In Search of Penguins: Our Families Adventures and Travels

African penguin enclosures at Hertfordshire zoo
After seeing penguins at all the local zoos we started to look out for special penguin experiences

My daughter loves penguins which means my family loves penguins. We can’t walk past a penguin plushie or other product with a penguin on without stopping and taking notice (and all too often buying). It also means that many of our holidays and days out have penguin theming. If you are looking for ideas of amazing things to do and places to go that involve penguins, then here are some of our recent adventures. They include places we visited to see less common penguins, penguin experiences and ways to support penguins.

Jump straight to:

Penguin Feeding, Close Up Experiences And Helping To Care For Our Favourite Animal


A waddle of King Penguins at Faunia with a Macaroni or Rockhopper jumping down the rocks in the background
A waddle of King Penguins at Faunia

Meeting the Antarctic Penguins in Spain


Living in the UK we have plenty of penguins in our zoos, but my daughter’s favourite penguin is the Adelie, one of the few species of penguin that exclusively lives in the Antarctic. And we can’t afford to go there on holiday. I did some research and discover that you can see Gentoo penguins (which are also in the brush-tailed penguin family) in the UK at Edinburgh and Belfast Zoos (and they are also currently controversial residents at the London & Birmingham aquariums). Living in Essex these are both some distance from us, so I started looking at where you could see them in Europe and discovered than Adelie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins could all be found at Faunia in Spain. Even more excitingly you can buy an add on experience where you get to go inside the penguin enclosure.

A gentoo penguin and a couple of other penguins swimming too fast to be identified, in a pool next to glass so you can see them
Penguins speeding through a pool at the zoo

Where we went: Faunia, Madrid (Spain)

Penguins: King, Adélie, Gentoo, Chinstrap, Rockhopper (Southern I think), Humboldt and possibly Macaroni.

Faunia is a great zoo in the suburbs of Madrid (not to be confused with Madrid zoo which only has African penguins). You can get the Metro most of the way there from central Madrid and then it’s less than a 10 minute walk. They have a wide range of animals and you can easily spend a whole day there. Many of the enclosures are inside which is probably essential for the welfare of the animals given the temperatures at times in Spain. We went in October half term as my daughter doesn’t like hot weather. It was about 20 degrees and rainy when we went to Faunia so we appreciated having the chance to dry off in the inside areas.

The Faunia penguins live in the Polar Ecosystem building. All the cold loving ones live together and the Humboldt live happily in a warmer space that you walk past after seeing the rest. The main enclosure where over 100 penguins live (according to the website, I didn’t count) has careful climate control and ranges between 4°C and -3°C to support the penguins breeding and molting cycles. They have snow as well as a deep pool for swimming (you can see the top of the pool on one level and the lower area by going down some stairs. They change the ambience and weather slightly throughout the year and make it as natural as it can possibly be for an inside environment.

When we went both the app and website were pretty useless at providing information so I was crossing everything they still had the Adelie penguins as reports of the penguins they have differ. The app has now been considerably improved and shows you all the different penguins species they have, or rather the Pinguino, because the app is all in Spanish and I can’t see an option to change that! The app doesn’t show that they have Macaroni penguins, so I don’t know if that is an oversight or they no longer have them since we visited in 2025. The website is still rubbish, but if you do look at it make sure you look at the Spanish version (and use your browser to translate to English) as it has considerably more information than the English version.

A Gentoo penguin with it's flippers out, partially blocking a small group of people on a paid penguin experience at Faunia Zoo in Madrid, Spain
The Gentoo Penguin saying "nothing to see here" (zoomed in view of the penguin experience)

A window into a penguin enclosure, the glass is covered in condensation partially blocking the view
Watching my daughter enjoy the penguin experience at Faunia, from the general viewing area


The Polar Expedition Experience

To ensure welfare of the birds you aren’t allowed to touch any of the penguins, but on the experience you go inside the enclosure and are surrounded by them.

Going in to the enclosure with the penguins was an unforgettable experience for my daughter. Because it is a very carefully controlled environment normal visitors only get to see the penguins through glass. During the experience you put on special outer clothes (to keep you warm and also reduce the risk of bringing in anything that will make the penguins unwell), then are taken into where the penguins live. The keeper talks about the different types of penguins and points them out. You get the chance to ask questions and they also take some photographs that you can buy.

