Jungle Island - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)
Jungle Island
Jungle Island
4
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM
About
Jungle Island, a favorite South Florida landmark, is an intimate eco-adventure park and events destination located in the heart of Miami, across from the cruise ports between Downtown Miami and South Beach. Building upon a rich tradition that began in 1936, Jungle Island is home to thrilling new attractions designed to take guests to new heights and some of the world's most rare exotic animals. Visitors enjoy immersive, real-life jungle experiences including treetop adventures, engaging animal shows and informative exhibits while strolling by streams and waterfalls under a lush canopy of tropical trees. Book unforgettable hands-on encounters with fascinating animals or go on privately guided behind-the-scenes VIP tours - just like the many A-list celebrities who frequent Jungle Island. With its newly renovated Bloom Ballroom and picturesque outdoor spaces including a private beach, the 18-acre park also serves as Miami’s destination for extraordinary events.
Duration: More than 3 hours
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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Tours & experiences
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  • Kane K
    2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Best solo VIP animal encounter you could ever have
    Ryan gave me such an amazing experience for jungle island’s VIP tour. He and his team catered to my requests and truly went above and beyond what was meant to be in the package. For example, i was more interested in capybaras then kangaroos, and they made it happen without me having to ask on the day of my visit. A+ for proactiveness. As for the zoo itself, it is more than evident that the animals are very well cared for. I was fortunate that, on the day of my visit, no one else was on my tour, so i got undisturbed one-on-one time with all the animals without the interference of other people. If it helps, i went for the the Tuesday 12pm time slot. My advice to others is to please bring bug spray beforehand as you will need it. I got bitten by lots of mosquitos and the marks affected the pictures i took. I will definitely go again if i get the chance to come back to Miami.
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled solo
    Written June 9, 2023
  • deanna t
    3 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Must do
    Our family took a tour with Ryan- a guide at Jungle island. It was spectacular. Ryan was hands down the best tour guide. He spent so much time giving us the history on all the animals while teaching us how to best interact with the animals. It made memories that will last a lifetime….big thanks to Ryan and all the staff for providing such a great experience!
    Visited July 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written July 30, 2023
  • Elizabeth V
    Monrovia, California4 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Amazing!
    This place made my capybara dreams come true!!!! The capybara encounter was amazing, our guide was amazing. And I’m so sad I forgot his name. Jungle Island its self is pretty cool! They have lots of different animals. It was a fun couple of hours. I can’t wait to come back, if I’m ever in Miami again. They have big plans for the future!
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written August 22, 2023
  • Alex Ram
    8 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Hidden gem in Miami
    Amazing experience and very qualified and honest staff! We booked the Lemur experience which is something out of this world, truly recommended for anyone wanting to connect with animals and nature and the guide was so knowledgeable it makes u want to listen to his stories for hours! Also worth to praise the honesty of the staff, we were refunded for a ticket of one of our party that didn’t show up last minute. Hidden gem, will definitely go back!
    Visited November 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written November 11, 2023
  • BetLit
    Orlando, Florida2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great Teen experience
    Ordered online, smooth entry. Plenty exhibits of different species of birds, monkeys and other animals. Great granddaughter loved the giant tortoise experience but an added experience was given by Lauren to treat her. As her special interest is in reptiles, she did not get picked in the jungle show featuring different species of snakes but Lauren her tortoise guide allowed her to hold a corn snake. So this special attention made her visit to Miami one of her high points of her vacation. Kudos to Lauren—made a teen very happy and a true smile appeared!
    Visited December 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written December 31, 2023
  • Erik B
    Stockholm, Sweden45 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    A bit of a disappointment
    On one hand, the (mostly young) people taking care of the animals seem genuinely interested in their jobs, patiently answering questions and conveying information. The presentation of snakes was really good. There were also some color varieties of birds at least I have never seen before. On the other hand, more than a few of the animals seem unhappy and many are confined to very small cages. Not that much to see, to be frank, and extremely overpriced (higher than Miami Zoo, which is much bigger). In addition to the hefty admission they charge USD 15 for parking and USD 85 for individual animal encounters. I would really like to be able to refrain from writing a bad review. Perhaps they should lower prices, review the animals’ wellbeing and maybe expand the park a bit? Then it would be worth a visit. Now it is not.
    Visited January 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written January 18, 2024
  • Beth G
    10 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Very BEST Lemur Encounter in 15 years!
    This was my 4th Lemur Encounter - not a typo - 3 pre-covid ‘09, ‘10, ‘13. Blown away by the improvement!!! Our guide/trainer, Selvin, was beyond remarkable, a gem! He had complete command, encouraging of us and the Lemurs, displayed a depth of knowledge that was truly impressive, had immeasurable patience, and showed great caring for their well being. The Lemurs were precious, engaged with us, and attentive to him. No comparison to prior years! SO MUCH FUN! GO! The “new” park is also beautiful. The flamingo experience was fun and mesmerizing and there are new encounters to try…along with the Lemur Encounter of course!
    Visited January 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written January 21, 2024
  • spcraig01
    21 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    The Lemurs are so much fun!!
    This is a great zoo. Very festive and friendly. Everyone was very welcoming, the place was very clean and the animals were well cared for. They do a night show that looks wonderful. We were there during the day, but you could see the displays. We went on the lemur experience. I've been on numerous animal experiences. This was the best. We must have taken 50 pictures. They were friendly and Ryan handled the tour incredibly well. He genuinely cares for them. I will be going back soon. We might do the VIP experience next.
    Visited January 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written January 31, 2024
  • Terry DellaVecchia
    Timonium, Maryland178 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Jungle Island needs some work to make it a worthwhile experience
    We were really looking forward to going to Jungle Island as well as seeing the Parrots since it had been many years since we’d been there. The Capybara experience was also a draw for us. We were quite disappointed. There isn’t much to see or keep you there for any length of time. There is nothing in any of the bird cages to keep them occupied. No toys, nothing for them to do. The Capybaras were pretty cool and it was neat to pet them and feed them but no great shakes. All in all they need to put a bit more money into the place to make it worthwhile for the birds and animals as well as patrons to visit.
    Visited February 2024
    Traveled with friends
    Written February 26, 2024
  • Niki D
    9 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    The lemur experience was excellent
    Fantastic time we had with the lemurs. Ryan was an amazing guide who provided enough information without overworking us with facts. The lemurs are the sweetest and were so happy!!!! It’s pricey (so is everything in the Miami area) but well worth it for such a rare experience as being with the animals.
    Visited March 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written March 20, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles2,201 reviews
Excellent
886
Very good
560
Average
357
Poor
166
Terrible
232

