During our recent trip to Minnesota we were pleasantly surprised when we made a last-minute decision to visit Como Park Zoo & Conservatory in Saint Paul. The conservatory was our main focus but when we realized that the zoo was right next door, we thought, “why not.” The fact that there was no admission fee for either place made a visit there even more enticing.
Besides the splendid plant collections inside the conservatory, there was a beautiful Japanese Garden and a spectacular show of water lilies outside the Visitor Center.
Although the zoo may not be as large as some, it had an amazing collection of animals in natural enclosures that allowed for some nice close-up photography opportunities.
Both the zoo and conservatory are operated by the Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Department and are open year-round.
I can highly recommend a visit to the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. It’s a great place for family fun as it also includes a small amusement park and carousel.
Beautiful animals and plants
Thank you for visiting, Alice! Animals and plants have always been my favorite subjects to photograph. It’s really what I started out doing and the whole photography hobby just grew and expanded into different areas after that.
The glass House and the Japanese Garden are both beautiful!
I’m glad we decided to pay this place a visit. It was quite impressive.
I love conservatories! They have such a nostalgic Victorian-era feel and appearance. This one is beautiful. And no admission fee for either place- what a bonus 🙂
It’s so rare these days to find anything like this that doesn’t involve some kind of entry fee. We’re certainly not used to it in Chicago where taking a family of four to any of the museums etc. practically means taking out a second mortgage. For so many reasons this was a great place to visit.
The conservatory and garden are fabulous. And the zoo was a nice bonus!
I’d like to go back there in a year or two. They seemed to be doing some renovations in the zoo area, parts of which were inaccessible, so it would be interesting to see the results.
Free admission is always nice! ☺
Yes! Thanks for visiting, Nat.
Beautiful pictures! I had visited the Plant Conservatory at SFO 🙂
Thanks, Indira! I love going to these places. Each one has its own interesting features.
All that wonder and free entry too. You were very wise to take up the opportunity of a visit.
I was so glad that we decided to go there, Tom. It was definitely worth a donation which we were more than happy to contribute.
Such a beautiful building
It certainly is! Thank you for visiting and your comment.
An amazing conservatory with an unexpected and unusual planted interior and a perfect Japanese Garden…all captured with your wonderful photos. The stars though are the animal photos they all had a big oooh! from me- really fantastic.
Thank you, Marianne! Zoo animals are never the easiest things to photograph what with all the bars and fences etc but it turned out to be a fairly easy task at the Como Zoo and, I have to say, the animals were very cooperative.