Burgers' Zoo is 85 euro a year against 30 a visit: three visits pay it back, and ages ten to twenty save most

Burgers' Zoo sits at Antoon van Hooffplein 1 in Arnhem and opens every day of the year, from 9.00 to 18.00 between 29 March and 24 October 2026. On its own price page the zoo prints one sentence: "Bij 3 bezoeken bent u met een jaarabonnement al voordeliger uit!" — after three visits the annual ticket beats buying single tickets. That sentence is true: an adult annual ticket is 85.00 euro and an adult day ticket bought online is 30.00 euro, so three visits come to 90.00. But two other numbers sit on that page without ever being placed side by side. The child day ticket stops at nine, while the child annual ticket runs to twenty. A twelve-year-old therefore pays the full adult 30.00 euro for a day ticket but only 78.00 euro for a whole year. So check your child's age before you buy anything.

• Day tickets: 31.00 euro for adults at the desk and 28.50 for ages four to nine; each ticket is 1.00 euro cheaper online, so 30.00 and 27.50; ages nought to three go free. (source 1)
• Annual ticket: 85.00 euro for adults, 78.00 for ages four to twenty, free for ages nought to three; it starts the moment you pay and then runs 365 days with unlimited entry. (source 2)
• Parking is billed separately: 10.00 euro for a day card, or a 27.00 euro annual parking ticket for annual-ticket holders, which the zoo lists on its own line and which therefore has its own break-even. (source 1)
• Renewals are discounted: ten percent off the first renewal, rising by another five percent each year to a maximum of twenty-five percent, which only households that keep renewing ever reach. (source 2)
• Combination and group rates: Burgers' Zoo plus the Openluchtmuseum costs 46.00 euro for adults and 36.00 for ages four to twelve; groups of twenty or more pay 29.00 and 27.50. (source 1)
• Opening hours: every day of the year, 9.00 to 18.00 from 29 March to 24 October 2026, then 9.00 to 17.00 from 25 October. (source 3)

There is only one formula and you drop your own bracket into it: the price of the annual ticket divided by the day ticket for your bracket tells you how many visits pay it back. For an adult that is 85.00 divided by 30.00, which is 2.8, so on the third visit the annual ticket is already 5.00 euro ahead. For a child of four to nine it is 78.00 divided by 27.50, also 2.8, and the third visit is 4.50 euro ahead. Three visits holds for both brackets, so the zoo is not overstating its case.

What never gets placed side by side is the third bracket. The child day price stops at nine, so a ten-year-old already pays the adult rate, while the child annual ticket runs to twenty. A twelve-year-old is therefore 30.00 euro a visit but 78.00 euro a year, and 78.00 divided by 30.00 is 2.6. Still the third visit, but that third visit is 12.00 euro ahead instead of 5.00. Households with a child between ten and twenty break even just as fast and keep more than twice as much. Two adults and one twelve-year-old pay 270.00 euro for three days out, against 248.00 for three annual tickets.

Do the parking sum separately rather than folding it into the line above. Ten euro a day against twenty-seven a year is 27.00 divided by 10.00, or 2.7, so it too pays back on the third visit. But the parking ticket is sold only to annual-ticket holders, so it is not a standalone choice: decide on the annual tickets first, then on the parking. Add parking to that family of three and three visits by car come to 300.00 euro against 275.00.

Two things are worth settling before you buy. First, the one euro online discount applies to day tickets only and not to the annual ticket, so comparing it against desk prices makes the payback look better than it is; every figure above uses the 30.00 euro online price, which is the least flattering arithmetic for the annual ticket, and the conclusion still holds. Second, the annual ticket runs 365 days from the day you pay rather than over a calendar year, so if you want both this autumn break and next spring inside the same one, choose your starting date deliberately.

Hokimi field note: ask how many visits you will honestly make before you ask anything else, then check the ages. At two visits a year, two day tickets plus two parking days come to 200.00 euro while three annual tickets plus parking come to 275.00, and the annual ticket is the expensive choice. It wins on the third visit, and the third visit has to actually happen.

Where

Antoon van Hooffplein 1, 6816 SH Arnhem

When

Open daily all year; 9.00–18.00 from 29 March to 24 October, 9.00–17.00 from 25 October

Price

Day tickets online 30.00 euro adult and 27.50 for ages four to nine; annual ticket 85.00 adult and 78.00 for ages four to twenty

Ages

Free under four; the child day price ends at nine, the child annual ticket runs to twenty

Note

Parking is extra: 10.00 euro a day, or a 27.00 euro annual parking ticket sold only to annual-ticket holders