Zoo Berlin

Opened in 1844, Zoo Berlin is the oldest zoo in Germany and, by species count, one of the most diverse zoos anywhere in the world, holding roughly 20,000 animals across some 1,400 species on a compact, park-like site right in the middle of the city rather than on the outskirts. Its central location — a direct legacy of the zoo predating most of Berlin's westward urban expansion — makes it unusually easy to combine with other western Berlin sights in a single day.

The Elephant Gate, a colourful pagoda-roofed entrance flanked by two life-size elephant sculptures, is one of Berlin's most recognisable minor landmarks in its own right; the current structure is a faithful 1984 replica of the original 1899 gate, destroyed in WWII bombing along with roughly 90% of the zoo's animal population and most of its enclosures — a devastation from which the zoo spent decades rebuilding.