The Reserve at Chester Zoo: review, itinerary and price list for a safari lodge stay

As a rule of thumb I try not to travel with my kids anywhere further than two hours’ drive from home. Why, I hear you ask? Because when car journeys go wrong with a one-year-old and a four-year-old in tow, my stress levels go through the roof and I spend the whole trip feeling anxious about the return leg. But when I was offered the chance to try out The Reserve at Chester Zoo – a new immersive overnight destination where you get one-of-a-kind behind-the-scenes experiences with the animals, all in the name of conservation – with the kids as special guests, I decided to break my silly two-hour rule and make the pilgrimage from the Midlands up north. 

The resort

The Reserve is made up of 51 contemporary safari-style lodges; as I handed over the keys of my faithful little VW Tiguan to the valet parking staff and pulled the Trunki through smart glass doors to reception, it felt like I was checking into a five-star hotel. Park ‘rangers’ stand alongside reception staff on check-in to talk to the kids about the animals in the park, while the adults get the keys to the accommodation. Through the very swish bar (complete with every night cap you could imagine) and towards the floor-to-ceiling bifold doors that open out onto the lake, it’s clear every detail has been thoughtfully carved out on this tasteful project. 

As you take your first steps outside, a handful of the lodges around the lake are visible: all made with natural and sustainable materials, it feels both at one with the nature around and luxurious. We were guided along the wild flower pathway to room 309. As the front door swung open, the glass doors at the back of the lodge gave us the first sight of our neighbours for the two-night stay: Manu and his son Stanley. Manu is a 20ft adult giraffe with the most striking set of dark spots; Stanley is Manu’s 14ft son, who playfully ran around after a zebra that often joined the boys in the yard. Over the course of the weekend we spent at The Reserve, these beautiful creatures had free rein of the park outside our window – separated from the lodges by a small moat.

Our lodge was made up of a superking bed, a sofa (turned into a double bed for my four-year-old) and a travel cot. There was also a small kitchenette with a coffee machine and fully stocked mini bar fridge, and huge double wardrobes. There was a brand new (very snazzy) en suite complete with walk-in shower – and as we were in a premium lodge, we had a beautiful brass bath on the balcony (complete with privacy curtain) so we could enjoy a bubble bath with Manu and Stan mooching around.

Food and drink

As part of the Savannah Adventurer package – which is a one-night stay – the meals included at The Reserve were breakfast and a three-course dinner, both at the exclusive onsite Amboseli Restaurant. Dinner was a more formal affair with three courses to choose from. Focaccia or a sharing platter was the starter choice during our stay – we went for the sharing platter for research purposes: padron peppers, chicken wings, halloumi fries and olives arrived on a board alongside a crisp glass of Chicken Wine (IYKYK). For main course we also opted for the sharing platter too: this time it was fillet steak with triple-cooked chips, mushrooms, perfectly cooked tenderstem broccoli  and a peppercorn sauce. Unfortunately, I had to skip pudding as my son (1) was nodding to sleep into his kids’ meal of fish goujons, chips and garden peas, so I merrily walked back to the lodge with my wine in one hand and the baby in the other while my husband and our daughter (4) enjoyed a trio of ice creams and (one of them had) a glass of red wine. 

The next morning, breakfast was more informal with a mixture of a continental buffet – with fresh fruit, cereals, pastries and yogurt all on offer – and a freshly cooked breakfast menu with the usual suspects: a full English, a veggie fry-up, avocado on toast, and eggs multiple ways. The perfect way to set yourself up for a day of exploring the zoo. 

For lunch we grabbed a couple of kids’ meals at the Jaguar Cafe – a ham roll, an organic juice box and a brownie – for roughly £7 each, and a coffee for each of us after a relatively large breakfast at The Reserve earlier. 

Getting out and about

The package includes a two-day extended-hours zoo pass, but what does that really mean? Well, when you arrive – once you’ve said hi to Manu and Stan – you can head straight into the thick of the zoo via the private entrance from The Reserve. In fact, you can come and go as you please for those two days. We did just this: pottered in and out of our exclusive area as and when we needed a break/the toilet/a nice quiet area to sit down. The zoo is vast: it spans 130 acres and boasts 500 different species of animal to boot. That also means it’s super popular and, as such, incredibly busy at times. It felt like a real coup to have an area to relax in when pushing two kids around when the hubbub got too much. 

