This is during COVID 19, so a lot of blocked off stuff. However I respect their efforts during these times. I did have a great time still and will be coming back next year ^^

This is my first time visiting here. The area is very large and you don't need administration fee or tickets. I was there during the afternoon. There are Lions, Polor Bears and Penguin, flamingo, zibra.

A place for zoo staff or those who have some concern with the Lincoln Park Zoo.

This place is a Chicago gem.

Open access zoo close to downtown. As soon as you open, you will see the animals feeding.

LINCOLN Park Zoo

Lovely lake front zoo. Wow what a treat, in Chicago and on the lake front! Free admission, you have to pay for parking so that's to be expected (street parking if you can find it). Bring your walking shoes! We saw most of the animals and the fall setting was beautiful. Reserve ahead because the spots fill up quickly. Ample parking as well. Overall a great outing and great family fun for all.

New covid policies ruined my trip to the zoo.

The zoo was founded in 1868, when the Lincoln Park Commissioners were given a gift of two pairs[6] of swans by Central Park's Board of Commissioners in New York City.[7] Other animals were soon donated to the park, including, a puma, two elk, three wolves, four eagles, and eight peacock.[8] In 1874, a bear cub from the Philadelphia Zoo was the first animal purchased by the zoo. The bear became quite adept at escaping from its home and could frequently be found roaming Lincoln Park at night.[9] In 1884, reportedly the first American bison born in captivity was born at the Lincoln Park Zoo.[10] At this time, the species had almost been hunted to extinction in the wild—in 1896, the United States government purchased one bull and seven cows from the Zoo's bison herd to send to Yellowstone National Park to assist in the species' revival.[8] From 1888 to 1919 the director of the Lincoln Park Zoo was the flamboyant Cy DeVry, who organized the collection, built many new structures, and obtained the zoo's first elephant and monkeys. A new Lion House opened in 1912. It was later renovated and reopened in 1990. The Primate House opened in 1927, and was known for housing a popular gorilla named Bushman (1931–1951), one of the only gorillas in a U. S. zoo at the time.[11][12] The zoo's great apes were moved to the Lester E. Fisher Great Ape House in 1976, named for the zoo's outgoing director, and the original Primate House was later renovated and reopened in 1992 as the Helen Brach Primate House, featuring more naturalistic settings. Marlin Perkins, who gained fame as the host of the television program Zoo Parade and later, Wild Kingdom, was director of the zoo from 1944 until 1962. He created and recruited a citizens group to support the Zoo's mission, the Lincoln Park Zoological Society. The facility underwent a dramatic transformation in the 1970s and 1980s, with the additions of many new, naturalistic exhibits. In 1995, the Zoological Society assumed management of the zoo from the Chicago Park District, which remains the owner.[11] Zoo administration is currently housed in the nearby building previously used by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, which moved to a new facility in 1999. The Kovler Sea Lion Pool opened the same year after an extensive renovation, and is now home to the zoo's harbor seals.[13] Regenstein African Journey, a renovation of the zoo's former Large Mammal House, opened in 2003, turning the zoo's largest building from concrete showcases for a few large mammals into a series of naturalistic settings that tell the story of the wildlife of the African continent, welcoming the return of the zoo's African elephants and giraffes as well as new additions such as the aardvark, ostrich, and African wild dog.[14] Two years later, the zoo renovated its Great Ape House, opening the Regenstein Center for African Apes, which focused on the zoo's troops of common chimpanzees and western lowland gorillas, putting a special emphasis on researching the behaviors of both species and creating new, naturalistic habitats.[15] In 2003, the book The Ark in the Park: The Story of Lincoln Park Zoo was also published by the University of Illinois Press. The book was written by Mark Rosenthal, Carol Tauber, and Edward Uhlir.[16][17] In 2010, Lincoln Park Zoo transformed the adjacent South Pond to create the Nature Boardwalk, an ecological habitat designed by Studio Gang Architects that features native wetlands plants and wildlife.[18] In December 2011, the Kovler Penguin-Seabird House, which had previously been home to rockhopper, king penguins, common murres and puffins closed down after thirty years at the zoo due to worries about the deteriorating condition of the building, prompting outcry from some Chicago residents.[19] It was soon announced it would be replaced with a newly renovated West Gate, featuring a children's train and an all-new exhibit, Regenstein Macaque Forest, featuring Japanese macaques, or "snow monkeys", in a state-of-the-art exhibit with a hot spring, set to open in fall 2014.[20] It was announced in March