Good to know:
  • Minimum age: 4-7 year old must be accompanied by a paying adult. 8 and over can take part unaccompanied with a signed waiver.
  • Number of people: There were 4 people on our tour, but you may get up to 6
  • Cost: Varies, we paid £42.50 per person, but currently on sale for €58.90 per person (plus park admission).
  • Photos: You can not take photographs or use your phone. I took some photographs through the glass and we also paid for the ones they took.
  • Experience length: 30 to 45 minutes (despite the clothes it is cold in the enclosure).
  • Language: The caretaker who took our tour spoke quite good English, but the other person who sometimes lead the tours doesn’t. There is a risk that you won’t be able to understand what is being said, but for us I knew my daughter would just be happy watching them.

Our Highlights:
  • Brownie! Brownie is a King penguin that was hand reared and loves to hang around with people. He thought he was part of the group.
  • When we visited they had some baby King penguins that were not yet fully introduced to the colony. These weren’t visible from where the public view the penguins, but they could see them on the tour.

A view of a Chinstrap penguin, looking underwater, through a glass window
An inquisitive Chinstrap penguin at Faunia

Fairy Penguins in the UK


Another species of penguin that we didn’t think we would get to see in person was Fairy penguins (also known a little or blue penguins). Fairy penguins normally live in the warmer climates of Australia and New Zealand. They hold a particular appeal because they are the smallest of the penguin species, they are about half the height of African penguins. When I discovered that the only Fairy penguins currently living in Europe are in the UK I instantly started planning how quickly we could go an visit them at SEALIFE Weymouth.

Later this year (probably) they are sending some of their colony to another zoo (I think in Spain) so they will be in two places in Europe, but Weymouth will still be much easier for most of us.

We did a Behind The Scenes tour where you can see penguin chicks if you are lucky.

two fairy penguins
Fairy penguins are the smallest type of penguin, we discovered them in the UK

Where we went: SEALIFE Weymouth, Dorset, UK

Penguin species: Fairy and Humboldt

SEALIFE Weymouth (part of Merlin Entertainments) is one of the best SEALIFE centres in the country in my opinion. After the entrance area you go through to an outside space with a number of buildings and open air enclosures you can visit in any order. They have the tanks and fish you would expect from a SEALIFE centre, but also penguins, seals, otters, a playground and splash park so it is easier to spend longer there.

The Fairy penguins and the Humboldt penguins are in separate enclosures. The Fairy penguins have a good size space with an indoor pool and outdoor beach area. They have lots of breeding pairs and regularly have chicks, but the chicks grow really quickly and are full size within a couple of months so if they do announce they have a chick, by the time you see it, it probably won’t look much smaller than the adults. They are so cute and we watched them for ages. Each of them have coloured bands on their flipper so you can discover what their names are.

It’s definitely worth going along to the talks and feeding times so you get to find out more about them as these are free and the penguins are likely to be more active as they request their fishy from the keepers. We chatted with the host for some time afterwards and when it was quieter one of the keepers brought a juvenile penguin over. At the time in was in a sectioned off part of the main enclosure until he lost all his fluffy feathers and became waterproof. 

You can also book a penguin feeding experience at SEALIFE Weymouth, but it is with the Humboldts so not worth travelling exclusively for (as you can feed them many places). Personally I think the Fairy penguins are worth travelling for if you are a penguin fan.

A keeper holding a juvenile fairy penguin that has been hand reared
Fairy penguins grow quickly, but it takes them a little longer to lose their fluff and become waterproof


A person leaning on a barrier looking into a sandy area with lots of little huts with penguin couples in and a few fairy penguins waddling about
Watching the fairy penguins in the outside area of Fairy Penguin Island



Behind The Scenes Experience


You can add on a Behind The Scenes tour to your visit for £7.50 per person (or £6 if you are a SEALIFE or Merlin passholder). These seem to take place at 1pm everyday, but it might just be peak times. There were seven of us on our tour (our family and two others). I don’t know what the maximum group size is, but ours was pretty perfect.

During the experience you get to see some of the behind the scenes areas of SEALIFE and really get an appreciation for how much they do to help conservation. We got to see animals in a nursery, some sharks they were looking after for another aquarium and some turtles that were being rehabilitated before being released back into the wild.

For a penguin lover the biggest attraction will be seeing into the hatchery where penguin eggs are incubated and initially cared for if the parents look like they don’t have a motherly instinct (some make very neglectful parents). You can be very lucky and see an egg or baby in there, but most of the time it is empty. We missed seeing a baby by a week or so. The tour was still really interesting and worth doing though.

Good to know:
  • Minimum age: none listed. My 7 year old got a bit bored, my 10 year old loved it.
  • Number of people: I suspect the groups could get a little large which will make it less personal, no maximum size listed on the website.
  • Cost: £7.50 per person (or £6 for passholders).
  • Experience length: Listed as approximately 40 minutes it will very much depend on the size of your group and the number of questions asked. Ours last 50 minutes.

