Penguin Beach

Meet the Penguins

Get up close to our colony of Humboldt penguins with a special Meet the Animals experience at ZSL London Zoo. 

£54 per person

This experience gives you special access to a VIP area inside Penguin Beach, where our penguins will waddle over to meet you.

An expert zoo keeper will be on hand throughout the experience to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about our penguins.

Your experience

• Meet and greet with our colony of Humboldt penguins
• Meet an expert zoo keeper and discover more about this amazing species
• Opportunity to ask our expert keeper questions about the colony
• Kept to a maximum of six participants so you get quality time with the penguins and zoo keeper

What to expect on the day

This 20 minute experience begins with a health and safety briefing from our friendly zoo keeper who will then take you to a special VIP area inside Penguin Beach. Our inquisitive Humboldt penguins will then come over to meet you.

Each one of our penguins has a different personality and our keeper will be on hand to tell you who is who and answer any questions you may have about penguins.

Please note that you will not feed the penguins, they have a special diet which is very smelly and we wouldn't want you smelling bad for the rest of the day! 

There will be a maximum of six people taking part in the experience, giving you lots of time with the penguins and zoo keeper.

Tip: Penguin Beach is different to other beaches, so instead of flip flops we advise guests to wear closed toe footwear for this experience 

Know before you book

Important information before booking your Meet the Penguins experience:

• Children must be at least 8 years of age and be accompanied by an adult who must also purchase a Meet the Penguins experience ticket. There must be no more than 2 children per adult. 
• General admission is not included and must be purchased separately.
• You must wear appropriate closed toe footwear for the experience.
• Pregnant or nursing mothers cannot participate in our Meet the Animals experiences. 
• Tickets are for personal use only and may not be sold on. 
• For participants with a disability or learning difficulty, please contact on experienceenquiries@zsl.org for advice before purchasing any of our experiences.
• Accompanying carers will be given access to the enclosure free of charge. Free Carer tickets must be obtained in advance and can be purchased over the phone only. Please call 0344 225 1826 to book.
• The experience may be altered on any given day due to animal welfare, health issues, staff shortages, bad weather or changes to the Zoo’s collections, but will ensure that if this is the case, the activity will be replaced with another similar task. We endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum and will notify you as soon as possible if such changes are made. 
• We may have to change or cancel the date of an experiences for reasons such as the minimum number of participants has not been reached, extreme bad weather, staff shortages, animal welfare issues or force majeure. We will endeavour to notify you as soon as possible if this is the case. Regrettably, we cannot cover travel, accommodation or any other related costs if we are forced to cancel a date.
• Please arrive on time to ensure that you are present for the health and safety briefing. We advise arriving 10 minutes before the experience begins.
• Please see our full terms and conditions for more information

If you have any questions about booking please feel free to contact us.

Please note that admission to ZSL London Zoo is not included and must be purchased separately. 

BOOK NOW

Please be aware we are unable to offer this experience during August and September as this is our penguin's moulting season.

Availability

• Meet the Penguins takes place daily at 1:50pm, Monday – Sunday from October through to July. 

Price

• £54 per person

Please note: ZSL members receive a 10% discount on this experience. Please call us to book on 0344 225 1826 or email experienceenquiries@zsl.org

How to book

• Book online here
• Call us on 0344 225 1826

We also offer Meet the Penguins as a gift voucher. Please visit our online shop here to book as a gift for someone.