What Is the Biggest Zoo in Canada?

Toronto Zoo is the zoo Wikipedia names the largest in Canada: 287 hectares (710 acres), more than 3,000 animals of over 300 species and 10 km of walking trails. Measured by land alone, Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien in Quebec covers more ground, with 485 hectares. If you want one huge collection to walk around in a day, go to Toronto.

Which venue to choose

"Biggest" depends on what you measure: land, animals or visitors. Ranked by land, the parks in this guide run from Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien down to Calgary Zoo, with Zoo de Granby added at the end:

• Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien: 485 hectares, with nearly 1,000 animals of 80 species.
• African Lion Safari: over 750 acres, with more than 1,000 animals of over 100 species.
• Toronto Zoo: 287 hectares (710 acres), with more than 3,000 animals of over 300 species.
• Calgary Zoo: 125 acres, with more than 4,000 animals of over 100 species by its own count.
• Zoo de Granby: still on the site of the 60-acre parcel it was given in 1953, with almost 1,300 animals.

Animal counts are harder to compare than acres. Calgary Zoo's figure of more than 4,000 animals is its own; Wikipedia counts over 1,000 there once individual fish and insects are left out, across 272 species. On visitors, Calgary Zoo describes itself as Canada's most visited zoo, while Toronto Zoo averages around 1.2 million visitors a year. So pick by the kind of day you want: a long walk through a huge collection (Toronto), a train ride among free-roaming Canadian wildlife (Saint-Félicien), or big animals seen from your own car (African Lion Safari).

Toronto Zoo: the biggest all-rounder

Featured location Toronto Zoo Toronto, Canada AZAWAZAWAZA-WP At 287 hectares this is the largest zoo in Canada, drawing about 1.2 million visitors a year. The grounds are laid out in seven zoogeographic regions.

Toronto Zoo is the one Wikipedia calls the largest zoo in Canada, with more than 3,000 animals of over 300 species spread along 10 km of walking trails. Its African Rainforest Pavilion holds the world's largest indoor western lowland gorilla exhibit.

Some animals you can only see from the Zoomobile: in the Eurasia area, the yak, a wattled crane and a herd of Asian wild horses are viewable only from the ride. The big news for autumn 2026 is Glow in the Wild, more than 2,000 handcrafted illuminated lanterns that light up the zoo for a limited time from September 3, 2026 through January 3, 2027.

One warning if you use a wheelchair or electric scooter: the zoo says the Canadian Domain is reached by a steep hill and does not recommend it for you.

Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien: 485 hectares by train and on foot

Featured location Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien St-Félicien, Canada CAZAWAZA The zoo is given over to conserving wildlife of boreal climates and is run by the Centre for Conservation of Boreal Biodiversity.

One of the largest zoos in the province of Quebec, Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien spreads nearly 1,000 animals of 80 species across 485 hectares. In the Nature Trails Park you ride 7 km in a small caged train through recreated Canadian regions while the animals roam free. From the train you can spot American bison, moose, elk, woodland caribou, musk ox, black bear and white-tailed deer. The most popular exhibit is Arctic, where you watch polar bears underwater.

Calgary Zoo: the most visited

Featured location Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo Calgary, Canada WAZAWAZA-WP Much of the site lies on St. George's Island, reached by C-Train light rail, by car along Memorial Drive, and on foot or bicycle beside the Bow River. It is run by a not-for-profit that is the oldest registered charity in Alberta. Structured programmes reach over 575,000 people a year.

Founded in 1929, the Wilder Institute's Calgary Zoo sits on 125 acres and calls itself Canada's most visited zoo. What changed in 2026 is Asian Highlands, the first chapter of the Imagine Asia redevelopment, which opened on July 15, 2026. Red pandas and snow leopards are back, and they are joined by the Sichuan takin, a new arrival to the zoo.

Zoo de Granby: four continents in one day

Featured location Zoo de Granby Granby, Canada AZAWAZAWAZA-WP Founded in 1953 by the then mayor, Pierre-Horace Boivin, the zoo holds more than 1,800 animals covering 230 species. Stock is drawn from Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania, and 516,000 people visit each year.

Zoo de Granby cares for almost 1,300 animals, more than 25% of them endangered in the wild, and its mostly exotic species take you across Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America. It has also announced the arrival of Nishka, a five-year-old Amur tiger, as part of an international conservation programme. If you have children with you, note that you may feed only the mini-farm animals, the lorikeets and the stingrays, and only with food bought on site.

The drive-through giant: African Lion Safari

At African Lion Safari you stay in your car while more than 1,000 animals of over 100 species roam reserves of 2 to 20 hectares. The park covers over 750 acres, 250 of them given over to large areas of bush, grassland or forest, and the 9 km drive through the game reserves takes about 1 to 1.5 hours.

Best time to visit

The season decides more than the weather here, because African Lion Safari and Zoo de Granby do not open every day in autumn. African Lion Safari opens daily from May 2 to September 20, 2026, then only on select dates from September 23 to October 11. Zoo de Granby is now closed on weekdays; its full-day tickets for September 12 to November 1, 2026 give access from 10am to 5pm. If your trip falls on an autumn weekday or after October 11, plan around Toronto Zoo and Calgary Zoo, which both open year-round.

Toronto Zoo is open every day of the year; until Monday, October 12, 2026 it opens 9:30am-6pm on weekends and holidays and 9:30am-4:30pm on weekdays, with last admission an hour before closing. Calgary Zoo is open 364 days a year, from 9am to 5:30pm with last entry at 4:30pm, and closes only on December 25. Winter has its own reward in Toronto: the zoo says the winter months are a great time to see polar bears and Arctic wolves in the snow.

Tickets and saving money

These prices were checked in September 2026.

• Toronto Zoo: Toronto CityPASS saves up to 38% on five top Toronto attractions, the zoo among them.
• Calgary Zoo: Happy Hour saves 20% on visits after 3pm, any day, until October 30, 2026.
• Zoo de Granby: full-day tickets from $44.99 for ages 13 and over and $32.99 for children aged 3-12.
• Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien: a one-day summer ticket, valid until November 1, 2026, costs $56.99 for adults and $35.99 for children aged 6-14, before taxes.
• African Lion Safari: $39.95 for adults and $26.95 for children online from September 8 to October 11, 2026, against $47.95 and $33.95 from May 16 to September 7. At the gate you pay $44.95 to $53.95 for adults and $31.95 to $39.95 for children, depending on the date, so book online.

Getting there

• Toronto Zoo: in Rouge National Urban Park, just north of Highway 401 at 2000 Meadowvale Road (Exit 389). The TTC 86A bus runs from Kennedy Station every day in summer, but only Monday to Friday after Labour Day. Parking costs $20.
• Calgary Zoo: take the CTrain's Northeast (Blue) line to Zoo Station, less than a five-minute walk from the North Gate. The North Lot charges a flat $14 per day.
• Zoo de Granby: Granby is in southwestern Quebec, east of Montreal. Parking is free, and when the main lot fills up a shuttle runs from an alternative lot.
• African Lion Safari: in the city of Hamilton, which Wikipedia puts 100 km west of Toronto. You tour the reserves from your car.

Other wildlife nearby

Toronto Zoo sits inside Rouge National Urban Park, one of the largest urban parks in North America, so you can pair the zoo with a walk in the wider park. From Calgary, Banff National Park, Canada's first national park, lies 110-180 km to the west. For whales in the wild, whale-watching is the most popular activity in the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, and one of the whales drawn to its waters is the St. Lawrence beluga, which is endemic to Canada and a species at risk.