Updated for September 2026
The Best Zoos in North Carolina
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 North Carolina that qualifies for the list, fullest entry first.
Listed alphabetically
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Parking
Western North Carolina Nature Center
Zoo in Asheville
The site goes back to 1925 and has been known variously as the Asheville City Zoo, Craig Park Zoo and Recreation Park Zoo, holding native and foreign animals alike. From the mid-1970s, under the name Children's Zoo and Nature Center, it narrowed its collection to native species only. In 2013 over 107,000 people visited, upwards of 13,000 of them schoolchildren on organised trips.
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Keeper talk or showOvernight stayAssistance animal policy
North Carolina Zoo
Zoo in Asheboro
The zoo covers 500 developed acres, is billed as the biggest natural habitat zoo anywhere, and sits under the state department of natural and cultural resources. It is laid out in three sections, covering Africa, North America and a desert region, and is one of only two state-funded zoos in the country, alongside the Minnesota Zoo. It also holds a substantial art collection, mostly sculpture but including murals, mosaics and paintings.
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Tregembo Animal Park
Zoo in Wilmington
George and June Tregembo started it in 1952 under the Tote-Em-In name, mixing animals with curiosities, and it took its present name in 2004. On the owner's retirement the site went on lease to Jerry Brewer, and the family resumed running it in 2003, wanting to reorient the place toward education. PETA in 1998 listed it among the country's worst roadside zoos, and although the family aimed to expand enclosures after 2004, concrete pads and cages remain and draw criticism as poor housing.
Our ranking methodology
This is not a ranking. The 3 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.