vz86
11 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
I went to the Luminosa lights festival in the evening at Jungle Island. I was utterly horrified to see a monkey in a very small cage trying to sleep, while a speaker from the festival blared just outside its cage. Bright lights from the festival permeated the entire cage. Whoever set up this festival had NO regard for the animals being affected by it. Jungle Island--you should be ashamed. Everyone in my party was disgusted and we will not return.
Written February 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi vz86 First of all I would like to thank you for visiting Luminosa at Jungle Island. Jungle Island is dedicated to providing a wonderful home to its animal family while sharing them with visitors in ways that foster awareness and sensitivity toward the animals. The animals at Jungle Island are the core of our park experience. Jungle Island has been a respected Miami institution for over 80 years and is proud to serve as a sanctuary and home to over 350 animals and birds. Under the guidance and supervision of trained animal experts, Jungle Island provides visitors with up-close-and-personal experiences with some of the world’s most rare and endangered animals, in order to educate guests about wildlife conservation and nature. The health and wellbeing of the animals takes precedence over all other interests. Each animal receives the highest level of care including: · care and maintenance standards, which meet or exceed requirements set forth by the Zoological Association of America (Jungle Island is ZAA accredited) · daily visual examinations, regular veterinary physicals, routine diagnostics, an individualized diet and supplements · specialized enrichment and wellness · a caretaker who is familiar with the individual animal, his or her diet, behavior, and appearance During the production of Luminosa, we consulted regularly with our park President John Dunlap, who is the former managing director of the San Diego Zoo, as well as Dr. Jason Chatfield, Jungle Island’s VP of Zoological Operations and veterinarian. Both are the world’s leading animal experts. Both John and Jason are available via phone, email or an in person meeting. During Luminosa Festival of Lights, we share our love and passion for the animals and our park with guests from all over the world.
Written February 6, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Y9767GZrafaelah
Miami, FL18 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2023
This is an absolute disappointment to visit!
Impossible to get through on line to book. You have to Register the day before. Not well explained on line of what is included and what is available.
At the Park the Check in was 50 minutes in Line in an enclosed area and no air conditioning. Nobody knew what they were doing. One lady being trained in by the Manager who was also checking king in. Only one other person . A disgrace. Playgrounds which are not at all supervised for numbers or ages of kids.
Animal and Bird cages with not as much as the name of said animal or bird, where they are from etc etc. Zero education. No benches for people to sit while kids playing etc.
Only interest is a money maker of doing VIP tour or animal encounter.
Never again will I take people visiting Miami to this park.
Written February 23, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Gavin L
High Wycombe, UK6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022 • Family
We visited during the early part of our holiday, they were in the process of starting to open up again, offering new features which unfortunately we could not do at the time. However we booked prior, the lemur and capybara encounter. This was the main focus of the visit. The guides were friendly and very knowledgeable about the animals and the environment. They showed a lot of genuine care and compassion for the environment, making sure during interactive sessions the animals wellbeing was the top priority. Even though the main areas were not open to the public yet, our guide Ryan took us around showing us many of the other animals. He had a very personal connection with the animals and it showed with how passionately he spoke. Seeing a place like this that has people who care deeply gives me hope for the conservative of these animals. Jungle island is a place that aims to educate by being more involved with the animals. Ryan spoke of the plans to expand and offer more diverse experiences, these will make it a one of a kind place to visit. When I next come back this will be on my list to do. Whilst this maybe on the more expensive end...I am happy knowing that the money goes towards the fantastic animals. They also don't overcharge for soft drinks...well done! A small thing, but shows the mentally of the place. Thank you Ryan, excellent job!
Written August 12, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Whitney J
Las Vegas, NV25 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2023 • Friends
Very cute place !! So clean! All of the animals are all very well taken care of. I did the lemur encounter. Was very impressive they were so cute and so friendly!! My only complaint is that they take too many people for the private encounters at once. Our tour guide and encounter person was Selven he was very knowledgeable and and his dedication to the animals and facility was unmated!! You can tell he spends countless hours with all of the animals their.
Written April 18, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jelyapt
Miami, FL124 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2023
Such a disappointment! We used to go to Jungle Island all the time with our grandchildren and it was wonderful. Our 14 year old grandson wanted to go today after not having been there for over 4 years.

