Nashville Zoo At Grassmere

I love the zoo. I am a member so I can get in for free. The food in the little cafe is always good. I love seeing all the animals and touring the grounds around the Croft Family home. However the cemetary needs some maintence like weeding, the grass is always high and its hard to read the markers. I love getting discounts in the gift shop and snack areas. I love the Red Pandas and The Tiger Leopard Cubs and the Flamingos are so cool. It might not be the biggest Zoo in the world but it is still really cool to visit. more

A TRIP TO THE ZOO IS ALWAYS FUN, BUT THIS IS NOT THE BEST ZOO I HAVE BEEN TO. more

My family loves the zoo we have a membership, and have found it worth the price! The zoo is always clean and the animals have more natural environments than many other zoo's i have visited. The animals seem pretty content. There is a lot of walking but many of the trails are shaded so even on the hot days of summer its not too hot. I have a young child and he loves riding in the stroller and seeing the animals the fish/reptile building is great because you get to see many creatures up close. I'm excited to see the zoo expand even more and get more animals for us to visit. more

This could barely be called a zoo. Sure there are some animals but you have to hike to get from one to another. When you do get to an exhibit you have about as much chance of seeing an animal there as you do if you're hiking in the wild. There aren't a lot of impressive exhibits, either, though there are a couple. Like the white tiger, if you can find it. The elephants are always too far away. The giraffes seem to be the only exhibit right sized for seeing the animals. If you have little children the experience can be boring or frustrating for them, depending on how badly they wanted to see some animals. Really this is just a long, expensive walk. Pros: nice indoor exhibits Cons: not much else, now they're charging the 2 yr olds more

I have lived in Middle TN for 29 years and never went to the Nasville Zoo just because of what it looked like from the entrance. Not much to write or talk about. Finally in August I decided to take my daughter, my cousin and her kids there for the ICE event. I thought the entrance price was reasonable. My first thought was, "were are the animals?" We had to literally SEARCH for the animals. The kids were asking us what were they suppose to be looking at. The best area was the AFrica safari area where the giraffes and elephants were. There are WAY too many trees and bamboos....it should be called the Greenhouse instead of the Zoo. But for Nashville, TN I guess that's as good as it gets. more

Okay, I grew up sandwiched between Erie, PA and Cleveland, Oh. The Cleveland zoo is large and has the Rainforest bio dome. The Erie Zoo manages to make up just 15 acres... But I'm not entirely sure you should compare Nashville to those zoos... First of all, N'ville's layout is much better. The animals are spread out in natural looking enclosures instead of smushed in rows of cages. No, there aren't currently a lot of animals, but the zoo is on phase 1 of a 4 phase plan to massively increase their size and exhibits. Also, the zoo has 100 acres currently developed and is on the way to developing the other 100 acres. Also, in addition to the zoo animals, there's a historical home (Tours are April-October, plus Christmas weekends, then Memorial Day - Labor Day all week long...) with it's out buildings, gardens and cemeteries, and the farm. So yeah, the price is a little higher than some 'zoos', but there's a uniqueness to Nashville that makes the zoo worthwhile. Pros: Croft House and increasing size Cons: a little pricier than other zoos more

Like many of the other reviewers have said, the Nashville Zoo doesn't have some of the animals you would expect to see at a zoo. However, it is a really nice place to go. The animals they do have are active and interesting. There are lots of oppportunities to learn more about them. The best things about the zoo are the facilities and environment. The animal enclosures are very nice.....no steel cages. They have an onsite cafe with virtually anything you or you kids would want to eat. Its very shady, so you're not just walking around on scorching pavement all day. Overall, a good deal for the price. Pros: facilities & environment Cons: few animals more

The Nashville Zoo is kind of a sucky zoo if you compare it to "real" zoos like Memphis and even Birmingham. But you'd be better off not comparing it to those zoos, because it would make you weep with frustration. Really, the Nashville Zoo would be better off NOT calling itself a zoo at all, because it's more like an animal sanctuary or, really, a nature trail on which you just happen to see a few animals. I will admit, things are looking up for the Zoo, with the promise of getting several more animals that you might find in a stellar, or even standard, zoo, like hippos and rhinocerus. But we're a long way from competing with even an average zoo. Sure we have some elephants and some giraffe, and those exhibits are really wonderful. But when such random animals as elongs (whatever those are) and meercats are billed as the star exhibit, somethings wrong. The only thing they have close to a gorilla is a gibbon, which was interesting, but honestly, why can't they have gorillas, apes, orangutans, etc? My children were excited about seeing the Bengal tiger, but we were informed that that exhibit wasn't open on the day we went. What a disappointment. Bottom line....I would advise the Zoo to start getting more animals if it intends to keep calling itself a zoo. Pros: Great environment for the animals, better than average facilities like restaurants. Cons: Few animals, exhibits are spaced too far from one another. Did I say there were hardly any animals? more

I enjoy visiting zoos, and I've been to quite a few around the country. This is truly one of the best, not only because of the variety of animals here, but because of the way they're obviously cared for. The keepers give talks on a regular basis, and their rapport with the animals is evident. The animal enclosures are, for the most part, quite pleasing to look at and obviously adequate for the animals -- I've never seen animals here looking stressed or displeased with their environments, and, sadly, I've seen a lot of that in other zoos. Another point worth noting is that the zoo is increasing its programming geared towards adults, which is a wonderful perk for us child-free adults who love animals. Pros: clean, well organized, wonderful animals, beautiful enclosures Cons: subject to weather more

This zoo is overated. They don't have any big animals. They mostly have birds. All you do is walk through a "jungle of weeds". Be sure to bring bug repelant, this zoo has an ample amount of mosquitoes but not animals! We had planned our vacation around the zoo and boy were we disappointed. The price is a ripoff! I would recommend going somewhere else. Pros: didn't see any Cons: no open concessions, no big animals, price more

Nashville is a major large city yet the zoo is the caliber of a much smaller less funded township. Sure it is a great value and very fun for the kids because they do not know better. But let us be honest, our zoo is not one of our adult tourist draws nor is it up to par. more

Seeing the animals through the eyes of a child makes you relive that exciting moment you shared with your family years ago. Pros: educational, convenient, great surroundings more

The zoo has many different activities. There are frequently big cats when they are babies in the nursery, the historic farm and a great playground. Don't forget the petting zoo. Who wouldn't want to feed a bottle to a baby camel? Oh yeah, there are also wonderful animals. more

Nashville has a decent zoo that seems to be growing at a nice rate. Seemingly a couple of new attractions come each year, recently the Gibbon Monkeys and Meerkats. However, a number of animals missing that you might not expect: lions, tigers, bears (you thought I was going to say "oh, my" didn't you?). The zoo is spread out so plan on walking. Parking is available, but like most things go during the week when it is less crowded. Walk the trail first (if you have kids count on spending an extra $5 to ride the elephants), then go into the Reptile house to cool off. End the day with a trip to the playground so the kids can run off any excess energy. If you go more than a couple of times a year, go ahead and get the $35 membership. You'll save money in the long run. Pros: growing, design, playground Cons: size, no lion, no tigers more