About a 30 minute drive from your hotel in Pattaya, the Sriracha Tiger Zoo is home to a large collection of tigers, crocodiles, chimpanzees, pigs, and all sorts of other creatures. Situated on 100 acres, the zoo contains 200 Bengal Tigers and over 100,000 crocodiles (yes you read that right). There are many activities to do here that will keep you going for hours. If you are looking for a fun way to spend time during the day in Pattaya, this is one of many options.
Getting to the Pattaya Tiger Zoo
You will find many places around Pattaya that will be willing to sell you a tourist package to bo visit the Tiger Zoo. From touts on the street, to specialized tourist agencies, you can become inundated with offers if you look. My prefered choice, as I have mentioned in other articles, is to book your trip through your hotel tour desk. You can be assured that they are on the up and up, and will organize the best trip for you. Typically this involves transportation from your hotel to the Tiger Zoo and back. It is pretty much a full day trip, so be prepared. The ride is short, 30 minutes by hired bus from your Pattaya Hotel.
Things to do at Sriracha Tiger Zoo
You will have no trouble filling your day at this tourist trap. At the Sriracha Tiger Zoo you can observe the benagal tigers in their habitat as well as get your picture taken with a tiger cub. You can go to the amazing circus and watch the tigers perform for you. There are elephant rides, feeding of elephants and pigs, and the whole host of creatures not to be missed. The zoo also has a crocodile show which is quite amazing. Performers get up close and personal with these animals, kiss them on the mouth, and put their heads inside the crocodile jaws. (this is not to be confused with the crocodile farm, also a day attraction of Pattaya).
The Tiger Zoo Pattaya also has a lush tropical garden for you to walk through and enjoy. Some have said that you could almost spend an entire day in the gardens, that might be true. However if you get hungry, you will find a wide assortment of food available on the grounds. From Thai to European and some things in between, there will be plenty of choices of restaurants to eat in.
Some of the main attractions are the aforementioned Amazing Circus and Crocodile show. You can also see the Scorpion Queen, a lady with way too many scorpions on her clothes for my tastes. Then again, one would be too many for my tastes. There are also the Pig Races, and the Crocodile egg breaking festival if you are there between May and August. The tiger zoo Pattaya has something for everyone.
If you have the time, this is definitely one place you should check out.
This is the first installment of many in a series focusing on things to do in Pattaya during the day time. If you are like me, you don’t just enjoy the nightlife, but you want some fun things to do with your day as well. I just jotted down a short list, and I already have ten things for you. I’m sure that list will grow as my memory starts to uncloud.
Till the next time…put Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Pattaya on your list.
I haven’t been to the Pattaya zoo, but I did stop by the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi. My photos came out ok, but with a new camera I’ll have to go back (but I’ll wait until visitors are in town).
I haven’t been over to Kanchanaburi province yet, but there are still so many places I want to see in Thailand. I’d also like to see the Bridge on the River Kwai while I am there.
Pete I’ve never been to Sriracha Tiger Zoo but I have visited the Crocodile Farm on numerous occasions and enjoyed every trip. I was always fascinated by the crocodile man putting his head into the crocodile’s mouth, how did he do it, I think I now know how. Apparently they use a stick to tickle the roof of the crocodile’s mouth which in turn makes it open it’s jaws wider until it eventually dislocates and is left open wide. It’s takes the crocodile a few seconds to unlock the jaw by which time the crocodile man has had his head inside the mouth and back out again. Fascinating but risky. I will check out Sriracha Tiger Zoo next time I’m in Pattaya. All the best.
We visited this zoo in May last year and did not write a review till now as had forgotten about that experience with great difficulty. Its only when I came across the photos that I decided to review this zoo.
If you do visit then trust me, it will the worst decision you make during your vacation.( if you care at all about the animals!).It really spoint our vacation as the sights and sounds were difficult to get over.
The first sight is a tigress enclosed in a room approximately 10 feet by 5 feet. She is so bored that she keeps pacing back and forth. The other 2 ladies from UK who were in the same van as us, at this point started crying.
The next stop is where you see a few cubs in a small room. They ask you if you would like to cuddle a cub and take photos. We actually saw them beating one of the cubs with a stick to coax it out of the room for some other tourists to take a photo.
On your way to some other part of the zoo you pass an enclosure with a bit of water and a few tigers. At least these were left loose and not in a small enclosure.
Then you visit another part of the tigers area where you can have photos taken with grown tigers and tigresses. After that you visit a small warehouse like space with approximately 15-20 small cages each holding a tiger cub. The cubs were really upset and some were actually crying. This is where you part with more cash as they will tell you the cubs are crying because they are hungry and you will actually dig into your pockets to buy milk bottles which you can then use to feed the cubs thinking you are helping the cubs.
I think this is the worst form of cruelty as they have actually imprisoned the tigers and tigresses and are using them for monetary gain.
Then comes the elephant and crocodile and tiger show. These were quite entertaining.
I hope some animal organizations take note and take action against them. I urge every one of you after reading this and many other reviews to think very many times before visiting this hell hole as you will be allowing these people to stay open for business.
Thanks for taking the time to read this review.
I was thinking of going there as I love tigers but I am glad that you have put your review as I cant stand animal cruelty and will not help those that cause it.
This sounds very much like phuket zoo it was very upsetting to see how the animals were kept and treated .