It's the zoo! The National Zoo, is the best! It's well laid out, it has bathrooms EVERYWHERE (big deal, right? Until you need it) the food vendors are all tasty and plenty of drinks for hydration. Did I mention the animals? It's the National Zoo! There are elephants, bison, wolves, bats, giraffes, hippopotamuses, everything! You need to reserve parking right now, and it's $30. But, it is so worth it. Get out go to the zoo before they lock us all down again!

The best elephant zoo I’ve ever seen. Elephants are large and dangerous, so there’s only so much you can do to get people up-close in a city environment. The enclosure is surrounded by three different viewing environments, depending where the elephants feel like being that day. Kid friendly. The zoo in general could use more bathrooms (it’s quite a hike to find one, depending where you are).

The elephants have a huge range and there are lots of overlooks to get a view of the many animals.

This was awesome. The staff were educating us on the elephants and seeing these beasts up close was fantastic.

Love this place! Great habitat for elephants 🐘, lots of information, and multimedia stuff for families!

Lots of big dudes and dudets. The Phants are clicker trained, and they make them run through their routines around lunch time, so be sure to arrive then! It's neat to see such charismatic mega funa act like trained dogs.

They were getting ready for the elephant birthday party. They bought him an ice cake because it was July. They were very attentive to the animals.

Lots of information available ... we learned so much. Truly enjoyable. I highly recommend it!!!

The elephant trails were okay. Not much to see really. Our experience at the zoo as a whole was....adventurous to say the least.

One of our family's favorite spots to visit every season

We had a nice time here at the Zoo. We liked the layout, the upkeep, and the exhibits. Seemed like no one that worked there was very pleasant, and the inside exhibits smelled pretty bad.

Perfect view of the elephants, clean and fun. My daughter loved it.

elephants are cute and well cared for, their stories are shared throughout the exhibits. but the interior smells a bit barnyard which is expected

Great part of the zoo!!

Great to see the Elephants up close. Not so great on a hot day to be inside with no air circulation.

Cool spot to see the elephants from above if they are in the area.

There you can find a lot of elephants and you can see all the information about them. The elephant caretaker are always there to help them to move, take showers and feed. You can take pictures and learn a lot.

Pay of the National Zoo. The proximity of the elephants inside the barn is unmatched in my experience.

Keepers walking by the enclosure actually said hello to the elephant and it warmed my heart. They were both very active kept going in and out. My 1 year old loved it.

Excellent location for the National Park very good value for money Excellent food in the restaurant and friendly staff. I enjoyed rice and curry one evening and they gave me a selection of 5 different curries to enjoy in the one meal. Swimming pool was nice but could do with better pool towels. Shower run a bit hot and cold but was ok. Also had a monkey run through the trees and monitor lizard join us for breakfast.

The elephants were out! Great zoo w/o charge except for 22$ parking which well worth it. Bring your own lunch or snacks... Prices for anything are high. They are allowing food trucks there now to so getting more of a variety for food.

The elephants were so cool! Felt like a circus in training! 🎪

First time in a local zoo .. was fun but don't really see much animals. I like the panda more as they are very active among most animals

Really enjoyed the elephants and especially talking to one of the ladies who had been working with them for a while. You could tell she genuinely cares and even goes to visit an elephant every year that was once born at her zoo but was transferred to a zoo in Oklahoma.

A great experience for the kids...

Go early and get to watch some enrichment with the zoologists!!

Granddaughter loves elephants

Elephants at the National zoo

Loved getting to see all of the elephants. Such beautiful animals.

The zoo has done a great job at enlarging the elephant exhibit. Allowing people to see the elephants in different environments.

I got to see elephants at a very close range, area was clean and kids enjoyed the place.

The more recent bird house "renovation" was worse, but what was done to the elephant house was similar. Animals and plants were replaced with dirt, empty space, posters, and games apparently geared to low IQ attention deficit children. I have been to the zoo many times and have NEVER seen an elephant on the so-called "trail." But that "trail" eliminated a number of exhibits and a shady and less crowded walking path through the zoo. This change funnels the significantly increasing Summer crowds through a very hot choke point with no shade in front of the Elephant house. I think a better idea would have been to to not make this change at the small DC zoo and instead create an area where additional elephants could live at the facility in Front Royal. Closing the exhibit behind the reptile house and significantly decreasing the capacity of the restrooms near Lion and Tiger Hill were also ridiculous decisions. But there are more stores and a carousel.