Best Route Guide to Walking the San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo is a wonderful place for families. I’ve been going there my whole life and always enjoy seeing the animals and the smiles on the face of kids seeing their favorite animals often for the first time. If you have never been to the Zoo, the first thing you’ll find out rather quickly after you enter the gates is that it is built on a series of hills and valleys. Some of them much steeper than others.

The Zoo does offer solutions to help with getting around. There is the Bus Tour which takes you around the park and a guide points out the animals. There is also a Kangaroo Bus that lets you hop on and off at different points in the park. Another new addition is the Discovery Cart Tour which is a more personal tour than the Bus and might be good if you have a large family. However, these can add to your expenses for the day, and to see things up close, you need to get off the roads that those vehicles travel on.

Most people fail to come up with a good plan, so the hills don’t wear them out too early in the day. All too often I see parents struggling to push their strollers up hills or dealing with fussy young kids who are worn out. It isn’t their fault; nobody tells you about this before you go. Once there, the excitement takes over, you grab a map at the gate and try to come up with a plan. Often, it’s just pick something you want to see and head that way.

That’s why I wrote this guide. I’ve spent lots of time thinking about this and wandering around the Zoo trying out different paths. That said, hills are unavoidable. This guide will show you how to take as many of them as possible going downhill. My goal here is to help people enjoy the Zoo as much as I do. There is no wrong way to walk to the Zoo but it can be made easier.

A couple of points before we start. First, I’m not affiliated with the San Diego Zoo, just a long time Member and fan. Second, this isn’t meant to be a guide to the animals you will see on the routes. Take your time, enjoy the sights and sounds, and refer to this along the way.

I built a companion app to this guide to make it easier when you are at the Zoo. Open this link on your phone or scan the QR code: SD Zoo Ninja

Let’s go!

Front Street

Once you enter the Zoo you’ll be on Front Street. Grab a map or get the Zoo's official app for iOS or Android. You’ll need the map because I’ll be referring to “map locator’ numbers on the map. The biggest problem I have with the map is that it is not to scale. Looking at it makes it very hard to figure out which path to go down. In a couple of confusing spots, an employee is posted to help you out with directions. If you are standing with your back to the entrance, you could head to the left and visit the Reptile House, Reptile Walk, and the Children’s Zoo (currently closed for construction). There are no big hills there so I tend to save this for the end of the day. Because of that, this guide will start you off going into the heart of the zoo.

Into The Heart of the Zoo

1️⃣ Find Treetops Way between Map Locator 4 and the ticket booths and follow that to the Orangutan enclosure on the right.

Monkey Trail

2️⃣ Follow the brief Orangutan Trail until it exits back onto Treetops way right near Zoo Brew.

3️⃣ Take Treetops Way left toward the zoo exit and shortly you will see Monkey Trail. on your right.

To Tiger Trail

4️⃣ Follow Monkey Trail down to Tiger Trail. Keep left when you see the sign for Tiger Trail.

5️⃣ Follow Tiger Trail down to the tigers. You will be passing by the lower part of their enclosure and there are 3 opportunities to see them. If they are down by the glass, it is a nice up-close view.

At the end of Tiger Trail, you will see the plaques as reminders of donors that made these exhibits possible. As you pass by them, the trail leads to the left and down to Hippo Trail.

🔅 TIGER TIP: If you missed a good view of the tigers because they were at the top of the enclosure, turn right just past the plaques and before you head down to Hippo Trail. You’ll go up a walk that is a bit steep but it is worth it for the tigers. The walk ends at the door to the aviary. After you view the tigers, head back down to Hippo Trail.

6️⃣ Hippo Trail ends at Map Locator 14.

At that point, go to your right. The middle of the zoo doesn’t have a Locator. It is the elevator up to the Bashor Bridge. The ground floor of the elevator is right near The Pagoda.

7️⃣ Take the elevator (or climb the 116 stairs) up.

Bashor Bridge to the Northern Frontier

At the top of the elevator, you will be by Bashor Bridge.

1️⃣ Head across the bridge toward Map Locator 20 and then go left. Shortly, you’ll see Map Locator 19.

2️⃣ Continue left, enjoying the enclosures on the way to Map Locator 17.

