What to expect
Highlights
- Naturalistic enclosures for gorillas, giraffes, elephants and big cats.
- One of India’s oldest zoos, with a respected breeding programme.
- Shaded heritage avenues that make an easy walking circuit.
Mysore Zoo
The Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, universally known as Mysore Zoo, was set up in 1892 within the palace estate and is among the oldest and best-managed zoos in India. It is known for spacious, naturalistic enclosures and a strong captive-breeding record.
Practical guide
Plan Mysore Zoo
Who's going?Tailor Mysore Zoo to your trip
Typewildlife
Nearest baseMysuru
DistrictMysuru
Best timeOctober to February
Time needed2 to 3 hours
EntryApprox
Places to visit15→Listed businesses17→Residents include elephants, gorillas, giraffes, big cats, rhinos and a large aviary; a walking circuit of shaded avenues links the exhibits, making it a popular family outing.
Getting there
How to visit
- On Indiranagar / Zoo Road, about 1.5 km from the palace; autos and buses reach it easily.
- Buy tickets online or at the gate; the zoo is closed on Tuesdays.
Distance by road
- Bengaluru145 km
- Ooty125 km
- Coorg (Madikeri)120 km
- Mangaluru250 km
- Kozhikode215 km
Road km to Mysuru; ghat roads and traffic vary — allow extra.
Timing
Best time
October to February; early morning when animals are most active and the grounds are cooler.
Weather in Mysore ZooSeasonal guide
Live forecast loads in your browser.
Today at Mysore Zoo
Sunrise6:13 am
Sunset6:35 pm
Golden hour best light5:35 pm–6:35 pm
Blue hour after sunset6:35 pm–7:00 pm
Sun sets toward compass bearingW · 279°
Moon tonight🌖 Waning gibbous · 78%
South-west monsoon. June to September brings heavy rain to Karnataka. Trails, falls and ghat roads can be slippery, swollen or closed at short notice, and forest departments sometimes suspend access. Check locally on the day before you travel.
Sun and moon are calculated for this location and shown in IST. Photography windows are the hour around sunrise and sunset; the sunset bearing is degrees clockwise from true north. Moon phase is accurate to about half a day.
Visitor notes
- Entry and camera fees apply; closed on Tuesdays — confirm timings before visiting.
Photos
Mysore Zoo in pictures
Stay · eat · do · rent · see · shop
Stays, food & things to do near Mysore Zoo
Verified hotels, homestays, restaurants, experiences, sights, shops and rentals around Mysore Zoo — commission-free, with direct contact. Filter by what you need.
17 places to eat near Mysore Zoo
H
Hithie - The Gourmet Dining
Where to eat
Top pick
Restaurant
Hithie - The Gourmet DiningRestaurant (pizza, mexican, italian, chinese, asian, fine dining, dessert, indian) on General Thimmaiah Road in Mysuru.
A
Adyar Ananda Bhavan
Where to eat
Top pick
C
Chawlas2 Mysore
Where to eat
Top pick
O
Om Shanti
Where to eat
Top pick
L
Lalitha's "Maneruchi"
Where to eat
Top pick
Z
Zen Xone
Where to eat
H
Hotel New Quba Mess
Where to eat
Café
Hotel New Quba MessCafé (chicken, friture, kebab, grill, indian, local) on Ashoka Road in Mysuru.
C
Café Delight
Where to eat
Café
Café DelightCafé (indian, italian) on 987, 8th main, 9th cross, doctors corner,, 3rd Stage, Gokulam 3rd Stage, Gokulam, Mysuru, Karnataka 570002 in Mysuru.
M
M2M Foods
Where to eat
Restaurant
M2M FoodsRestaurant (regional, south indian, north indian) on Vijayanagara Main Road in Mysuru.
A
American Cuisne Restuarant
Where to eat
Restaurant
American Cuisne RestuarantRestaurant (pizza, burger, italian, sandwich, american) on Vishvamanava Road in Mysuru.
D
Dolphin Bakes 'N' Ice Creams
Where to eat
Street food
Dolphin Bakes 'N' Ice CreamsStreet food (international, pizza, coffee shop, italian, chinese, burger) on Vishvamanava Road in Mysuru.
H
Hotel Nalpak
Where to eat
M
McDonald's
Where to eat
T
Trattoria Food Court & German Bakery
Where to eat
Restaurant
Trattoria Food Court & German BakeryRestaurant (breakfast, italian pizza, indian, coffee shop, thai) on 2nd Main Road in Mysuru.
P
Pai Vista
Where to eat
M
Mezzaluna Restaurant
Where to eat
S
Saviruchi Thindi Mane
Where to eat
Book with the place itself. India’s cyber-crime coordination centre warned in April 2025 that convincing copies of hotel and pilgrimage booking sites are being pushed through sponsored search and social ads, taking payment for rooms the property never hears about. Every listing here links to the business’s own contact details and its own Google or Bing profile — we take no commission and sit in nobody’s payment path. If a booking page reached you through an ad, check the address bar against the property’s own site before you pay. Fraud can be reported on cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.
Ranked
The best of Mysuru, ranked
Mysore Zoo sits in Mysuru, and these rank everything verified across the town rather than this one spot — built from the same listings shown above, ordered by the strength of the source evidence behind each entry rather than by anyone's star score. Every card shows how many places are really on it. Nobody pays to appear.
Nearest to Mysore Zoo, on foot
Ordered by a real routed walk from Mysore Zoo itself — the walking network, not a line on a map, which understates a real walk by about half again. A different question, and a different answer, from the town-wide lists below.
