Henry Vilas Zoo sits at the edge of Lake Wingra, adjacent to the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, and has been free to enter since it opened in 1911 — a condition built into the original land donation that the city still honours. It is one of fewer than ten free, accredited zoos left in North America, which makes it a genuinely unusual place.
The zoo is small enough to see in a few hours and holds a good range of animals: big cats, bears, primates, Australian animals, and a popular polar bear exhibit. It draws more than 750,000 visitors annually, which means summer weekends get busy, but weekday mornings are pleasantly quiet. The adjacent Vilas Park has a beach on Lake Wingra and is a nice spot for a picnic.
The zoo is in the Vilas neighbourhood, about two miles west of the Capitol and two miles south of the UW campus.