On the second day of our stay we were primed and ready for the 10am entry to the park, having mapped out a POA over breakfast of which animals we’d like to see when it was less busy. We decided the new baby snow leopard was going to be our first stop, and the penguins our second. This was a great plan – although we didn’t get to see much more than the top of the cub’s head from 30ft away, doing so in the peace and quiet of the first 10 minutes of the park being open was perfection. Similarly, we had the complete run of the penguin pool which meant my kids could run around pretending to be penguins while we sat and mapped out our next move (it was the butterfly house, FYI). 

We avoided paying too much attention to The Heart Of Africa area during our stay – which is the area closest to The Reserve, so you have to walk through it to get ‘home’ – because we knew we had a private out-of-hours tour planned there during the evening. Again, we think this was a great idea. At 8pm on the night of our stay, Ranger Scott took a small group of us around the enclosure after it had been closed to the public for the day. Using a red torch when light was low, he gave us the most incredible, personalised tour of the animals with impressive insight and the opportunity to ask any (and all) questions we had. 

Need to know

There are three packages to choose from for a stay at The Reserve. 

The Savannah Explorer includes a one-night stay, exclusive out-of-hours morning Heart of Africa access, a two-day zoo visitor pass and campfire stories from Ranger Scott, Ranger Fraser and Ranger Bea. As part of this package there is a £25 dinner allocation per person.

The Savannah Adventurer package – which is what I reviewed – includes all the benefits of the Savannah Explorer plus an expert ranger-guided out-of-hours animal experience (the Heart of Africa safari and the giraffe keeper kitchen) and a three-course dining experience in the Amboseli Restaurant. It’s worth a note that we booked two nights of this package, but the standard package is just one night. 

The Savannah VIP package includes all the benefits of Savannah Adventurer plus two additional behind-the-scenes wildlife and conservation experiences – the giraffe wake-up experience where I believe you get to feed the giraffes, and the conservation-in-action experience – an exclusive peek behind the scenes, time in the lab offers an exciting opportunity to understand the live conservation projects, experiments and breeding work that contribute to Chester Zoo’s vital wildlife preservation and regeneration.

Itinerary 

Friday

We set off from our home in the Midlands at 11am to try and maximise nap time for my son as we drove; it was a 2hr 45 journey straight to the zoo and he only slept for 35 minutes of it, so that served us right for planning everything around him! 

Check-in is from 3pm and thanks to a few traffic stops outside Birmingham, we arrived at 2.30pm. Us being early wasn’t a problem for The Reserve staff who welcomed us as we drove up, helped us get all our clobber out of the car and – after check-in – escorted us to the bar for a drink while they confirmed if our room was ready. (With luck it was and we headed straight there.) 

A member of staff showed us to the room and our luggage followed moments later. We spent 30 minutes marvelling at the incredible view, having cold drinks and discussing who had which bed later. Then it was time to check out the zoo for an hour or two before dinner. There is a private entrance to the zoo which is manned by staff continuously. They are primed with maps and helpful knowledge of how to get to any enclosure you could think of (and the best spots for coffee, should you need a caffeine boost while you’re out). That afternoon we mooched up to the zoo’s main entrance, Amber spent her pocket money on a glitter face paint (£8) and Frank marvelled at the penguins before we headed back to The Reserve where enjoyed our first private experience from the package: The Giraffe Kitchen. 

At 6pm we met the Rangers at the Orientation Lodge and headed to the staff-only animal kitchen behind the giraffe enclosure. Fondly known as The Giraffe Barn, Ranger Esme taught a small group of us all about what giraffes eat, how they eat (rumination, don’t you know) and then we got the chance to create ‘enrichment’ balls for the herd’s breakfast – a hands-on activity everyone loved. By the end of the hour the sun was setting and it was time for dinner. 

This was when we enjoyed a three-course meal as part of our chosen overnight package. As described earlier my husband and I chose the sharing platters  and the kids chose fish, chips and garden peas. Everyone was so tired from a hectic day of travelling and running around the zoo at high speed, we called it a night at 8.30pm and took a glass of Rioja to the balcony for a sundowner while the kids slept. 

