Como Park Zoo and Conservatory

The zoo began humbly in the late eighteen hundreds, with a few animals gathered in the growing park, and grew over the years into a full zoo of big cats, primates, hoofed animals, seals, and more. Much of its historic architecture dates to Depression-era public works, when crews built enduring stone and brick structures that still shape the grounds.

The animals here are cared for as ambassadors for their wild kin, and the zoo has long balanced its role as a treasured local outing with a mission of conservation and education. That it remains free to enter is central to its character, a gift the city has chosen to keep offering so that any family can come.

The heart of the gardens is the great glass conservatory, a classic Victorian-style glasshouse whose central dome rises over a jungle of palms and tropical plants. Wings off the dome hold changing seasonal flower shows, a sunny palm dome, and rooms of ferns, orchids, and other plants that could never survive a Minnesota winter outdoors.

Because it is warm and green inside no matter the weather, the conservatory is a beloved refuge in the cold months, when Minnesotans come to breathe humid, flower-scented air while snow lies outside the glass. The seasonal displays, from spring bulbs to autumn mums to holiday poinsettias, give locals a reason to return again and again through the year.

Beside the conservatory lies a tranquil Japanese garden, a gift rooted in St. Paul's sister-city ties, with a pond, stone lanterns, and carefully raked and pruned plantings, one of the quietest corners of the park. Formal flower gardens spread out nearby, brilliant with blooms through the growing season.

The wider Como Park wraps around a lake with a walking and biking path, an old lakeside pavilion, an amusement area with a historic carousel, and shaded picnic grounds. It is a grand old city park in the tradition of the nineteenth century, designed as a place for everyone, and the zoo and conservatory are its centerpiece.

Summer is the liveliest season, with the outdoor zoo, gardens, lake path, and amusement rides all in full swing, best enjoyed on an early start before the weekend crowds. The gardens peak in warm-weather color, and the park's shade and lake breezes make for an easy family day.

Fall brings mums and turning trees, and winter draws people indoors to the warm conservatory and its holiday flower show while the indoor and hardy outdoor animals carry on. Spring reopens the outdoor zoo in full and fills the conservatory with bulbs, a welcome sign of the season after a long northern winter.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.