Updated for September 2026
The Best Zoos in Brazil
How this list is ordered: by how complete our listing is — how much we hold on opening hours, ticket prices, accreditation, photographs, animals and facilities. It is a measure of our own coverage, not a judgement of the venue. We hold no visitor scores or conservation assessments, so “best” here means every zoo in Brazil that qualifies for the list, fullest entry first.
Listed alphabetically
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Bauru Zoo
Zoo in Bauru
It opened on 24 August 1980 across 50,000 square metres, on the highway named for Comandante João Ribeiro de Barros. It has a national reputation for breeding species regarded as extinct and was the first in Brazil to achieve penguin reproduction, in 2013. It is one of 20 zoos worldwide featured on Google Street View.
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Municipal Zoological Park Quinzinho de Barros
Zoo in Sorocaba
The zoo occupies around 130,000 square metres in the Vila Hortência district on the city's east side. The grounds take in a strip of secondary transitional Atlantic forest, a lake and the Sorocaba history museum. A 1992 survey by the Brazilian zoo society counted 1,487 mammals, birds and reptiles of 353 species, seventy per cent of them Brazilian fauna, including 36 threatened species.
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São Paulo Zoo
Zoo in São Paulo
The grounds take in 824,529 square metres of original Atlantic Forest, crossed by four kilometres of walkways, and contain the headwaters of the historic Ipiranga stream in the city's southern zone. The zoo was inaugurated in 1958 with slightly more than 400 animals.
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Bioparque do Rio
Zoo in Rio de Janeiro
Bioparque do Rio, opened in 1940, is a zoo in Brazil. Animals on show include axolote, serpentes, jacarés and quelônios.
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On-site diningParkingMobility equipment loan
Parque das Aves
Zoo in Foz do Iguaçu
It lies close to the Iguaçu falls on 16 hectares of native forest and holds 1,500 animals of 140 species, taking in birds, reptiles and mammals. A private body, it works as an integrated conservation centre for Atlantic Forest species, researching captive breeding and keeping threatened animals. There are 1,300 metres of trails, with habitat mock-ups for caimans, boas, marmosets and butterflies.
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Zoobotanic Park of Brusque
Zoo in Brusque
Zoobotanic Park of Brusque, opened in 1992, is a zoo in Brusque, Brazil.
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Zoológico de Goiânia
Zoo in Goiânia
Covering about 200,000 m2, it ranks among the city's main green spaces and draws more than 400,000 visitors a year. Over 450 birds, mammals and reptiles of 122 species are kept, both Brazilian and foreign. Wildlife care and environmental education are combined with leisure and cultural use.
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Keeper talk or show
Eco Park Foz
Zoo
Eco Park Foz is a zoo in Brazil. Its exhibits include Bosque de primates and Pequeña granja.
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Zoo Safari
Zoo in São Paulo
It was founded in 1971 by Francisco Luiz Galvão to imitate a safari for tourists, and held only lions at first; Simba is Swahili for lion. Visitors tour aboard the park's own vehicles, on a route of about 2.9 km through roughly 80,000 m2.
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Zoological Garden of Belo Horizonte
Zoo in Belo Horizonte
Administered by the Fundação Zoo-Botânica de Belo Horizonte, it has been open since January 1959. Over a thousand animals are held, arriving through exchanges with other institutions, donations supervised by IBAMA and births on site. The city government meets 80 per cent of running costs, the remainder coming from ticket sales and the sale of plant seedlings.
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Zoológico Municipal de Guarulhos
Zoo in Guarulhos
Wild free-ranging animals also live inside the grounds, whose lakes and gardens have been replanted with Atlantic Forest species. An enclosure for the endangered buffy-tufted marmoset opened in 2019.
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Parque Ecológico de São Carlos
Zoo in São Carlos
Named in tribute to the veterinarian Antônio Teixeira Vianna, the park belongs to the municipality and sits beside the federal university. Entry is free, and it opens from Tuesday to Sunday, 8am to 4.30pm.
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Parque Zoobotânico de Teresina
Zoo in Teresina
Facilities include an inflatable play area, a picnic ground, running space and nature trails. The vegetation is mainly semi-deciduous seasonal forest with riparian woodland along the rio Poti, and the plants are typical of the Amazon-cerrado-caatinga transition zone. Babaçu, macaúba, tucum and pati are the common palms.
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Parque Jacarandá
Zoo in Uberaba
Opened in 1966 as a municipal woodland, the 33,000 m2 site was reclassified as a zoo in November 1991 following upgrades and IBAMA accreditation. It has since been used for recreation, conservation and environmental education. The grounds are native woodland holding cerrado and Atlantic forest species along with springs.
Our ranking methodology
This is not a ranking. The 19 venues above are listed alphabetically by name, the same order used throughout this site. We do not collect visitor reviews, star ratings, ticket-sales figures or a conservation-impact score, so none of those exist here to rank by — “best” in this page’s title means every venue that qualifies for this list, not first-to-last by quality. If we ever add a data source robust enough to support an honest ranking, this note and the order above will change together.