Saturday

I can’t promise this as part of the package but I am thrilled to say after a full night of sleep with not one wake-up from either child (unheard of) we woke up to the most beautiful sunrise over the giraffe yard. Manu and Stanley watched on as we had a cup of tea in bed, all four of us mesmerised by the view.

Breakfast is served from 7.30 at the Amboseli restaurant and provides freshly-cooked hot breakfasts for those hankering for a fry-up, or a lighter continental feast with a plethora of fresh fruit, yogurt, pastries and cereal to choose from. After a cappucino and an oranais du apricot, at 10am on the dot we pottered to the private entrance to the park and headed up to the snow leopard enclosure while the park was almost empty. It was great to be in the thick of the surroundings of the zoo without the hoards of people we’d experienced the night before at the Afterglow carnival.

The zoo is divided into coloured zones and despite having 72 years of worldly experience between us, my husband and I repeatedly got lost. The good news is there’s an amazing app that helpfully points out spots like coffee shops, toy vendors and toilets. Don’t miss the butterfly enclosure: it’s one of the most beautiful, tranquil places I’ve walked through all year. Top tip: don’t wear a jumper, you’ll pack in your steps and the heated environments are hot, hot, hot (especially the orangutan house!!).

We spent all morning at the zoo with a quick stop-off at The Reserve for a nappy change and a cold drink in the early afternoon before heading back to the Afterglow carnival. You have to buy tokens for the rides at the zoo – and the queue for tokens can often be long. My advice is to buy in bulk and keep them in your purse for the weekend. We bought four tokens at £4 each which meant three rides on the carousel, and one on the baby carousel for Frank. We also had a crack at Hook A Duck; this was an additional cost but worth it for 10 minutes of peace and another cuddly toy gained.

That evening we pottered back to The Reserve for an earlier dinner (5.30pm) which was a buffet-style BBQ with sizzling king prawns, fillet steak, two types of sausage, corn-on-the-cob and a selection of salads. After enjoying our dinner we took a plate of fresh fruit to the seating outside and Ranger Fraser hosted camp fire stories for the kids (6.30pm). Telling us the history of the Maasi tribe and the olympics, he used props to engage the children (of all ages) with the storytelling. It was a really lovely moment of calm before we headed back into the zoo (8pm) for our exclusive Ranger-guided safari tour of The Heart Of Africa. Ranger Scott guided a small group of us around the enclosure from the rock hyrax to the African wild dogs: it was a special hour to spend getting the VIP treatment. The zoo’s pangolin puppet even made a surprise appearance, which thrilled everyone.

As the sun set on another fabulous day, we headed off to put the kids to bed at around 9.15pm before talking through our day with Manu and Stanley once again.

Sunday

Amber excitedly opened the curtains to another beautiful morning on the giraffe yard at 7am. Because we missed bath time the night before, everyone agreed a nice morning bath in the company of the giraffes was a good idea. The kids had the most bubbly bath, splashing around outside while the giraffes watched on, before we headed down for an earlier breakfast (8am).

We had access to the zoo again this morning but rather than head into the park and have to tear our kids out mid-excitement, we chose to spend time in our room observing our very own animal display and gently packing up for the trip home. We checked out about 10.30am – check out is 11am – Amber said goodbye to her favourite barwoman, Liz – who perfected the art of non alcoholic cocktails for my four-year-old – and the car was brought to the doors for us. As we drove away from The Reserve we all agreed it truly felt like the trip of a lifetime, and everyone I’ve told about it since has googled the opening. 

Cost breakdown

Savannah Explorer: From £492.50 per night, based on 2 adults sharing a Lakeside Lodge and staying Wednesday 17th September

Savannah Adventurer: From £611 per night, based on 2 adults sharing a Lakeside Lodge and staying Wednesday 17th September

Savannah VIP package: From £1,488.62 for 2 nights, based on 2 adults sharing a Giraffe VIP Lodge, Tuesday 16th-18th Dec (no availability earlier)

The Reserve at Chester Zoo is open for stays from 18 August 2025. To find out more or to book your stay, visit: thereservechesterzoo.com