ZooParc de Beauval Tickets: Prices, Zen Pass & Visiting Tips

Inside ZooParc de Beauval: what you’re paying for

ZooParc de Beauval is a family-run zoo founded in 1980 in Saint-Aignan, in the Loir-et-Cher department of the Loire Valley. It has grown into one of Europe’s largest and most visited zoos: 46 hectares, around 800 species and 24 territories, including two show arenas. It’s also the home of France’s giant pandas.

One ZooParc de Beauval ticket covers everything inside — there are no extra entrance fees on site. The headliners:

• The Heights of China — giant pandas, snow leopards, red pandas and takins in a Chinese-themed area. The panda viewing area is the biggest crowd magnet in the park.
• The Equatorial Dome — a huge tropical greenhouse with manatees, pygmy hippos, golden lion tamarins and Komodo dragons. Warm and dry whatever the weather.
• Le Nuage de Beauval — a cable car that flies over the zoo, included in the ticket, with cabins that take wheelchairs and pushchairs.
• Les Maîtres des Airs — the free-flight bird show.
• L’Odyssée des Lions de Mer — the sea lion show, from late March to mid-November.
• Big-animal territories — the Elephant Plains (with okapis), the African Savannah with giraffes and zebras, the Hippopotamus Reserve, the Cheetah Territory, the gorilla greenhouse and the orangutan and chimpanzee greenhouse.
• New areas — Bucolia, a farm with Solognot sheep, Shetland ponies and Berry donkeys, and Les Terres Rouges, an Australian zone with wombats and red kangaroos. They join the long-standing koala greenhouse.

Who it suits: everyone. Families with toddlers will find shaded paths and lots of benches; teenagers come for the pandas and big cats; adults treat it as a destination in its own right, often with a night in one of the zoo’s five themed hotels. There are no rides — the cable car is the only one — so don’t come expecting a theme park.

Timing is everything

Beauval draws visitors from all over France, so the busy periods follow the French calendar: school holidays (especially July–August, Easter and the autumn break), long weekends in May and sunny Sundays. The best days are weekdays in May, June and September outside the holidays, and term-time weekdays in the shoulder seasons.

The park opens at 09:00 every day of the year and closes at dusk. Arrive for opening and go straight to the Heights of China before the panda viewing area fills. Then work through the territories nearest your entrance, and plan your afternoon around the show times on the daily schedule.

On a hot summer day, use the Equatorial Dome and the greenhouses in the early afternoon and the outdoor territories in the morning and late afternoon. The animals follow the same logic.

Insider tip: Treat the Nuage de Beauval as transport, not just a ride. The cable car links different parts of a big park, so plan your route around it to save your legs — and ride it early or late in the day, when the queue is shorter and the light over the zoo is best.

The insider entry

Beauval has two entrances, North and South, each with lockers, pushchair hire and a covered picnic area. Pick the one closer to your car park and to the territories you want to see first; with eight car parks around the site, a little planning saves a long walk at the end of the day.

On peak days, the Zen Pass is the real queue-beater. For €15 per person on top of entry, you get priority access and a reserved seat once at each show, two cable-car rides and two visits to participating restaurants. It’s sold for set dates in the main season (April to mid-November) in limited numbers, so book it with your ticket.

How to save on tickets

• Book a date online. Dated 1-day tickets start from €39 for adults and €32 for children, versus €43 and €36 at the gate. Prices are “from”, so they vary by date, and some dates are excluded from the offer.
• Buy by the day before. The online offer applies to purchases up to the day before your visit; same-day tickets cost the gate price.
• Two days cost less per day. The dated 2-day ticket starts at €63 for adults — about €31.50 a day — and is valid on two consecutive days.
• Any-day tickets for flexibility. If you can’t fix a date, undated tickets at the gate price are valid for a year.
• Under-3s are free, but you still need to add an admission ticket for them when booking.
• Annual ZooPass. At €99 for adults, it pays off on the third visit.
• Free parking. All eight car parks are free.

On Tiqets, the ZooParc de Beauval entry ticket was listed from €39 at the time of checking, rated 4.8★ from 2,371 reviews — the same starting price as the official dated adult ticket.

Getting there without the hassle

The zoo’s address is Avenue du Blanc, 41110 Saint-Aignan.

• By car: about 2 hours 15 minutes from Paris via the A10, A71 and A85; about an hour from Tours on the A85; about 45 minutes from Blois on the D675. Parking is free.
• By train: the nearest station is Saint-Aignan–Noyers-sur-Cher (TER), about 8 km away. Blois and Saint-Pierre-des-Corps (Tours) stations are 45 and 55 minutes by car.
• Shuttle bus from Blois: a bus runs from Blois station to the zoo from March to November. The ride takes about an hour and costs €3.40 one way; show your bus ticket at the zoo counter for €2 off entry.
• From Loches: a REMI coach runs in July and August.

On site: pushchairs can be hired at both entrances for €9 a day (with a €200 deposit), and wheelchairs for €12 a day — reserve those by phone in advance. Paths are shaded with plenty of benches, and lockers at both entrances work with a security code. Since picnics aren’t allowed inside, budget for lunch in the park or get an exit stamp and eat at the picnic areas by the gates.

Make it a trip

Beauval sits in the heart of Loire château country, which makes a two- or three-day trip easy:

• The Châteaux of Chenonceau, Cheverny and Chambord are all within about an hour’s drive — mix a château morning with a zoo afternoon on a 2-day ticket.
• Futuroscope near Poitiers is about two hours south-west, for a second family day built around rides and screens.
• Coming from Paris? Combine Beauval with a park near the capital — see our guide to theme parks near Paris.

Find more ideas on our France destinations hub and compare Europe’s top animal parks on the zoos and aquariums hub.