- Om Shanti1.2 km · 14 min
- Pai Vista1.5 km · 19 min
- Hotel New Quba Mess2.6 km · 32 min
Across the whole of Mysuru
Ranked guides
Top experiences around Mysuru
10 more places around Mysuru, each worth a day of its own.
heritageMysore Palace
1.8 km · 22 min walk
The Amba Vilas Palace, seat of the Wodeyar maharajas, rebuilt in 1912 in an Indo-Saracenic style; famous for its Durbar Hall, stained glass and its Sunday and Dasara-evening illumination of nearly 100,000 bulbs.
templeChamundi Hills
10.2 km · 13 min drive
A hill about 13 km from the city topped by the Chamundeshwari Temple and a giant Nandi carved from a single boulder, with panoramic views over Mysuru and a stepped pilgrim path of ~1,000 steps.
churchSt. Philomena's Cathedral
2.5 km · 31 min walk
A soaring Neo-Gothic cathedral completed in 1956, one of the tallest churches in India, with twin ~53 m spires modelled on Cologne Cathedral and a crypt holding a relic of St Philomena.
museumJaganmohan Palace
2.4 km · 29 min walk
An 1861 Wodeyar palace now housing the Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery, with one of South India’s finest collections of paintings, including works by Raja Ravi Varma, and royal artefacts and instruments.
heritageDevaraja Market
1.9 km · 23 min walk
A bustling colonial-era market of flower, fruit, spice and kumkum stalls in the old city, a photogenic slice of everyday Mysuru near the palace.
heritageKaranji Lake
1.3 km · 15 min walk
A restored lake below Chamundi Hills with a large walk-through aviary, a butterfly park and a nature-park boardwalk, backed by the zoo — an easy birding and boating stop.
museumMysuru Rail Museum
3.9 km · 5 min drive
An open-air railway museum with vintage steam locomotives, the Maharani’s saloon carriage and a small toy train, near the city railway station.
heritageLalitha Mahal
3.6 km · 5 min drive
A grand white Italianate palace built in 1921 for the Maharaja of Mysore to host the Viceroy, on rising ground below Chamundi Hills; modelled in part on St Paul’s Cathedral in London and now a heritage hotel whose public areas and grounds can be seen.
heritageKukkarahalli Lake
5.5 km · 7 min drive
A historic lake of 1864 in the heart of Mysuru beside the University and CFTRI, ringed by a shaded walking path and home to over ninety species of resident and migratory birds — a favourite morning walk for the city.
heritageLingambudhi Lake
An 18th-century tank about 7 km south-west of the centre, now a bird-rich nature park with a walking trail and a butterfly garden, quieter than the city-centre lakes.
Roampedia is commission-free — own or know a stay, eatery, guide or shop near Mysore Zoo? List it and it appears here once verified.
Add a nearby businessBefore you go
Mysore Zoo — at a glance
Timings8:30 AM - 5:30 PM; closed Tuesdays
Best timeOctober to February; early morning
Entry: Approx. Rs 100 (Indian), camera extra
Getting here
How to reach Mysore Zoo
Zoo Road, ~1.5 km from the palace
Getting back
Work out your return before you settle in for the sunset. Public transport here thins out sharply in the evening, and Mysore Zoo is easier to reach than to leave. We do not publish departure times: there is no official live feed we are permitted to republish, and a wrong time here would strand you. Check the operator directly on the day.
- KSRTC — the Karnataka state bus operator; route and schedule enquiries. Online booking.
- Indian Railways — live running and seat availability for the nearest railhead, named under “Getting here” above.
Ask at the bus stand for the time of the last service back, not the next one. If you miss it, an auto or app cab is the fallback — agree the fare before you get in.
Getting around Mysore Zoo
We have not assessed physical access at this place yet. Across India, step-free routes, handrails and accessible toilets are the exception rather than the rule, and pavements are often interrupted — if step-free access matters to you, contact the site or a local operator before committing to the trip.
If you need help at Mysore Zoo
112All emergencies (police · fire · medical)The single number to call in any emergency (ERSS).100Police101Fire108Ambulance (emergency / EMS)1091Women’s helpline (distress)1098Child helpline1363Tourist helpline (India, 24×7, multilingual)
Emergency numbers are verified against official government and state tourism sources. 112 works anywhere in India.
Nearby
What’s near Mysore Zoo
Walking and driving times are real routed distances, except the few marked “straight line”, which are direct-line estimates and will read short. Routing: © openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT | Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
On the map
Where Mysore Zoo is
Good to know
Mysore Zoo — frequently asked
When is the best time to visit Mysore Zoo?
October to February; early morning when animals are most active and the grounds are cooler.
What are the entry fee and timings at Mysore Zoo?
Entry: Approx. Rs 100 (Indian), camera extra. Timings: 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM; closed Tuesdays.
How do I reach Mysore Zoo?
On Indiranagar / Zoo Road, about 1.5 km from the palace; autos and buses reach it easily. Buy tickets online or at the gate; the zoo is closed on Tuesdays.
How much time do I need for Mysore Zoo?
2 to 3 hours.
What else is near Mysore Zoo?
Nearby you can pair Karanji Lake (1.3 km), Mysore Palace (1.8 km), Devaraja Market (1.9 km), Jaganmohan Palace (2.4 km).
Read before you go
Mysore Zoo guides, stories & itineraries
We have not published a story about Mysore Zoo itself yet. These cover Mysuru, the town it sits in, and the wider district.
Around Mysuru
Mysore Zoo sits in Mysuru, so these cover the streets, buildings and surroundings around it.
Photographs: SlowPhoton, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), Ramesh NG (CC BY-SA 2.0), This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. Feel free to use my phot (CC BY-SA 4.0), Gpkp (CC BY-SA 4.0). Wikimedia Commons.
Image credits
- Mysore Zoo:SlowPhoton, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0