Pittsburgh Zoo or National Aviary: Which Should You Visit?

Pick Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium for a full day outdoors across 77 acres of Highland Park, with its own aquarium and more than 4,000 animals. Pick National Aviary for a shorter, weatherproof visit built entirely around birds, in one indoor building on the North Side. Pittsburgh also lists a third "zoo," but it's a private sanctuary closed to the public, so the real choice is between these two.

Which one to choose

Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium is the bigger day out by far. It opened on June 14, 1898, as the Highland Park Zoo, and today the 77-acre grounds hold more than 4,000 animals across 475 species, 20 of them threatened or endangered. Its accreditation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums lapsed in 2015 and was regained in 2024.

Featured location Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium Pittsburgh, United States AZAWAZA The site occupies 77 acres of parkland and holds over 4,000 animals of 475 species, twenty of them threatened or endangered. It began in 1898 under the name Highland Park Zoo and shifted over time from a menagerie towards a conservation body. Growth in the late 1930s came from Works Progress Administration labour and foundation gifts, and produced what was then the second largest aquarium in the country.

National Aviary is a different kind of visit: one indoor building on Pittsburgh's North Side, first established in 1952 and named a national institution by an act of Congress on October 27, 1993. It describes itself as the only independent indoor nonprofit aviary in the United States and the country's largest indoor aviary, which matters most when the forecast is against you.

Featured location National Aviary Pittsburgh, United States AZA It is the largest indoor aviary in the country and the only one given honorary National standing by Congress. More than 500 birds are kept, along with other animals and reptiles, amounting to over 150 species in all.

The directory also lists a third Pittsburgh "zoo," the Wilderness Wildlife Center, but it isn't a real option: the private sanctuary, owned since 2015 by film producer and Pittsburgh Steelers co-owner Thomas Tull, is closed to the public. Its own veterinarian, Dr. Jonathan Bergmann, explains why:

Our philosophy is not to make a profit off the animals. We just want them to be able to come here and live their lives.

So anyone searching "Pittsburgh zoo or aviary" is really choosing between the Zoo and the Aviary above, not among three venues.

What not to miss

At the zoo, don't skip the aquarium: it opened in 1967 as the AquaZoo, took a $17.4 million renovation in 2000 that renamed it the PPG Aquarium, and is now a 45,000-square-foot, two-story building. The zoo has also just changed its front door. Officials cut the ribbon on a new entrance and admissions plaza in late April 2026, with new native-Pennsylvania-plant landscaping, additional restrooms and a wind-powered sculpture, and said admissions would move to the new gate by the end of May. It's one of the first steps in a 20-year plan to remake the whole Highland Park campus, so expect more construction news from the zoo over the next several years.

At the Aviary, the long-standing favorites are Sapphira and Jewel, a pair of hyacinth macaws, and Wookiee, a Linnaeus's two-toed sloth. Its newest arrival is Dariéna, a one-year-old harpy eagle who came from the Miami Zoo in May 2026; the Aviary's own site describes her as the only known harpy eagle living in the Northeast.

Best time to visit

Pittsburgh has a hot-summer humid continental climate: hot summers, moderately cold winters with wide swings in temperature, and average snowfall of 44.1 inches a season. That split is the practical reason to pick between these two. The Aviary is entirely indoors, so a rainy or snowy day doesn't cost you the visit, while a walk around 77 acres of outdoor exhibits at the zoo is a very different experience in July than in January. If the forecast is bad, or you're pushing a stroller and want to skip the mud, start with the Aviary; save the zoo for a dry, mild day when its outdoor space is worth the acreage.

Getting there

National Aviary is at 700 Arch Street on the North Side, inside Allegheny Commons Park. Park in the Aviary's own lot for a flat $7 - it closes nightly at 5pm.

Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium's own site carries current directions and parking rates, which this guide couldn't independently confirm.

With kids and accessibility

The Aviary loans wheelchairs free of charge, first-come, first-served, and keeps noise-cancelling headphones and sensory backpacks at its Visitor Services desks for anyone with sensory sensitivities. It also runs a monthly Sensory Friendly Time from September through May, worth timing a visit around if a quieter aviary would help. Because the whole building is one indoor space, it's also the easier of the two to manage with a stroller or a child who tires quickly: there's no acreage to cover before you're back at the entrance.