Set inside a hotel – though it’s open to non-guests, as well – this 175,000 waterpark includes a lazy river, water slides, and wading pools. Some of the slides exit the building and reappear when they splash down inside. In a separate room, the FlowRider mimics the experience of surfing or bodyboarding, pumping some 30,000 gallons of water per minute...

For a desert locale, the BioPark Aquarium is impressive for its quality and the diversity of the aquatic life you’ll find there. Although the shark tank is the blockbuster attraction, you’ll find sea turtles, a choral reef, and a mock-ship wreck teeming with creatures. The aquarium has a touch pool, though engaging with the creatures there will depend on volunteer availability....

The Albuquerque BioPark has four components, including the state’s largest zoo. The path through the 64-acre zoo meanders beneath a canopy of cottonwoods past lions, polar bears, and rhinos in large enclosures. The zoo is well known for its breeding program, which means one thing: baby animals! In the past few years, a baby elephant, snow leopard, hippo, and twin...

Cliff’s Amusement Park is the state’s only permanent destination with roller coasters and rides. It offers 23 theme-park rides, including the New Mexico Rattler, a wooden roller coaster, and The Wind Rider, the park’s newest addition. The park doesn’t just offer thrills—there are family friendly rides such as bumper cars and a carousel as well. In the WaterMania! park kids...

The vineyards surrounding this pleasant little Villages Fleuris (Flower Village) produce some amazing wines, but visitors are most interested in Eagle Park set tucked into the ruins of Kintzheim Castle.  The town itself has some lovely churches and ancient half-timbered houses. Stop by the little Chapel de l’Aigle, just outside the village, to visit the picturesque setting where locals reported seeing the Virgin Mary...

About 300 Barbary Macaques are the star entertainers at this free-range 60-acre/24-hectare park near the village of Kintzheim. You get up close with the outgoing animals as you stroll along the forested paths of this refuge and research center. The monkeys live as they would in the wild, but they have no predators, so they willing approach visitors and aren’t...

Exotic animals and beautiful themed gardens are the highlights here. Kids have fun in the area reserved for interacting with smaller animals in open pens and enclosures resembling native habitats. Petting the dwarf goats is a special treat, even if they try to eat your clothes. Potamochoerus, an endangered pig-like creature from Africa, is one of the newest arrivals. More than 200...

Established in 1838, Amsterdam’s city zoo — Artis Royal Zoo — is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands. And despite being located in an area that is confined by the city itself, the zoo still has around 900 species of animals. You’ll find zebras, giraffes, elephants, and chimpanzees as well as a butterfly house, planetarium, and insectarium. This is a...

Here’s the chance to guide your vehicle between some big African animals in a bit more space than they would have at the average zoo. All the big names are here: elephants elephants, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, lions and monkey as well as smaller more inquisitive species like lemurs. Additional attractions – mostly targeted at kids – include an great adventure...

This impressive collection of glittering fish and fearsome-looking sharks can be appreciated from below thanks to moving walkways through tunnels in tanks. This helps make it much more engaging for kids than traditional aquariums, as does the chance to touch rays in a learning centre and even dive with the sharks (age 8 upwards; £95 with advanced booking). Shark-diving is...

Quality theme park, mainly based around the idea of having fun in the woods. You can saw logs with a two-man saw; balance on tree-top trails; sky-dive; test yourself on climbing walls; ascend Britain’s tallest wood tower; and enjoy a handful of fairly low-key rides, which include a roller coaster and log flume. Of course, most of the attractions aren’t...

Arrive with low expectations at the slightly shabby, dated and overall pretty middling M&Ds theme park and you’ll leave happy. But it’s Scotland’s only theme park and a reliable hit with kids who have some 20 rides to choose from; there are only 5 proper white-knuckle rides. Also here is Amazonia; a tropical rainforest where you can get close to...

What was once Rama V’s botanical garden became the Dusit Zoo in 1938. Today the grounds are the home of over 1,600 different animals, an artificial lake with paddle boats, and a bomb shelter from WWII. The zoo is a study in contrasts, a lush, peaceful park in one corner and a stinky holding cell for bored kangaroos and cooped-up...

Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo (BAMZ) is a little gem that has been part of life in Bermuda since 1926, and is now one of the world’s oldest aquariums. The aquarium features fish, local and not, exhibits, outdoor exhibits with ancient sea turtles (local volunteers sign up to give turtles regular scrub baths!), sea lions (check out feeding times), and...

Bring a bunch of carrots when you visit this rescue park and petting zoo. You can drive your car through and roll down the windows to invite donkeys to poke their noses in to say hello. If you forget to bring treats for your new friends, you can buy carrots on site. Cars aren’t allowed in the special care meadow,...

The three-story Fritz’s Adventure indoor adventure park lets active families engage in challenges that would otherwise be outdoors, making this place a hit especially in winter or rainy weather. Climbing walls, a three-story rope course with a zipline, two underground tunnels, a life-size water tower with slides, suspension bridges, a maze made from shipping containers, laser games and even an...

Silver Dollar City is the theme park for people who are allergic to theme parks. A re-creation of an 1880s Ozarks town, it’s nestled in a lovely wooded setting, with staff dressed in period costumes, more than 100 craftsmen demonstrating their skills, about 60 specialty shops selling crafts and accessories, more than 40 live shows daily ranging from bluegrass and...

The Track Family Fun Parks opened its first go-kart track in Branson in 1981. Thirty-two years later, the locally-owned company has four different locations (three of them on Highway 76 alone) offering 14 different go-kart experiences for all different ages. Track 4, the one I’ve listed here, has the awesome Heavy Metal Rise reaching over four stories, as well as...

The Vigilante Extreme ZipRider takes all the worry out of ziplining. Instead of the harnesses and platforms inherent in tree canopy ziplining, here you just take the glass elevator up Inspiration Tower, sit comfortably in a special harness and then fly up to 50 miles an hour for a half mile. You do not control the speed, and the ride...