Chester Zoo has been voted the best zoo in the UK just months after being named England's most popular visitor attraction.
In a roaring success for the Upton-based landmark almost 1.5million visitors travelled to the zoo to see everything from the tiniest spider to the biggest elephant in 2013.
Now as the visitor attraction prepares for the opening of its £30M Island scheme next Spring, Chester Zoo has been given a giant seal of approval by visitors, who named it the best in the UK.
Home to over 11,000 animals and over 400 species the zoo was named the second best in Europe, falling in behind Loro Parque in Tenerife, which has dolphin performances and penguins who live on one of the largest icebergs outside of the polar regions.
It was named sixth best in the world, during the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards for Zoos and Aquariums.
Jamie Christon, managing director of Chester Zoo said: "We’re absolutely delighted to have received the seal of approval from the public and named the best zoo in the UK and indeed one of the very best in the world.
"Our sincere thanks go to every single person that has come here because, as a registered charity, their visits help us to carry out all of our vital conservation work – saving species from extinction both here in the UK and overseas.”
This is not the first time the zoo has been heralded as one of the best family days out in the UK.
In June it was voted the nation's best animal attraction at the Group Travel Awards, and in March it beat off Kew Gardens and Stonehenge to be named the most visited attraction outside of London.
More people visited the Chester attraction last year than the Houses of Parliament, Tate Britain, the Eden Project, Stonehenge and the Museum of Science after a staggering 1,409,249 people walked through its doors.
Chester outstripped London Zoo by over 100,000 visitors – being named the most popular English attraction outside of the capital, according to figures revealed by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.
The zoo put their success down to the number of new arrivals and rare species at the city attraction, which only last week saw four tiny new babies which may look small but have massive relatives.
The baby rock hyraxes may look like Guinea pigs – but in fact they are one of the closest living relatives of the elephant.
And last month the zoo welcomed an adorable new pudu fawn, the world's smallest species of deer to its ever growing family.
The baby pudu, which keepers have named Selene, is part of a European conservation breeding programme to protect the species.
TripAdvisor named Nebraska’s Henry Doorly Zoo in the United States as the best in the world. The zoo has a stingray beach, gorilla valley and camel rides.
