A Monorail Ride and 11,000 Animals at the Bronx Zoo
One dated ticket to 265 acres of zoo, where the monorail and the shuttle decide how much of it you actually see.
The Bronx Zoo covers more than 265 acres of Bronx Park and holds over 11,000 animals. It is a wooded property with a river running through it, and the walk between two exhibits often takes longer than either exhibit does.
The zoo's own estimate for an average visit is two to two and a half hours. That much time covers one corner of the map. How much further you get depends on the two things built to carry people around.
Entry runs by date. Every visitor needs a date-specific ticket, and admission is single entry. Walk out the gate and the day is over.
Two daytime tiers exist, and they split on one thing: whether the Star Attractions come with the ticket or get charged at each entrance at USD 7 a person. Congo Gorilla Forest, JungleWorld, Nature Trek, the Bug Carousel, the Children's Zoo, the Butterfly Garden, the Wild Asia Monorail and the Zoo Shuttle are the eight that carry that label. Check which tier the listing is selling before you lock a date. Budgie Landing sits outside both tiers and is sold on site.
Bronx Zoo Ticket in New YorkKlook · Date-specific entry · USD 43.99affiliate.klook.comThe monorail and the shuttle do the walking
The Wild Asia Monorail runs open-sided cars out over the Bronx River and through the Asian range, with guides calling out red pandas, elephants, rhinos and tigers along the way. The zoo tells visitors to budget about 25 to 30 minutes for it including a short wait, and its exhibit page lists the season as May through October only. The Butterfly Garden and the Children's Zoo run April to October. The regular season closes on October 31, 2026, and all three go dark the next day.
The Zoo Shuttle is the other way to save your legs, a trolley that runs from Wild Asia at one end of the park to Zoo Center at the other with a stop at Tiger Mountain between them. Through September and October it runs weekends and holidays only. Ride the monorail early whichever day you come. The zoo closes that line once the wait passes 30 minutes, a call it makes on ride time and capacity.
The exhibits people come back for
Tiger Mountain holds Amur and Malayan tigers on a wooded slope. It runs year round and comes with every ticket tier. Congo Gorilla Forest moves a western lowland gorilla troop through a built rainforest shared with okapis, red river hogs and mandrills. Its page lists the exhibit as open March to December, and in the cold months the gorillas are indoors.
JungleWorld is the one that holds up in bad weather. An Asian rainforest under a roof, warm and low-lit, with tree kangaroos, langurs and an Indian gharial. Last entry closes 30 minutes before the park gate does, and that same cutoff covers Congo Gorilla Forest and the Butterfly Garden. All three ask you to park the stroller at the door.
Timing the day
Gates open at 10:00 AM every day the zoo runs. From April 2 to October 31, 2026 the grounds close at 5:00 PM Monday to Friday and 5:30 PM on weekends and federal holidays. From November 1 the whole park closes at 4:30 PM daily.
Last entry is 45 minutes before the grounds close, and the animal exhibits shut 30 minutes before that closing time. A 3:30 PM arrival on a weekday leaves an hour of exhibits. The zoo shuts entirely on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Holiday Lights nights rewrite the daytime rules. On those dates the daytime park runs 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM, the last daytime entry is 1:00 PM, and anyone holding a daytime ticket has to be out by 4:30 PM.
Gates, transit and what the day costs on the ground
Three gates take the public. Asia Gate is pedestrian only, at Boston Road and Bronx Park South. Bronx River Gate takes cars and walkers off Exit 6 of the Bronx River Parkway. Southern Boulevard Gate takes pedestrians at 185th Street and cars at 183rd Street, and the zoo names that lot as the best arrival.
From Manhattan the zoo points at the BxM11 express bus, which stops along Madison Avenue between 26th and 99th Streets and then runs straight to Bronx River Gate. The return stop sits just outside the same gate at the MTA BxM11 sign, before the underpass. The step-free route is the 2 train to Pelham Parkway, which has three elevators down to street level. The Bx9 and Bx19 reach 183rd Street and Southern Boulevard, the Q44 from Queens reaches Boston Road one block from Asia Gate, and Metro-North's Harlem line drops at Fordham for the Bx9 east.
Parking is USD 22 for a car and USD 24 for a bus, both first come first served, with weekend preferred parking at Fountain Circle at USD 30. The lots fill on heavy days, and the alternate the zoo names is Fordham University up Southern Boulevard. Gate rentals run to a single stroller at USD 14.70, a double at USD 20.25, a manual wheelchair free, and an electric convenience vehicle at USD 50.63 from Southern Boulevard Gate only.
📍 The pin below sits on the zoo itself, at 2300 Southern Boulevard.
A few rules are worth knowing before the gate. Tickets are rain or shine and all sales are final, with no refunds, rescheduling or rain checks for weather or for an animal that stays out of sight. Everyone aged 17 and under needs an adult of 18 or over along. Scooters, skateboards and rollerblades stay home. Service dogs are welcome, and comfort or therapy animals are not admitted.
Outside food is fine, with picnic tables at Dancing Crane Plaza and along the paths. Nature Trek asks for closed-toe sneakers and takes children from age 3, with a chaperone aged 14 or over for ages 3 to 8. Peacocks roam the grounds loose and will walk straight past you on a path. Pack a lunch, take the first monorail of the day, and walk the Bronx River side of the park on the way back, past the bison, World of Birds and Tiger Mountain.