The Jardin Animalier, Prince Rainier III's rescue zoo

The first thing to know about the Jardin Animalier is that you can’t visit it in 2026. Visit Monaco says so, «fermé en 2026 pour travaux», and so does the Palace, which lists it as «actuellement fermé». I’m putting that up front because some guidebooks still recommend it without a warning. Even so, I think it deserves its own page, because it’s one of the quirkiest places in Monaco and, once it reopens, I’d go.

A zoo that began with thirty injured animals

The garden opened as the Centre d’Acclimatation Zoologique de Monaco on 25 December 1954. According to Visit Monaco, Rainier III came back from a trip to Africa with around thirty injured animals, and the idea grew from there. The mission hasn’t changed since, which is to take in, care for and protect animals in trouble.

What I like most is the house rule. Not one animal in the zoo was bought. They were all donated, abandoned or seized by customs, and each has its own story. The best known is Pollux, a hippo who arrived in 1986 after a circus shut down, and whom Visit Monaco describes as the park’s mascot, Monaco’s most photographed animal for generation after generation.

What animals live there?

About sixty species on one hectare, according to Visit Monaco, and some three hundred animals, according to the Palace. Apart from Pollux, nearly all are small. There are exotic birds, reptiles, primates and lemurs, tortoises, caimans and farm animals, from capuchin monkeys to spurred tortoises and wallabies. Signs along the paths explain each species and its habitat. Don’t expect elephants or big cats, because this isn’t that kind of zoo, and to my mind that’s exactly its charm.

On the side of the Rock, overlooking the harbour

The garden sits on the southern flank of the Rock, stepped in terraces above Fontvieille harbour. The Palace gives the address as Esplanade Rainier III, Terrasse de Fontvieille. Despite the terraces, the route and the toilets are adapted for wheelchairs, which is unusual on a rock like this, and there was a play area for children. To get your bearings in the district below, with its rose garden and marina, see Fontvieille.

Why the closure, and when might it reopen?

The official website only says it’s closed for works. The local press, which is where everything else comes from, reports safety works on the cliff above the garden plus a modernisation programme, quoting a message from the zoo itself that called them the most ambitious since it was founded. That it will stay shut all through 2026 and reopen in 2027 comes from some outlets, but neither the Palace nor Visit Monaco has published a date. I’d treat it as a possibility rather than a promise, and check the Palace website before planning anything.

Will it be worth it once it reopens?

I think so, provided you know what to expect. It isn’t a zoo for a whole day out or for big animals, but a small, terraced garden where every animal comes with a rescue story. With children under ten it strikes me as a perfect little outing, because the route is short, adapted for wheelchairs, and there used to be a play area. With teenagers I’d be less sure. What I’d do is pair it with the stamp and coin museum right there on the Terrasse and the rose garden below, leaving the Rock and the changing of the guard for the morning. When a reopening date, price and opening hours are published, I’ll add them here.

What I’d do in the meantime

If you’re in Fontvieille, what’s nearby is free. The Princess Grace Rose Garden, with thousands of roses beside the landscaped park, is just below, and I describe it in the Princess Grace Rose Garden. On the same Terrasse is the Museum of Stamps and Coins, which Visit Monaco places right by the Jardin Animalier.

If the plan was a zoo for the children, I’d change tack. Princess Antoinette Park has a small farm with goats, rabbits and hens, plus crazy golf, and the Oceanographic Museum is the closest thing to seeing animals in the Principality. Everything that works with kids is gathered in Monaco with kids.

And if it was the greenery that drew you, the Exotic Garden, open again since 30 March 2026 after six years shut, looks down over Fontvieille from the hillside. The rest of the Principality’s parks, nearly all free, are in gardens in Monaco.