Bonus trip · Family Walk
Szeged Zoo
Szegedi Vadaspark · Szél utca 90 · since 1989
Hungary's largest zoo by area, in an oak forest by Lake Sancer. Its penguin was still called Cleo back in Germany.
It opened in 1989, about 2.5 km from the centre, in a natural oak forest next to Lake Sancer. At about 45 hectares it is Hungary's largest zoo by area.
At the start of 2025 it was home to 1,206 animals of 190 species. They're arranged by continent, and about 35 per cent of the species are in international breeding programmes.
Asian elephants have lived here since May 2018, in the country's largest elephant enclosure. An Indian rhino house was built in 2020.
Rarities: fossa, Darwin's rhea, anoa, clouded leopard. In 2017 Amali, a white lion cub, arrived; her name was chosen by public vote and means “hope”. In 2020 kea parrots bred here for the first time in Hungary, and the park had its first baby sloth.
Picúr, the spectacled penguin, hatched in Straubing in 2011, where she was called Cleo. She was among the first penguins to arrive in Szeged at the end of 2011, turned 15 in March 2026, and is the group's grand old lady.
In October 2026 three rock hyraxes arrived. They look like a badger or a rodent, but their closest living relatives are elephants and sea cows. The same month a llama foal and two alpaca foals were born.
The ring-tailed lemurs got a retired playground climbing frame. The rescue centre takes in nearly a thousand animals a year, mostly birds. This was the first zoo in Hungary to employ a zoo educator.
The zoo's adventure park, opened in 2016, only ran for about a year and is gone now.
Open in the app →Animated scene, old photos, stamps and the full map. Free, nothing to install.Facts and labels
- TrueSince 1989, about 45 hectares: Hungary's largest zoo by area.
- True190 species, 1,206 animals (1 January 2025).
- TrueAsian elephants since 2018, Indian rhinos since 2020.
- True2020: kea parrots bred here for the first time in Hungary.
- TruePicúr the penguin turned 15 in March 2026.