Our Highlights:
  • Seeing parts of the SEALIFE centre not open to the general public.
  • Getting to ask lots of questions and find things out.
  • If you happen to be there when they have a baby penguin then I imagine that would be amazing.

A view through a window into a room with an egg incubator and warm container where baby penguins can be cared for
See behind the scenes and maybe even a baby penguin on the special tour



For our weekend visit to Weymouth we stayed at the Littlesea Haven caravan site (affiliate site). As Weymouth is such a popular holiday spot it has lots of accommodation options, but some with the "Weymouth" tag are actually some distance away. The Littlesea site is a short drive into Weymouth itself or you can get the bus which goes right into the holiday site. 
Littlesea has a small indoor and outdoor pool as well as a playground and the normal Haven entertainment. Unlike most Haven sites though it doesn’t have a proper beach, the water next to it is Fleet Lagoon which has a small patch of sand and you can't go in the water because it is in a tidal pool. If you wanted to walk to the nearest actual beach it takes about an hour (the walk is pretty though). We chose a Haven caravan because we like having separate bedrooms and we knew what to expect. We saved money by going for the Haven Hideaway option, this gives you access to the restaurant, shop and playground, but not the pools, entertainment or bookable activities (I talk in full about the difference in caravan levels and Haven Hideaway in this post if you want to decide if they are right for you).

On the other day we were there we went fossil hunting at Charmouth to look for ammonites. We didn’t find any full ones, but lots of other fossils including partial belemnites. We definitely want to go back to the Jurassic Coast (and will visit the Fairy penguins again).



Penguin Feeding


Pretty much every zoo and aquarium in the UK that has penguins offers some form of experience where you get to feed them. These vary a fair amount in price and will vary a little in what they offer. From my research the best one on offer appears to be at London Zoo. It is currently £150 per person and if they have no availability you can ask to be emailed when the bookings open. We haven’t quite managed to persuade ourselves to pay that much yet (under 16s need accompanying so it would be at least £300 for us)so we haven’t tried it. The reviews are great, but when launched it was involved being an honorary penguin keeper at London Zoo for 90 minutes, involving penguin feeding, cleaning the enclosures and some people even said they cuddled them. Now the experience is advertised at 60 minutes and it’s very unlikely you are able to touch the penguins. I can’t find any recent reviews so if you have been recently please leave a comment below to share your thoughts.

We wanted to gift my daughter a penguin experience and found one near to us where you only pay for the person doing the experience, and the supervising adult doesn’t pay, other than for zoo entry, which made it more affordable (especially as we bought in a sale.

African penguins being fed by a 9 year old at Call of the Wild Zoo in Essex
Penguin feeding experiences are a great way to make (temporary) friends with penguins


Where we went: Call of the Wild in Essex for their penguin feeding experience

Penguin species: African penguins

Call of the Wild is a lovely medium sized family run zoo in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex. They have a tropical house and variety of small animals (the largest is probably the zebra). Every time we go they have made more improvements so it’s a great place to go back to. We have spent the whole day there in the summer when we could watch the various shows (eg birds of prey) and talks, but we went for the experience in January when it was really cold so we were only there for a few hours.

Penguin wise they have African penguins, which makes a nice change from most other zoos near us which have Humboldt penguins. Although the two species look very similar I expect most visitors don’t realise they are different. The most obvious difference is the face markings: I like to think the African penguins have pink eyebrows where as the pink on Humboldt’s is mostly under their beak like a smile.

A child with a big smile on their face standing on a platform near african penguins
A happy penguin fan


Penguin Feeding Experience

We bought the experience for my daughter’s birthday. Children under 8 need to be accompanied by an adult, but the adult only needs to have a zoo ticket (or membership). Both my partner and I were allowed to be with her during the experience, although we didn’t take part. This is at the discretion of the keeper, who regularly change as the keepers rotate to different areas at Call of the Wild.

After meeting the keep we were taken in a gate round the back of the penguin enclosure to a room where they store and prep food and have various equipment. The keeper talked to us about the penguins and explained that they all had bands on so they could tell who is who (there is a Disney character naming theme). My daughter got to weigh out some frozen food for the penguins to eat later and then went through to the back on the enclosure with a bucket of defrosted fish to feed them. The penguin feeding takes place from a platform and you are separated from the penguins by a low, glass barrier. You are given plastic gloves to pick up the fish, but if you don’t like the smell of fish you might struggle (but you would probably also struggle with the smell of penguins).

