Try to find a better bathroom, I dare you. The best bathroom in the world is arguably the one at the Nashville Zoo. My teenagers and I stopped by the Nashville zoo on a recent trip to the area and it was a cold and chilly day so we even ended up with a “cold weather discount” but I didn’t realize that this zoo might be reciprocal with the Woodland Park Zoo where we’re members so we might have been able to get a 50% off discount too. But as we checked in we talked to the person at the check-in counter and I asked her what we should see because we didn’t have a whole lot of time. And then she said:
Do you have any boys with you? Make sure they check out the bathroom at the Nashville Zoo Entrance
The bathroom? Yes, she said. There are snakes above the urinals.
How about the women’s bathroom?
The women’s is even better. You have to go to where the bears are in the zoo for that bathroom.
So as I paid for the tickets to go into the Nashville Zoo, my guys went to the bathroom.
And yes, there were snakes above the urinal.
And we found out that the rest of the zoo is pretty incredible too.
Did you know the Nashville Zoo has an area with free roaming kangaroos?
We haven’t seen kangaroos up close like this since our Australia trip years ago. I thought we would have to pay extra for an experience like this but you can wander through the kangaroo habitat and they come up to you and we were told that we could even touch them.
We also loved the tiger habitat-even the architecture in that area was pretty phenomenal. And we watched as a young gibbon put on a show that drew a crowd and we all stood in awe for a while mesmerized by his incredible swinging. Even the gibbon’s parents were out and about watching him fly through the air.
And then the best bathroom in the world?
I found the bathrooms near the bear exhibit and my guys waited for me outside. I might have stayed there all day. There are teeny tiny Tamarin monkeys in the women’s bathroom. And I would have missed them if I wasn’t told by the person at the ticket booth. Who ever would have thought the best bathroom in the world would be at the Nashville Zoo?
(PS. this zoo is an AZA-accredited facility which means it helps with international conservation too. )
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
Wow! What a fantastic hidden gem.