Smart Traveller

In the next in our series of posts about attractions that you can visit in Spain, we take a look at Fuengirola Zoo, which is located in Fuengirola on Spain’s Costa del Sol, and which is a great place to visit on a day-trip if you’re staying in the area.

Fuengirola Zoo opened in the 1970s, but was redeveloped between 1998 and 2001 in order to improve conditions for the animals and provide a “full-immersion” zoo experience for visitors. It is now home to more than 1,300 animals and is involved in a number of animal breeding and monitoring programmes.

The zoo has more than 140 species of mammals, fish, reptiles and birds, including Sumatran tigers, meerkats, orang-utans, lemurs, gorillas, gibbons, chimpanzees, pythons, crocodiles, turtles, flamingos and lorikeets. There is also a children’s play area, a gift shop and two restaurant areas.

If you are visiting the Costa del Sol during the summer, you can explore the zoo at night and watch the animals in the moonlight.

Fuengirola Zoo is particularly good to visit as part of a Costa del Sol car hire holiday. You can rent a car at Malaga airport and it will only take you about half an hour to drive to Fuengirola Zoo from Malaga and about twenty minutes to drive there from Torremolinos.

In this post, the first in a series looking at some of the specific attractions that you can visit in Spain, we take a look at Terra Natura, a wildlife park located just outside of Benidorm on Spain’s Costa Blanca.

Terra Natura is divided into four themed areas: Pangea, Europe, Asia and America. In the Pangea area, you can see snakes, including diamond-back rattlesnakes and green tree pythons, as well as tarantulas, lizards, scorpions and bush babies, and in the Europe area of Terra Natura, you can see donkeys, horses, turtles and deer.

Exhibits in the Asia area of the park include elephants, Bengal tigers, Asiatic lions, saltwater crocodiles, leopards, water buffalo and Sumatran tigers, whilst the America area is home to armadillos, macaws, boa constrictors, jaguars, Capuchin monkeys, marmosets, ocelots and squirrel monkeys.

Other attractions at Terra Natura include the “Birds of Prey Challenge” zip wire and the “Flight of the Parrots” and the “Flight of the Birds of Prey” shows.

Terra Natura is set out beautifully, with mock  ruins and themed architecture, and pathways lined with trees and flowers. It also has several restaurants and cafes, and there are gift shops in each area of the park.

It will take you at least four hours to explore Terra Natura properly, so it’s wise to plan to spend a whole day at the park so that your visit doesn’t feel rushed. The park is open all year round, but opening hours vary, so make sure that you check them before visiting.

Terra Natura is only about 10 minutes’ drive from Benidorm and about 40 minutes’ drive from Alicante, so it’s a great place to visit as part of a Costa Blanca car hire holiday.

Image: © Carolyn Marshall | Dreamstime.com