Bioparc Fuengirola – A jungle in the heart of the City
Nestled amongst the bustling streets of Fuengirola is the breathtaking Bioparc. You’d probably walk past if you weren’t looking out for it – but wow, from concrete pavements to jungle in a matter of seconds.
The 25m baobab tree is the centrepiece at Bioparc – and is one of the largest artificial trees in the world. It really sets the tone of the design and feel of the rest of the parc.
Bioparc Fuengirola is open from 10am – 11pm.
Top tip: take a photo of any of the posters dotted around the Costa Del Sol; by showing this, adults get entry for $17 (instead of $23) and children over three years old for $14 (instead of $17)
The first thing you notice, aside from the stunning backdrops, are how close you are to the wide range of animals. There are no cages, so you feel as if you are witnessing their behaviour as you would see in the wild. ‘Recreating their natural habitat/environment’ is the focus and has certainly been achieved.
Visit the lemurs in Madagascar, the stork, flamingos, crocs and hippos of Equatorial Africa or our personal favourites – the chimpanzees, gorillas and leopards of the Congo River.
Venture into South East Asia and discover tigers, turtles, pelicans and fish, gibbons, lizards and birds aplenty. Or, perhaps it’ll be komodo dragons, giant tortoise or hornbills that take your fancy.
Throughout the day, there are plenty of meetings, encounters and exhibits to bring you closer to the animals. The Bird and Mammal show was fantastic, we were treated to birds flying overhead, otters skipping in and out of the water, audience participation with deers in which Arlo was lucky enough to get called up!
Multispecies enclosures house different species all together – just as they would be in nature. The architecture and natural habitats the parc has created is a real feast for the eyes and a breath of fresh air from more ‘traditional zoos.
With lush vegetation and an abundance of trees, Bioparc provided us with some much needed shade as the outside world basked in 34 degree heat.
A lunchtime stop saw us arrive at the restaurant – which really wouldn’t have looked out of place on a street outside – it was stunning! With views of the chimpanzee enclosure to one side and overlooking the modern play park to the other, meant we were well equipped for a quiet lunch from the kids. All the usual childrens favourites adorned the menu and a good selection for adults too. I opted for the pulled pork burger (really good) and Stu plumped for the chicken panini. The price was really reasonable too, often attraction places like this ramp up their prices but we felt this was more than fair.
We enoyed our day at Bioparc Fuengirola so much that we returned for another visit a few days later! This time, we decided to do the evening/twilight session and we arrived at 7pm. We were interested to see how the animals behaviours may change from day to night.
In terms of capacity, there were a lot more guests for the ‘evening shift’ than in the day which totally surprised us…but it makes total sense with the weather being so warm in the day, Firstly it was super cool wandering around in the dusky evening sky and it was nice that we knew where we were heading as we were familiar with the windy paths!
However, the tiger was frantically pacing which did make us feel quite uncomfortable – prior to witnessing this it didn’t feel so ‘zoo like’. The bird and mammal show wasn’t as good in the evening either and the kids were disappointed that some of the animals didn’t make an appearance like they were expecting.
By 10pm, it was really dark and Sofia felt really on edge. We freaked ourselves out by the crocodile area, as we walked down the alley way the light bounced off the glass and it looked like the crocodile had escaped it’s enclosure!
Would we return to Bioparc Fuengirola again? Yes, without a doubt we would!