Good to know:
  • Minimum age: 8. Children age 8 to 16 need to be accompanied, but you only need to pay standard zoo entry price for the adult.
  • Number of people: maximum of 4 people per experience, but that includes supervising adults. It also says it’s a VIP 1 to 1 experience, so it suggests they only take one booking per experience.
  • Cost: £75 which includes zoo entry (they seem to offer 30% discount on experiences a couple of times a year).
  • Length: 30 minutes, but it depends how many questions you ask and how quickly you throw the penguins all of the fish (it could easily be shorter).

Our Highlights:
  • Learning all of the penguins names.
  • Discovering what bumblefoot is (not because it’s a good thing, but because it’s a brilliant sounding word)
  • Having a private experience.

A penguin keeper at Colchester zoo checking all the penguins and feeding them from a bowl of fish
Penguin talk and feeding time (Humboldt) at Colchester Zoo


If you are Essex based you can also book penguin experiences at:

Colchester Zoo

Described as Keeper Shadowing for half an hour and doesn’t mention feeding (although I have seen them feed the penguins before). 
  • Minimum age is 5. 
  • Humboldt penguins. 
  • £70 per person.
  • Includes entrance to the Zoo and a food voucher.

Sealife Adventure

Sealife Adventure on Southend's sea front have a Penguins Up Close Experience. They don’t guarantee you will get to feed the penguins, but it is normally part of the experience. It’s roughly a 30 minutes experience. 
  • Minimum age is 8. 
  • Humboldt penguins.
  • Bookings are for a minimum of two people. While the price is £120 for two, you can get 50% off if you buy an annual pass for £20. (NB not part of the Merlin SEALIFE centres). So that’s basically £80 for two people 
  • Includes zooquarium entry. 



Penguin Sponsorship/ Adoptions

I think penguin adoptions make a great gift for penguin lovers because not only are you giving something penguin themed, but most of the money goes to making their favourite animals lives better. We have bought two penguin adoptions for my daughter before: one in a local zoo, and the other through a wildlife charity.
A young person pointing to a plaque showing she is sponsoring penguins at Colchester Zoo, Essex
Finding the plaque with her name on for sponsoring a penguin at Colchester Zoo


Colchester Zoo Penguin Adoption

Colchester Zoo offer two levels of adoption. With both you get a plaque put up in the zoo for a year near the enclosure with your name and a short message. You also get a box with an adoption certificate, car sticker, lanyard or magnet, notebook, pen, pin badge, soft toy. This box would work ok for either an adult or child. With the more expensive option you also get 2 adult entry tickets to the zoo. Currently adoptions cost £65/ £95. At the end of the year you can get your plaque sent to you to keep (a small extra fee when setting up the adoption).



WWF Penguin Adoption

The other penguin adoption we have bought was with WWF. You can choose to pay monthly or make a one off payment (and you can choose how much, but the default is £75 for a one off). You have the choice of being sent either a pack and updates targeted at adults or children. We decided to go for the adult pack for my daughter as she was more likely to appreciate the photography and detailed information than the colourful updates, with shorter text and games in the children’s updates.

You get sent a welcome pack with a cuddly toy, certificate and a few other bits then every 3 months you get sent a little magazine about penguins and how the money is helping the work on WWF. WWF work in the Antarctic helping to protect penguins including Adélie (my daughter’s favourite) and Emperor penguins.



Tips for Buying Penguins Experiences

  • Off peak times have better availability and discounts.
  • Membership often offer a good discount because you are already supporting the zoo.
  • I have seen lots of offers around Black Friday time for discounts on experiences, adoptions and memberships). And yes I do recognise there is something a little weird about wanting to support penguins
  • Some places let you have a voucher for gift experiences which you can book later, others require you to book a date at time of purchase.
  • If you are visiting a zoo at a quiet time you can sometimes get a discount on experiences if there is last minute availability on an experience so it is worth checking when you arrive.


We have another exciting penguin experience planned for later this year which I will add to this post after it takes place (hint it’s at a HUGE zoo in Belgium). If you have heard of any other penguin experiences in the UK or in nearby Europe I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below as we are always looking for more. I keep on seeing people hugging penguins etc but I’m not sure that’s great welfare wise and it is normally in America, China or Japan. We definitely want to go to Edinburgh Zoo at some point where they have Gentoo, King and Northern Rockhopper penguins. It would be cute to see the penguin Wee Waddle (where the penguins go for a waddle, a scaled down and more separate version of the old Penguin Parade) but it was paused this winter because of the risk of bird flu. It only takes place Fridays to Sundays at 2.15pm during Autumn and Winter so it’s worth checking the Edinburgh Zoo website in October onwards to see if it’s back. By the way while checking this I discovered they have webcams so here are the Edinburgh Zoo penguins live.
A gentoo penguin at a zoo with a group of people enjoying a penguin experience in the background
Why not save to pinterest for later?



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