3️⃣ At Map Locator 17, cross the street to Polar Bear Plunge. This area is a loop. be sure to go all the way in to see the reindeer. The loop will take you through the small gift shop and back out onto Park Way.

4️⃣ Before you cross the street back to Locator 17, go to the right a little way. You’ll see the valley Highway 163 runs through, and you will have a unique view of Balboa Park’s Cabrillo Bridge.

5️⃣ Cross back over the street and continue on downhill to the right (not back toward the bridge). Shortly after the zebras, you will find a wood walkway called Eagle Trail. Follow that wood walkway along past the eagles.

6️⃣ At the end of Eagle Trail, you will see the entrance to the Asian Leopards exhibit.

7️⃣ Go straight ahead and visit the leopards and the red pandas. After the red pandas, you will emerge back onto Park Way not far from The Pagoda and the elevators back up to the Bashor Bridge.

8️⃣ Take the elevator back up..

Bashor Bridge to the Elephants and Africa

Back at the top of the elevator, you will be by Bashor Bridge again.

1️⃣ Head across the bridge toward Map Locator 20 and then go right. You’ll see the Elephant Odyssey sign where you will go left and through the tar pits exhibit. The tar pits lead to the elephants.

2️⃣ Keep to the left as you emerge from the tar pits area, and you’ll see the lions.

To Africa Rocks

3️⃣ Follow that path past the elephants all the way around and continue past the Sabretooth Grill. Just after Map Locator 10, the path winds through the Kopje exhibit and on to Map Locator 9. Here, you will be at a kind of crossroad.

4️⃣ Follow the path downhill to the right toward Africa Rocks. Africa Rocks is a long winding path all the way back down to the heart of the zoo. Just past the penguins, you’ll see Hua Mae Cafe.

Across the street from Hua Mae Cafe and to your left as you emerge from the penguin exhibit, you’ll see the entrance to the sun bear forest.

Follow the path to Sun Bear Forest as it takes you through the trees and past the sun bears. The path emerges at Map Locator 11.

7️⃣ Go right here and follow the street back down to the Hua Mae Cafe area.

8️⃣ At Map Locator 13, turn left and head down to the elevator.

9️⃣ Take the elevator back up.

Bashor Bridge to Aviary to Front Street

Back at the top of the elevator, we will go a different way this time.

1️⃣ From the elevator go toward Treetops Café. Follow the trail between Treetops Café and Albert’s.

2️⃣ Keep to the right for Monkey Trail and follow Monkey Trail past the Gorillas.

3️⃣ At the Monkey Tales & Forest Tales sign, keep to the left to follow Hippo Trail past the Pigmy Hippos. This portion of Hippo Trail exits back onto Treetops way. There will be restrooms on your left.

4️⃣ Go left here and follow the signs for Aviary Trail on your right.

5️⃣ You will reach Owens Aviary. Go through the doors and continue following the trail through the aviary. Shortly after you exit the doors at the end of the upper portion of Owens Aviary, you will see the doors for the lower portion. Go back inside and visit that portion. Exit the aviary and continue down the trail toward Center Street. The trail ends across Center Street from Map Locator 11.

6️⃣ Cross the street and follow the path up the hill to the right. You will be passing the bears on the left. This is a bit of a hill but take your time and enjoy the bears.

7️⃣ The hill ends with Map Locator 8 on your right and Sydney’s Grill on your left. Continue left around Sydney’s Grill to the Urban Jungle. This area is a loop, keep to the left past the giraffes and follow the trail all the way around. Go into the Outback and visit the koalas. If you walk through to the end of the koala exhibit, go to your right. If you continue straight, you will end up in Africa Rocks. Go right and back toward Sydney’s Grill.

8️⃣ Keep to the left and across from Map Locator 8, follow Koalafornia Boardwalk back toward the Zoo Entrance.

Off to See the Lizards

1️⃣ From near the zoo entrance and Map Locator 4, go left to the Reptile House near Map Locator 3.

2️⃣ Go left as you exit the reptile house and down Reptile Walk. The Reptile Mesa is a big loop. Make your way back to Map Locator 4 when you are finished.

I hope this guide helped you enjoy your day at the San Diego Zoo! Tag your Instagram and Twitter posts with #sdzooninja so we can share our adventures! Let me know if the app was useful.