The Snowboard Mom

Happy Canada Day! It’s been a hot weekend here in Montreal, but I’ll take that over -40C any day of the week!

Yesterday we took the kids to the Granby Zoo. We haven’t been with the kids before so I was excited to see the animals and watch them get excited over their favourite animals.

There are a lot of questions about the Granby Zoo, especially if you’re visiting from Montreal (it’s a mega day trip).

Here is all you need to know before heading to the Granby Zoo:

It’s a great day trip.

The Granby Zoo is a solid hour from Montreal. Depending on traffic it can take an hour and half easily. If you leave for 8:30am you will get there in time for the best parking spots and just as the gates open (the zoo opens at 10am).

Bring a picnic lunch.

There was a lot of places to have lunch. There were a lot of canteens (snack bars) that you could purchase a snack (ice cream anyone!?) As well as plenty of vending machines with bottled water. However you could easily fill up a reusable bottle at the fountains. At the central eating area, I noticed a microwave to warm food or bottles. It’s great really!!

This place is built for families in mind.

We never walked further than 5 minutes before we hit a washroom, change station, water fountains or place to have a picnic. You can rent pretty cool looking single or double strollers (which If you didn’t bring your own, I highly recommend) and even wagons. We brought both of our strollers because, although our 4 year is a great walker, it’s nice to keep moving while giving him a break.

Not all exhibits are created equal.

When we showed up we were there right at opening and decided to go against the crowd and visit the zoo from right to left (vs left to right). We hit the Australian section first which was fun but quite. There were a lot of kangaroos and 1 talking parot but everything else was silent. If you’re looking for a relaxed section I’d say that would be it.

The fish exhibition was great but we almost missed it. (It’s right beside the kangaroo area) I highly recommend checking out that one. I pet some of the stingrays, and you can feed them too (for $2). There is a super nice jelly fish tank, and yes memo was there too!

The caves near the Asian exhibition was cool. Lots of tunnels for the kids to run through and as well as looking at some snakes and bats!!! Always love the bats!

The Asian exhibition was also a fun one… but very big and I found a bit confusing to find the animals. the snow leopards were sleeping and hiding from the sun, the tiger however was walking around and you’re super close to him (a glass pane between you – pictured above)

We saved the best for last which was the African exhibit. It’s really the highlight of the Zoo. With elephants, girafes, zebras, hippos, gorillas… they got it all. There is a really special spot looking over the zebra and girafes with a snack bar where you can have a punch (that’s what we did) and just look out at the animals.

Mini play areas made it a lot of fun

Every themed area seemed to have a place where kids could be kids. From swinging ropes near the monkeys or African safaris themed spot near the zebras it was a fun break for the kids to run a around.

It’s an investment.

The zoo is not cheap. Adults are $40.95, kids 3-12 are $27.95, 2 year olds are $12.95, and under 2 is free. We were VERY lucky to get 1 free kid fare so we only paid for two adults, but after taxes was $96. A family of our 4 is $150 easily.

The season passes are the best bang for your buck, but seeing as it’s over an hour from Montreal not sure how many times you would go. We decided that the season passes aren’t for us.

Yes, there is a water park!

The water park opens at the same time as the zoo and it’s pretty cool. It’s nice to half two parks in one, and on a hot day it’s a nice way to cool off! Bring you towels and sunscreen. They do a few key items if you forgot something at home.

There are lockers for a fee, however they have loaner life jackets that can be rented for free should your kids need them.

Yes, there is amusement park.

The amusement park opens at 12pm so we didn’t have a chance to check it out, but it’s definitely a neat thing to have. It had a roller coasters and any carnival lien rides.

Parking

Parking was free and if you arrive early you should be able to park at the zoo. That being said, it can can very busy at the zoo and they have a satellite parking lot with shuttles going back and forth. To me it’s great they created that, however I would t want to deal with that. So get there early! You’ve been warned!

Hope that helps and if you had any other questions let me know!

This post WAS NOT sponsored. We paid for our day at the zoo.