Awesome free zoo in a beautiful area of Chicago. Take public transport or bike /walk if you can, parking is a nightmare

Cool and free

Very nice historic building!

amazing floor plan of this building

Nice

Beautiful building and great landscaping ;)

Nice fresh air and quiet in the big city

(Translated by Google) Nevesitas make an appointment to enter and close too soon and that inf was not on their website (Original) Nevesitas hacer cita para entrar y cierran demaciado pronto y esa inf no estaba en su website

Hard to understand the ticket situation associated with the Holiday Light Show.

My fiend Colton has been living with the hippos lately. I came back to visit and it seems like he’s gained some weight. This zoo definitely feeds their animals and Colton right.👍

I like it and it was free but the animals were sleeping or because of bad wheather we haven't saw alot of animals also I would recommend to go early before 1pm

Nice organized zoo , unfortunately we couldn't see the lions and cats due to habitat constructions

Really enjoyed the light show. Lincoln Park Zoo is much better than when I was younger. Enjoyed bringing my kid here.

(Translated by Google) I love decoration (Original) Me encanta decoración

Fun fun fun glimmering night of new fallen snow!

Awesome museum for the whole family. Everything from butterfly exhibit/rainforest, to planetarium, to a rooftop with native plants, flowers, birds, and many other fun exhibits. Go--just go!

It was exciting to see the zoo lights.

As always, Zoo Lights this year were amazing, even if a ticket was mandatory for entry. Every ticket had a half hour entry period for about 250 people in total to ensure not too many people were in the park at one time.

The lights were great. The $30 to park for the hour n a half we were there was a bit much if you ask me.

Went to the zoo to see the Christmas lights and they were beautiful! Didn’t see any animals though! There was a beautiful area to sit on the top floor at one of the building full of lights above the seating area, but they did have a $3 entrance charge which was kind of inconvenient! The parking for 31 minutes to 2 hours was $20. Overall it was an ok experience, too many fees here and there, and not much to do besides walking around to see the lights.

(Translated by Google) Very beautiful place! (Original) Muy hermoso lugar!

Zoo Lights on NYE!! I guess you can't expect much when you pay $20 for a family of four but I'd rather pay more and get more then to visit this again. It could've been more lights and maybe a light show to the beat of music. The kids were bored and ready to leave before it was over. For NYE to make it an actual event maybe they can add fireworks or fill in the much empty space with more lights.

Wonderful winter light shows.

They didn't have the lights on when we arrived.

Great place to visit!

Such a great zoo! Great experience every time, lots of walking which is great .

It is the neatest park in Illinois

Kudos to Lincoln Park Zoo for doing an excellent job socially distancing Zoolights. We had a blast! Our annual holiday traditions include a night at the Zoo so the new light installations and sponsors really stood out. Congrats to the Zoo for making it so festive! We need a little magic right now. 💫 Support your local Zoo!!

A fine Fall day and had a great time walking and watching various animals. The Zebra mom and baby were the star of the show.There was a seal show , where the seals were performing little antics. Not sure if they had to suffer while learning these tricks. The Giraffes looked happy in their lot but can not say the same about the caged birds. The Polar bear appeared sick, looked like he had no love for life left.

