Updated for September 2026
The Best Zoos in New Jersey
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 New Jersey that qualifies for the list, fullest entry first.
Listed alphabetically
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Rides and attractionsOn-site diningParking
Cape May County Park Zoo
Zoo in Cape May Court House
The address is 707 U.S. Route 9 North, inside the county's Central Park, and zoo and park together take in roughly 220 acres. The chief areas are a 57-acre African Savanna, a walk-through aviary and reptiles.
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Turtle Back Zoo
Zoo in West Orange
Twenty acres of South Mountain Reservation are given over to the zoo, which the Essex County Park System administers; no county park system in the country is older. Named after a rock formation nearby, it opened in 1963 with 140 animals across 40 species, a figure that had reached 850 animals of 275 species by 1973. Confined at first to wildlife native to the New York metropolitan region, the collection now draws on every continent except Antarctica.
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Adventure Aquarium
Zoo & Aquarium in Camden
A for-profit aquarium run by Herschend beside the Delaware River, it first opened in 1992 and reopened in its present form on 25 May 2005 with roughly 8,000 animals. The tanks hold more than two million US gallons of water, and the public floor space covers 200,000 square feet. Recyclable cutlery and plant-based straws are served under a scheme called Fins for the Future.
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Cohanzick Zoo
Zoo in Bridgeton
Open since 1934 and claiming the title of the earliest zoo in New Jersey, it holds more than 100 animals across 45 species. The city's Department of Recreation and Public Affairs runs it, with county money and donations, and an animal-sponsorship scheme is also offered.
Our ranking methodology
This is not a ranking. The 4 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.