Zoos in the Algarve: Lagos Zoo, Zoomarine and What to Pick

Pick Zoo de Lagos if you want a real zoo: it keeps more than 170 species from five continents, it is open every day, and adults pay €17 online, as of September 2026. Pick Zoomarine, near Albufeira, if your family wants dolphins, sea lions, rides and a wave beach on one ticket and can give it a full day, which is what the park itself recommends.

Which zoo to choose

Both parks are in Portugal's Algarve, but they are very different days out. Zoo de Lagos is a zoo first and last. Zoomarine is a theme park of more than 28 hectares with more than 30 attractions, where the animals share the day with rides, pools and a wave beach. If your children want a zoo with more than 170 species, go to Lagos. If they want a coaster and a dolphin presentation in the same afternoon, go to Zoomarine.

Location matters too. Lagos is in the western Algarve, and the zoo sits near Barão de São João, about 16 km from the town. Zoomarine is at Guia, 10 km from Albufeira and 40 km from Faro Airport.

Zoo de Lagos: the Algarve's zoo

Featured location ZOO DE LAGOS Lagos, Portugal AIZA ZOO DE LAGOS, opened in 2000, is a petting zoo in Lagos, Portugal.

Founded in 2000, Zoo de Lagos keeps more than 170 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians, and calls itself the only place in the Algarve where you can see that many. Look for the chimpanzees and the pygmy hippopotamuses, then head for Boulders Beach, a recreation of the South African beach where you watch African penguins with underwater views.

The same penguins give the zoo its most unusual summer attraction. From 1 April to 30 September there is a pool where you swim side by side with them, with only a glass panel between people and birds. The pool has four depth levels, and Visão found the best time to get in is first thing in the morning, when the penguins are at their most energetic.

Plan the rest of the day around the feeds: pelicans at 11:30am, otters, primates and pelicans at 3pm (starting at the otters) and penguins at 4pm. A lemur activity can be booked for €50 per person, from age 7.

Zoomarine: dolphins, rides and a wave beach

Featured location ZOOMARINE Albufeira, Portugal AIZA

Zoomarine opened on 3 August 1991 in Guia and now welcomes around 620,000 visitors a year. Its animals include bottlenose dolphins, California sea lions, grey seals and American alligators, and you meet many of them in the presentations: Sonho e Fantasia for the dolphins, Sea Adventures for the seals and sea lions, and Wings of the World for birds from the Eurasian eagle-owl to macaws. The Oceanus aquarium shows more than 20 ecosystems, from Ria Formosa seahorses to clownfish, with sharks and rays in its largest tank.

The rest is theme park. New for 2026 is Nautilus, a spinning coaster. Zoomarine also runs Porto d'Abrigo, which opened in 2002 as Portugal's first rehabilitation centre for marine species.

If you want to get in the water with the dolphins, Dolphin Emotions programmes are sold separately. The Encounter takes place in shallow water, needs no swimming, lasts 60 minutes and is open to ages 6 and over; the Premium programme is in deep water, lasts 90 minutes and is for swimmers aged 8 and over. Book at least 24 hours ahead.

Getting to each park

• Zoo de Lagos: free parking on site. Without a car, Lagos's ONDA urban bus line 6 (Green) runs from the Portas de Portugal CTT stop to the Medronhal – Zoo stop. A taxi from Lagos costs about €15, and Uber or Bolt about €10.
• Zoomarine: a large free car park. VAMUS buses stop at the 'Zoomarine' stop, 300 metres from the gate. The nearest train station, Ferreiras, is about 7 km away, so you need a taxi or transfer from there.

Tickets and saving money

All prices below were checked in September 2026. At both parks, buying online is the cheapest way in.

• Zoo de Lagos: online, adults pay €17 and children aged 3 to 11 pay €12, listed against €19 and €14. Children up to 2 enter free, and the ticket includes all attractions and presentations except special activities announced separately.
• Zoomarine, one day: in high season (1 June to 30 September), a fixed-date ticket costs from €34.90 online or €41 at the gate for ages 11 to 64, and from €26.90 online or €31 for juniors (1 metre tall to age 10) and over-65s. In low season (12 March to 31 May and 1 October to 28 November), the same tickets cost from €28.90 and €18.90 online.
• Zoomarine, two days: a high-season, fixed-date two-day ticket costs from €45.90 online for ages 11 to 64, against €34.90 for a single day.
• Dolphin Emotions: the Encounter costs from €146.90 online in high season, with park admission included.

Children under 1 metre tall get into Zoomarine free, but they must be included in your booking and are measured with their shoes on. If you live in the Algarve or visit more than once a year, Zoomarine's 2026 Annual Pass costs €115 online for ages 11 to 64 and €95 for juniors and over-65s, and its partner parks include Badoca Safari Park.

Best time to visit

The Algarve has mild, wet winters and warm to very hot, dry summers. Coastal highs average 29-30°C in summer in the east, and mostly 16-17°C along the coast in winter. July and August are the peak, when visitors from the rest of Portugal arrive in large numbers.

The two parks keep different calendars. Zoo de Lagos is open every day: 10am to 7pm from 1 April to 30 September, and 10am to 5pm from 1 October to 31 March, with the ticket office closing at 6pm in summer and 4pm in winter. Zoomarine prices its tickets by season, and four of its attractions, Quetzal, Coconut River, Treasure Island and Fantasy Island, open only from 1 June to 30 September. For the full theme-park day, go in summer and book online; in winter, Zoo de Lagos keeps its daily hours. Either way, check Zoomarine's opening calendar before you go, as the park itself advises.

With kids and accessibility

At Zoo de Lagos, under-13s may only enter with an adult aged 18 or over. There is a playground, a restaurant, a snack bar and picnic areas.

Zoomarine needs more planning for small children. On Nautilus, children under 0.95 m cannot ride and those under 1.20 m must ride with an adult. For the wave beach, slides and pools, bring a swimming costume and a towel: a full swimming costume is compulsory for everyone, babies included. You can rent single and double children's trolleys, and there are picnic areas with tables in parts of the park.

Zoomarine says its park is accessible to people with reduced mobility, including the presentations and attractions, and it hires out electric scooters to guests with reduced mobility, subject to availability.

Other wildlife nearby

If the dolphins at Zoomarine make you want to see wild ones, the most common species in Algarve waters are the common dolphin and the same bottlenose dolphin you meet at the park. Birdwatchers have more choice. The Salgados Lagoon, near Albufeira and Armação de Pêra, is an Important Bird Area, and the Ria de Alvor estuary lies between Lagos and Portimão. The Ria Formosa lagoon is a nature reserve of more than 170 km² where hundreds of bird species stop over, and it is home to the chameleon, which in Portugal lives only in the Algarve.