One of America’s oldest zoos is also one of its most charming family days out. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, founded in 1876 in leafy Druid Hill Park, winds through wooded hills where some 130 species live in naturalistic habitats — and where the walking itself, under century-old oaks, is half the pleasure.
Plan the greatest hits: Penguin Coast, where the famous African penguin colony swims and squawks; the African Journey’s elephants, lions, giraffes and rhinos; the Maryland Wilderness, a children’s journey through the state’s own ecosystems (with a giant tree slide and lily-pad crossing); and the farmyard’s friendly goats. Keeper chats run through the day, and the giraffe feeding station lets kids offer lunch to the tallest residents.
The zoo is at 1 Safari Place in Druid Hill Park. Tickets and hours at marylandzoo.org — memberships are a Baltimore family rite of passage.
