The nationwide initiative has taken place across Hungarian wildlife parks on the last Friday of August since 2012, with the capital city's zoo participating since its inception.

On Friday, August 28, the venue will operate standard daytime hours, briefly clear the grounds, and reopen its gates at 7:00 PM specifically for the evening program.

Scheduled activities run continuously until 11:00 PM, with guests permitted to explore the illuminated park until midnight.

While the evening offers specialized access, certain animals maintain their strict natural sleep schedules. The great apes, for example, will be resting off-display for the night.

However, most major indoor and outdoor pavilions will stay open, including the iconic Palm House, the Dragon House (home to the Komodo dragons), the Xántus János House, the Venom House, Magic Mountain, the Elephant House, the Shark School, the Biodome’s Urban Oasis and Atrium, the Japanese Garden, and the Heritage Farm.

This year's educational theme centers on debunking persistent myths about animal behavior and modern wildlife conservation. Throughout the night, visitors can experience light projections, interactive botanical displays, hands-on craft stations, virtual reality setups, and astronomy demonstrations.

The park’s historic amusement section will also be running, featuring the 120-year-old heritage Schäftner Carousel alongside traditional fortune-telling stations.

Practical behind-the-scenes displays include the zoo's feed preparation team setting up shop near the waterfowl lake to demonstrate how daily diets are formulated. Elsewhere, dedicated guides will introduce guests to insect biology, while another interactive station breaks down the physical differences between hedgehogs and porcupines.

Scheduled animal encounters feature feeding sessions for tigers, lions, and giant otters, alongside elephant training workshops, snake handling, live scuba diver demonstrations inside the main shark tanks, and a camel presentation. Inside the Palm House, artificial rainstorms will simulate tropical downpours twice during the evening.

Stage entertainment spans two main performance areas, featuring fire jugglers, nature photography showcases, and behind-the-scenes talks on veterinary filmmaking. The music lineup includes live performances by Boggie (Boglárka Csemer) and Kolos (Kolos Kádár), as well as an open discussion with Péter Müller Sziámi.

Across five lecture spaces, zoo staff will present 29 illustrated short talks exploring topics from dinosaur paleontology and animal folklore to venom composition, working horses, animals in cinema, and production stories from films shot inside the Biodome.

Event & Ticket Details

Night of the Zoos runs on Friday, August 28, 2026, from 7:00 PM to 12:00 AM (scheduled programs end at 11:00 PM). Tickets are available online in advance or directly at the entrance on the night of the event; box offices close at 9:30 PM.

The event’s rain policy can be found here.

More: 
Budapest Zoo

Photo: Budapest Zoo

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