Spend the Day at the Cape May County Park and Zoo

The Cape May County Park and Zoo is located in southern New Jersey. If you’re going to be visiting Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood, or Cape May…you’ll find the park less than a 30 minute drive.  It’s open year round, but their hours do vary depending on the season.

Every time we go down to the beach house we like to plan a visit to the Cape May Zoo. We’ve been visiting this park at least once a year since 2000. Every time we visit…it gets better and better. You can tell that they take a lot of pride in keeping this zoo one of the best in the entire state of New Jersey.

One of the nice things is that its 100% free to visit. They only ask for a monetary donation at the admission gate. We like to drop in a twenty dollar bill every time we go. They will then hand you a map and you’ll be on your way.

When visiting you’ll see hundreds of different animals and all of them are housed in well-kept, beautiful exhibits. Some of the animals that we saw on our most recent visit: peacocks, owls, flamingos, turtles, otters, skunks, cows, pigs, goats, lions, leopards, primate monkeys, zebra, buffalo, ostrich, giraffes, camels, snakes, lizards, alligators, fish, swans, ducks, deer, alpacas, and more!

You move around the zoo at your own pace and they’re handicap accessible. We love that they’re rarely crowded when we visit…but then again, we visit as soon as they open during a weekday (around 10 AM) before it gets too hot or too crowded.

There is a small petting area where the kids can pet and feed goats, pigs, and a cow. They have a feed machine where you put a quarter into it and it drops out food. You can then hand feed that to the animals. My grandchildren LOVE to pet and feed the animals in this part of the zoo.

Are birds your thing? You’ll find an indoor aviary that is completely air conditioned if you need to get out of the heat. Inside the aviary you’ll see all kinds of different sea birds flying around (freely), swimming in the man-made stream, nesting, feeding, etc.

Another building houses a lot of the reptiles and amphibians like snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles, salamanders, etc. I personally avoid that building because I’m deathly afraid of snakes. Seriously, they send me into anxiety and panic mode. Ewwww! No thank you!

After your done visiting with the animals you can grab a bite to eat from one of their snack shops. They offer your typically zoo-fare style of food. Burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, french fries, popsicles, soft pretzels, etc. I found them to be on the pricey side, so we opted to eat at a nearby restaurant after we left.

Well, there you have it! A few photographs from my family’s most recent visit to the Cape May County Park and Zoo in New Jersey.