You are heading to San Diego from within the USA or from further afield and only have limited time. You want to know which is better to visit, the San Diego Zoo or Legoland. You are in luck as we have done the hard work for you to help you make up your mind and also give you our opinion.
I think if you are heading to San Diego one of them is a must. If you simply like animals and don’t like rides or Lego then the option is pretty straight forward. But if you like both then it’s a much harder decision and the cost for either isn’t the cheapest so a wise decision might be needed especially if you have kids.
First of all let’s get down to the numbers (as of July 2023)
| San Diego Zoo | Legoland California | |
| Size of Attraction | 100 Acres | 128 Acres |
| Admission price | From $67 Adult and $57 child | from $110 per person |
| Time needed to visit | 3-6 hours | 1 whole day |
| Best for | Animals / wildlife | Rides and experiences |
In terms of cost, the Zoo works out cheaper based on a 1 day entry. You will also probably spend less time there too given no real queues for anything whereas Legoland you will need to queue and will vary depending when you go, peak / off-peak.
San Diego Zoo
So let’s start with San Diego Zoo. As you may have guessed, the zoo contains animals and is the main attraction here. They have over 14,000 rare and endangered animals and this represents more than 700 species and subspecies.
The Zoo is non for profit so the cost of your ticket and things you buy is ploughed back into covering costs of housing/ feeding the animals and many other things.
The mission of the zoo is to save species and help them flourish and inspire a passion for nature from visitors.
There is also San Diego Zoo Safari Park, which we don’t cover here but they are 35 miles apart. They have over 3,000 animals there. Please make sure you go to the right place or that could be a bad start to your day. San Diego is located in Balboa Park.
Balboa Park also offers stunning botanical gardens and also buildings with amazing architecture and the park grounds are open 24/7 so you can wander round freely.
The highlights and best bits – What you get to see at San Diego Zoo
It’s an easy answer, the animals and surroundings that they are living in. But let’s dig a little deeper into the best animals to see, so you don’t miss out on anything you shouldn’t while at the Zoo.
Firstly the botanical gardens is just a wonderful setting to walk up to and round while seeing these animals. You are amongst over 700,000 plants so enjoy the oxygen high.
The highlights of the animals – there are so many but let’s give you our opinion on what is the must see. There is a little cheat code here if you want to go around pretty quickly and get an overview of the Zoo as well as learn more about how the Zoo is saving animals. It’s a 35 min double decker bus tour, you can find out more info on this via the San Diego Zoo app you can download from the App store and gives you up to date times.
You have to go see the Gorillas at the lost forest, there are times where they will be hanging in the back of the pens so you might need to keep checking back to get a really good view of them. There are also some other highlights in Lost Forest such as the Hippo’s, Monkeys and Otters.
Polar Bears in the Northern Frontier and Elephants at Odyssey are 2 more highlights I think you must see. Again there is so much to see and do but would try and incorporate these things into your visit and as above download the app to help.
The not so good bits
The main thing is the animals can be hidden away or not in view depending on time of day and how they are feeling I guess. At the end of the day this is their home and in a conservation setting so it can’t really be helped but can be frustrating. The other is pricing, tickets are just about reasonable but food and drink in the park can be on the expensive side.
Legoland California
Legoland would seem like a no brainer to go to as a way to spend a day especially with young kids. Also big kids, as who didn’t love Lego as a child and would love to relive your youth again. Here you have lots of experiences and rides, over 60 it says. It is recommended for families with kids being aged 2-12 to get the most out of the park.
The park is made up of different zones / themes tied to Lego. You have Roller-coaster to water rides and training camps to play zones that are all about making the world of Lego literally come alive before your eyes.
The highlights and best bits – What you get to see at Legoland
I think if you love Lego then you will love every part of this park. We actually wrote up the best Legoland rides in the park article if you want more details. What will make this day special is spending quality time with your children and seeing the excitement and smiles on their faces as you go on different rides and immerse yourself in this Legoland world.
Outside of the cheesy stuff as above the best things to do are Ninjago the Ride, Dragon Coaster, Technic Coaster and to mix it up a little LEGO City Deep Sea Adventure.
The not so good bits
I think the tickets are a little steep given it’s the same price for Adults and Children, so a normal family is looking at $500+ for basic tickets alone with the real value coming for the kids and not so much the parents or older children. Then the thing I hate the most, queuing if you hit the wrong day or peak, you can be waiting a long time to get on a ride.
Which is the best, San Diego Zoo or Legoland?
I thought this would be harder to pick but taking everything into account I believe the best option is San Diego Zoo, one the pricing of the ticket as it is about two thirds of the price. I think with the chance of queues at Legolands it could be a very long day without much happening. The last thing is with the zoo you are connecting with nature and also supporting the conservation of these animals.
San Diego Zoo is best for: See an array of animals in beautiful surroundings
My rating: 4.0 / 5
Legoland is best for: Immersing yourself in Lego and the rides / experiences mainly for kids.
My rating: 3.4 / 5
How to get discount tickets to San Diego Zoo or Legoland
If you want to do both or more attractions then I would recommend a Go City San Diego Pass. If you choose the 3 day pass for example you could do San Diego Zoo, Legoland and SeaWorld and save about $70 overall. Check out the San Diego Pass options here and what is best for you based on what you want to do.