Well we are understanding that with Covid the indoor exhibits will be closed. What we didn't realize was there weren't going to be any animals at all. I have posted 16 pictures with is 1 of every single animal they had available to see. Including the ducks and seagulls. The big cats were not there because they are still under construction. ALL of the bears were gone. It wasn't what we expected. Even for a free zoo. We paid quite a bit for parking They could have said online that 3/4 of the animals were being kept inside with no way to see them. Had we known we would have went to Brookfield. We like Lincoln Park because it's the last free one and I love being able to donate which I do when I buy the tickets. I just wish they would have warned us. My daughters were ready to leave after 15 minutes of empty animal houses. Thankfully we chose a day that wasn't humid or we would have left without out seeing everything. Luckily they had the flamingos which was what my girls wanted most after the rest was empty. That's why we saved it for last or they would have wanted to leave after seeing them.

The Lincoln park zoo is pretty unique. Its free. Something that is not very common for most Zoos. Because of this, its absolutely worth a visit. However be warned that you could easily walk and see all the animals you might want to within 1.5hs, and maybe less depending on what's out. It is not very large, and is pretty compact. The draw is the price. There is however another zoo around Chicago that is much better. Be sure to check out Brookfield zoo if you really want a full blown zoo experience.

No chance to get to Christmas Lights neither at Lincoln Zoo nor at Botanic Garden in time of COVID 19. But just to be there, take a walk around, chat with a strangers, patting the dogs & exchange couple wards with their owners, all of this gave a windows to the normal life, to the community, to feel yourself as a part of this wonderful town & it's community.

I really like the zoo. I appreciate that it's free. They do a pretty good job here. It's not as expensive as some other issues, but it's a nice place to bring kids or to have a date. A real gem of the city. At the moment they're doing lots of construction, but that's a good thing. They're keeping the zoo in good condition.

Love this zoo, but we were very rushed through it. We could only get a 9pm reservation and the zoo closed at 10pm so we missed out on a few things because we didnt have the additional tickets and the gift shop was closed so we couldnt purchase them.. still a beautiful place to visit. And we will go back when its warmer and we can see the animals

First time visiting and was kind of disappointed. All the buildings were closed (reptile, primate, etc.) and there was a lot of construction. Because of this you weren’t able to see very many animals. I thought the arrows painted along the ground and various fences showing the correct walking paths were wonderful to keep people distanced but also made for extra walking and it was harder to get to/find exhibits. I appreciate their efforts during COVID. Good for a visit if your have an extra hour and are searching for something FREE to do.

Nice for a free zoo.

Great service and food as always

Great for a walk or relaxing but the parking is hard to find

I have childrens 3 and 1.5 years old, security dont let in without masks. It's ridiculous. Not recomend, and never come back

Best Christmas 💡 light.

Must visit when they have the lighting put on

Animals, gotta love em

Best zoo in America, and it's free!

great place for the fam

Should be a public announcement whe is said you have to buy your tickets online!

(Translated by Google) Too bad it's not open yet (Original) Que lastima que aún no esté abierto

We had a fun day at the Lincoln Park zoo. This past weekend was for members only. This time a had gloves.

One of my favorite places to take my son. There are so many fantastic areas to explore at Cal Academy and it incredibly exciting for kids and adults to explore. I love the rotating exhibits to keep it fresh, as well as all of the mainstays - Aquarium, rainforest, penguins, planetarium, living roof. Love being a member here!

Light show was disappointing, didn't have the lights synced to music this year..

Sorry about access during Covid. Expect a March reopening...

This is a place that I wish we had more time to explore! It's a aquarium, planetarium, and science museum all in one place. I heard the Steinhart Aquarium is better than the Aquarium of the Bay, so we decided to go here our last day in San Francisco. Pro tip: You can get a discount if you took public transit. Also you will want to get tickets (they're free) for any Planetarium shows you want to see when you first arrive, as they can run out. I think you could easily explore this place from the time they open until close! They have Night hours on Thursday nights, but you'll want to buy those tickets in advance. One of my favorite things was the Rainforest Exhibit with butterflies flying all around you.

Drive thru Zoo. We can get close with wild animals in short distance.