We purchased the least expensive tickets online ($10 each) and thought we would just be able to show the e-mail confirmation and breeze on in. Nope.. we had to stand in a long indoor line once there. It made no sense to us.

They no longer have a lot of the animals they used to and no longer have the wonderful and educational animal show. If anyone wanted to go into any of the places to visit the animals up close, it was $65.

There is also no longer a restaurant-only a food cart. You also can't feed the parrots anymore or take a photo holding them.

The only saving grace was a playground that looked like fun for kids ages 4 and up.
Save your money and go to Zoo Miami!!
Written February 23, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jeydiea
Miami, FL3 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Family
Not sure why there are so many good reviews for this place! But I’ve noticed that most of them are for the over priced animal encounters. I’m a Miami native and Denver transplant, who came to over to visit and I was appalled to see what had happened to this place! Most of what was once a crowded tourist attraction has downsized to a small area where you can see fences and bulldozed structures. There were once tigers and they have all gone, they even had a liger once! The penguins, the orangutans, and the alligators are gone too, they once had an alligator as long as a school bus! And there were 6 - 7 shows a day in three different arenas and now there’s only one twice a day. The aviary has been closed down too. You can do the park in less than an hour unless you do the treetop climbing gym or an animal encounter. All of course extra! It’s $25 to get in, way over priced for what it is. And on top of that you have to pay $15 to park. It’s all a complete rip off.
Written July 5, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

natlefort
10 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Family
Very disappointing. Really this is for very young children who are seeing animals for the first time. There are a few birds and some other animals in very small cages. Staff at the Tree Trekking were rude, unfriendly, and very unhelpful. Animal encounter experiences are very overpriced, the wallaby encounter lasted 5 minutes max. You stroke them for a couple of minutes and the experience is over. I paid for myself and my kids but I could have easily just paid for them and watched as the 'experience' was minutes long only. The lemur encounter was better, much longer, and more interaction and information. However I didn't take photos thinking the staff photographer would take great photos but the guys taking photos are NOT photographers, it felt like they took 50+ photos but upon departing there was only ONE more or less ok photo out of all the three family members. Terrible quality photos they are NOT professional photographers so make sure you take your own photos. Just overall really disappointing, very amateur. They have really annoying music playing the same track on repeat nonstop all over the park. Irritating. Everyone (staff) was very unfriendly and unhelpful except for the animal encounter guides who were very nice. We left quickly and would not recommend or go back.
Written April 1, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Chifeilayfranchurroqui
9 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Couples
It was disappointing and sad, animals look very sad all the time, nobody clean the space for them and definitely nobody care them. The publicity say they have cangooros and bunnys but is not true and we paid $25 dollars each person and the parking is not included, the price for parking is $15 dollars. They took a picture before entry and then they try to sell it for $37 dollars! Also they have soda machines and a small bottle of water is $7 dollars!
Unbelievable the worst place to go in Miami, don't waste your money there!
And I hope someone help that poor animals.
Written July 16, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

marsha h
Watertown, NY4 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2024 • Family
I am 70 and my son is 42. We both had so much fun. we took an encounter with the lemurs and they are wonder, soft, and friendly. The guide was so personable and informative. The photographer was great and the pictures turned out wonderful. They were so worth the $50 we spent on the photos
Written April 11, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Camper786774
4 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Family
Overpriced animal park! Go to the Miami zoo for a cheaper price and a lot more animals. It took us 45 minutes and $100 for 4 people plus $15 parking.
Save your money and go to the Miami zoo.
Written July 9, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Jungle Island - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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