Seoul Zoo or Everland: Which Korean Zoo Day Suits You?

Pick Seoul Zoo for a cheap, easy day: you reach it from a Line 4 subway station, it charges adults 5,000 won and held 1,875 animals of 215 species at its last count. Pick Everland if giant pandas and safaris matter more than the budget: its Zootopia has the only giant panda family in South Korea, but a one-day adult ticket costs 46,000-68,000 won and the park is out in Yongin.

Which zoo to choose

Seoul Zoo: a full zoo day for 5,000 won

Seoul Zoo is the city's own zoo. Founded in 1909 and on its site in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, since 1 May 1984, it is run by Seoul Grand Park for the Seoul city government and covers 598 acres including its Botanical Garden. At the end of September 2025 it held 1,875 animals of 215 species.

Follow the zoo's own popular course: from the main entrance to the Ape Pavilion, the greenhouse garden, the Carnivore Enclosure, the South America Hall, the Tropical Birds Hall, the Large Herbivores Pavilion and the 1st African Pavilion. The Ape Pavilion houses Bornean orangutans, western lowland gorillas, western chimpanzees and mandrills, which you meet indoors or outdoors depending on the season and the animals' own preference. The endangered species on the zoo's list include the Siberian tiger, the Amur leopard and the Eurasian river otter.

The newest change is the Japanese macaque house, which reopened on 11 July 2026, its concrete and rock replaced with soil, sand, planting and water. Glass windows replaced the wire mesh and the ground-floor railing has gone, so small children can watch the monkeys at eye level. Seoul Grand Park also took in three endangered red pandas in late 2023.

Featured location Seoul Zoo Gwacheon, South Korea AZAWAZA Administration rests with the capital's city government, although the grounds lie outside the city, about 15 km to the south. Dedicated desert and steppe sections and a monkey rock form part of the layout.

Everland: pandas and safaris inside a theme park

Everland, South Korea's largest theme park, is run by Samsung C&T in Yongin, and its zoo, Zootopia, holds over 2,000 animals of around 200 species. The reason to choose it over Seoul Zoo is Panda World, near the front entrance and home to Korea's only giant panda family: Ai Bao, Le Bao and their twin daughters Rui Bao and Hui Bao, born at Everland on 7 July 2023. The twins are to move to China ahead of their fourth birthday. A new daughter was born on 3 June 2026 and named Shu Bao on 11 September; Everland says it is considering showing her to the public within the year, once she has adapted to the outside environment.

Then come the safaris. Safari World, Everland's carnivore safari for 50 years, reopened on 1 April 2026 after a renewal, with new habitats for eight predator species including lions, tigers, brown bears and hyenas, and electric buses in place of the old trams. Lost Valley is Korea's first amphibian ecological safari. Until late November 2026, the Wild Savanna Expedition lets you walk a route of about 1 km linking Lost Valley with the River Trail, a floating walkway between the two safaris, past 15 species from giraffes, elephants and rhinoceroses to lions and hyenas. It costs nothing extra: you join by queuing on site.

Featured location Everland Zoo Yongin, South Korea AZAWAZA Operated by Samsung C&T, the site combines rides, a zoo, a botanical garden and themed areas, the latter drawing on the seasons, wildlife and the cultures and scenery of Europe and the Americas. Seasonal festivals, performances and parades are staged through the year. It once traded as Yongin Farmland and was renamed as its facilities and business lines expanded.

So which?

Go to Seoul Zoo for a long, cheap zoo walk with great apes and big cats that starts from a subway station. Go to Everland if pandas are the point, if you want to see predators from a bus, or if the rest of your group wants a theme park day around the animals.

Tickets and saving money

These prices were checked in September 2026.

• Seoul Zoo: 5,000 won for adults aged 19-64, 3,000 won for teens aged 13-18 and 2,000 won for children aged 6-12. Children under 5 and visitors over 65 go free, and so do visitors with severe disabilities, with one companion.
• Getting around Seoul Grand Park: the Elephant Train costs adults 2,000 won one way (1,500 won for teens and children); the Sky Lift costs adults 9,000 won per section or 16,000 won for a round trip.
• Everland: 46,000-68,000 won for adults and 36,000-58,000 won for children, depending on the date's A-D price level. Coin-operated rides, rentals and special exhibitions cost extra.

Seoul Zoo's saving is its base price; annual memberships that bundle the zoo with the lift are temporarily suspended because of the gondola project. At Everland, buy online: online tickets let you walk in at the main entrance without queuing at the ticket offices, and online buyers can also get a Q-pass, Everland's fast pass for attractions.

Getting there

Seoul Zoo: take subway Line 4 to Seoul Grand Park Station and use exit 1, 2 or 3. From there the Elephant Train, running about every five minutes, has its first station at the zoo, and line 1 of the Sky Lift runs from the general information centre to the zoo entrance. The zoo has no car park of its own; drivers use the large Grand Park car park, at 5,000 won per car.

Everland: by rail, take the Bundang Line to Giheung Station, change to the Everline and ride it to its terminus, Jeondae-Everland, where Everland runs a free shuttle bus. Express bus 4105 leaves from the Seoul Station Bus Transfer Center and passes through Myeong-dong, Namdaemun Market and Itaewon before taking the expressway; with no transfers, it was expected to cut the trip to about one hour. If you drive, a free shuttle runs between the car parks and the main gate, takes about five minutes and carries strollers.

Best time to visit

Seoul Zoo has no closing days. It opens from 9am to 6pm in March-April and September-October, 9am to 7pm from May to August, and 9am to 5pm from November to February, with last entry an hour before closing.

Aim for spring or autumn, Seoul's most pleasant seasons. Summer is hot and humid, with highs up to 35 °C, and the monsoon rains usually run from mid-June to mid-July; spring brings occasional Asian dust. Autumn 2026 favours Everland, where the free Wild Savanna Expedition runs until late November. Over Chuseok, 24-26 September 2026, Seoul Zoo stays open as usual.

With kids and accessibility

Seoul Grand Park rents strollers for 4,000 won a day (standard) or 7,000 won (deluxe), wheelchairs for 5,000 won and electric wheelchairs for 10,000 won; bring ID, and expect rentals to stop in rain because of the risk of slipping. Its nursing rooms have diaper-changing stations, drinking water and a microwave. Pack lunch: you can picnic anywhere in the park, mats included, though cooking is not allowed. Fold your stroller to board the Elephant Train, and fold it and hand it to staff for the lift.

At Everland, staff assist visitors with disabilities who find it difficult to wait in queues, so ask at the park. Pets are not allowed, except guide dogs.