went here 25 years ago so a bit of a nostalgia trip for me. it’s winter so the ferry from downtown is not running to the zoo (which is on an island). Take the 16 bus from central station. It’s cold so wrap up warm. Some of the cats are out, the bears are hibernating, and the mongolian ponies are frolicking. The wolverine are curled up in balls. I count maybe 20 people in the whole zoo. Fun. You will need about an hour and a half.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.
As far as zoos go, this one is pretty good. While parking is not precisely convenient, you do get a nice little walk through the woods to arrive there a gigantic bear statue greets you. Unlike say, Berlin, you get the sense that these animals have plenty of space and are generally weather appropriate. I really enjoyed the information (in three languages, Finnish, Swedish, and English) about what level of threatened /​endangered a particular animal is in the wild and what efforts this zoo is taking to help the natural environment. The cafes are well located throughout the zoo and the organization makes sense as well.
Some odd (to me) bits. The jungle house (tropical house) has a weird insect area that looks like it was built a very long time ago and the insects have just been left to themselves. Creepy crawly indeed. The other odd bit if there are at least a dozen peacocks roaming free around the zoo. I don’t know why. They are loud and not afraid of people and sometimes block entire paths with strutting. It’s just weird to have so many peacocks in a relatively small space. As an added bonus we visited during hatching season so if you happened across a goose who was still sitting on her nest then her mate would hiss at you and sometimes try to chase you off the path. A bit silly but you know, nice that they all have somewhere to nest (I guess?!?)
Definitely a nice half day for families with small children.