National Zoological Park, Washington DC

Before you go, make sure to go online to the zoo's website and get the free, timed entry passes required for admission. It's probably best to get them a few days before your visit. We loved the playful orangutans and elephants! Their interactions - elephant with elephant, orangutan mama with her baby - were cute and funny. We were a bit disappointed that we never got tickets to see the pandas. They're free but a limited quantity is released hourly to regulate capacity. You scan a QR code at any of several Panda Kiosks throughout the zoo, then go to the link to check availability, and if you're lucky, get your passes. If not, keep refreshing the link. I consistently tried for approximately 3-5 minutes before and after the times they were supposed to be released (30 minutes past each hour) for 3 hours. In one attempt, I "got" one, but it kept disappearing upon confirmation. I finally gave up and enjoyed the rest of the zoo residents. Maybe if you get there upon opening, you'll have better luck than we did..

Fantastic zoo, especially to be free. The amount of exhibits and animals on display is amazing. They also have tons of enrichment activities and well trained staff to show that they care well foe the animals. The food is a little overpriced, but considering that is one of the ways they make money to continue offering this experience for free is absolutely understandable. There is a lot of informative signs around the zoo and the walk to see the History of Smokey the Bear is informative as are some of the other exhibits. Wonderful experience!