Fodor's Expert Review Henry Vilas Zoo

Tucked into the residential Lake Wingra and Vilas Park neighborhoods, the zoo is supported by a local zoological society and completely free to enter. It's a favorite spot for Madisonians, particularly families with young kids. Although it's a small zoo at 28 acres, it has a nice representation of animal life as well as a children's zoo, penguin exhibit, tropical-rain-forest aviary, primate complex, and large-cat center. Bison, prairie dogs, and badgers reside among prairie grass in the George Fait North American Prairie exhibit, which visitors enter via a boardwalk. Within the zoo's Discovery Center are hands-on learning stations especially suited to children.