Let me say that I'm absolutely amazed with all the beautiful and spacious enclosures for all the…read moreanimals in the zoo. The zoo is huge, so they had the ability to give animals lots of space! The black bear had his own little mountain nook (we didn't get to see him, though he was probably hiding from all the heat that day). We saw a baby gorilla playing with his mommy, that was worth flying from Boston to Knoxville just to see those eyes. There is a Turtle Trail were you get to go inside with the turtles and have them climb on your feet and feed them and scratch their backs...how cool is that! The budgies were pretty cool, you get to go in the enclosure with them and feed them seeds on a stick. Gorgeous, amazing creatures!! The green and blue ones are from The wild and the white ones with blue back are the bred ones in captivity. The otters for sure stole the show, they just played and played in the water, my son was psyched to see them !! The red panda was jumping all over and wanted to get in with the rest of the sleeping pandas on the bamboo trees...what gorgeous animals. And the Rhinos!!! Massive massive animals. First time I've seen rhinos and I'm in love with these very scary huge animals. You should see the enclosure that they had for them. It was very generous, full of mud and massive rocks. OK, I could go on and on about all the animals in there, but the most important thing that I wanted to say is that the sponsors of this zoo respect animals, they don't put them in a tiny enclosure and call it good, they actually spent a lot of effort on matching the natural habitat that these animals lived in, and they gave them room to roam! Also per their campaigns and posters within in zoo, they are trying to save endangered and critically vulnerable species from extinction. They do a lot of work and awareness about the lifestyle of the animals, especially that the staff is super friendly with lots of youths working there and learning about these beautiful animals and transferring this knowledge To visitors. Also, how thoughtful are they to include fun stuff for kids like a huge sandbox, slides, tunnels, climbing rocks, a beautiful merry go round with all the decorated animals, a water park for the kids to jump in fountains (wish I knew I would have brought my kid a swim suit)... my kid had a blast anyway!! They built a whole massive treehouse with a rope bridge so that you could see the gibbons and red pandas up in the trees. Massive enclosures, statues, canopies, overlooks....they thought about everything!! Not only did my kid have fun, my husband and I had tons of fun too. So did my mom! What a wonderful day. I will definitely donate money to this establishment that really cares about the conservation of animals and treats them with respect.. thank you Zoo Knoxville staff abc sponsors. All the love to your work. Keep spreading awareness.

I finally visited today for the first time with a girlfriend, and we easily spent four hours…read morewalking around and seeing the different animals. Some of my favorites included: the red pandas, gibbons, great apes, otters and tigers. The zoo was especially busy today because of Spring Break week, but the great thing was that we never felt crowded or claustrophobic. There were places to purchase food like Beastro's Cuisine and Safari Smoke House, but we brought snacks and beverages to hold us over for our visit. I highly recommend the Knoxville Zoo for anyone looking for something fun to do when visiting our scruffy little town. Know before you go: 1) Tickets are $26.95 per adult, $21.95 for kids ages 3-12, seniors, and college students. Free for active military/veterans and children (2 & under). 2) A $2 ticket fee is added to all in person ticket sales. Save time and money, by getting your ticket online. 3) Parking is available in upper and lower lots. Handicap parking is available as well. All parking is $5, or free for membership holders. 4) Everyday they have animal encounters at different times where you can personally meet the animal ambassador and caretakers and get to chat with them. My favorite was the red panda encounter which is at 3pm everyday. 5) They do have a greatly curated gift shop with something for everyone including magnets, hats, clothing merch, and stuffed animals.

A VERY hard working rescue and sanctuary meets petting zoo. We were escorted by several frisky…read morePygmy goats. There are a lot of animals ready to engage the family....if you purchase a food bucket. Plan to get a little dirty or simply don't purchase food. Exotic birds, a tiger, a zebra, camels and water Buffalo, all being cleaned up and taken care of. Remember that most of the animals here have a story if rescue! This isn't some highly funded zoo with fancy enclosures but the animals are being cared for and are supplies enrichment and care. We loved our experience and the volunteers and staff were all approachable and working hard.

What an amazing place! We fed so many goats and deer and saw so many other animals. We all had a…read moregreat time.

I came for the Asian Lantern Festival for the third year. It was beautiful! It seemed to be a…read morelittle smaller this year, but the fantasy theme was gorgeous. There were more areas for interaction and pictures this year, which was great. I love that they have the wings every year and that they are always a bit different. I've come when the zoo is open during regular hours, but it's been a while. I'll have to visit again soon.

The Chattanooga Zoo was so much fun! It took around 2 hours and we went on a Tuesday afternoon so…read moreit was not crowded at all!

This is a widelife sanctuary about 10-15 miles outside of Knoxville. They have probably over 100…read moreacres of land and I believe the French Broad River runs through it. They technically don't encourage having your pets off leash but everybody does. This place will definitely be a picture of what doggy heaven looks like. They also have a narrow paved road that runs between the area, great for walking, running or biking. I will consider bringing my bike out here once it warms up in the spring. The only thing I didn't love about this place was that the roads leading up to it are very very narrow and curvy. I guess that is a norm for living in the mountains but something I'm still not used it. Makes me really nervous. However, I'm sure to make many more visits to let the dogs loose. They definitely had a blast!

Beautiful. Miles of trails. Benches by the river. Wonderful wildlife, particularly deer, beaver and…read morebirds. Lots of quiet and privacy.