If you spend time close to Schwerin and the weather is nice you should definitely visit the Zoo.
The easiest way to get there is taking the Tram number 2 direction Hegelstraße and for the sake of convenience your stop is named Zoo. From there it’s only about 500m to walk.
When you arrive you’ll definitely recognize a few of the advantages of the Schweriner Zoo – although it’s somewhat smaller than the Rostocker Zoo – there is a climbing park and a mini golf course right next to it and its location is gorgeous; it’s situated in the woods by the Schweriner See. It’s also fairly close to the Zippendorfer Beach where you could take a walk at the beautiful promenade or – if you like – go swimming.
Another plus are the entrance fees: Students get in at only 4€ a day or can get a year’s pass at an impressively low 15€ a year! You can also get a combi-ticket for the zoo and the climbing park for 22,50€ a day.
You may think that you wouldn’t have enough time for both and that’s possibly right if you like to take lots of photos (photo pass costs 1€) and watch the animals for ages like me, but if you just take a walk through the zoo you’ll have more than enough time for climbing because the Schweriner Zoo doesn’t impress by means of size. All in all the area enfolds only 25ha with everything neatly arranged in a circular manner. However there are still about 120 species to observe including my beloved alpacas and the favourite of many visitors, the prairie dogs that run around the zoo freely. Besides there are a few outdoor pens where you can get fairly close to the animals and even feed them if you like – though you can only feed the lories from a distance. For the bigger ones there are public feedings on a daily basis and an animal of the month on which you get lots of interesting information during the feeding.
Even though it’s not the biggest zoo it expands regularly; the frog house is quite new and the most recent example is the South America installation.
If you get hungry during your visit you have the choice between the Zoo Diner and the Inn at the Zoo. Next to the Zoo Diner there’s a small farm with typical farm animals and now and then events for children with different topics.
To complete your day in the nature I would recommend leaving the Zoo through the exit at the Inn and then taking a walk to the right at the Schweriner See and after a couple of minutes you’ll arrive at the previously mentioned Zippendorfer Beach, where there’s another tram station nearby.
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