Budapest’s menageries are popular attractions by day, and even after sundown. On August 31st, the annual Night of the Zoos event offers unique tours around Budapest Zoo, as well as Budakeszi Zoo and Tropicarium on the city outskirts. As evening turns to night, special events feature, including guided walks and show feeding. A combined ticket also grants admission to all participating sites for regular daytime visits that weekend, price 4,200 forints. Admission can be bought for individual sites, too.

Once the regular daytime hours finish, historic Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden reopens at 7pm for the nocturnal event and welcomes visitors until midnight, last admission 11pm. Activities take place at dozens of venues across this City Park establishment, including the seal pool, the elephant house and the butterfly garden. Snake watching and an arthropod show also feature.

Meanwhile, the recently opened Holnemvolt Vár (Once Upon a Time Castle) within the menagerie awaits with more kiddie-friendly attractions. Admission to the Zoo costs 3,800 forints, 2,800 forints for children under 14.

Found just beyond Budapest’s city limits, Budakeszi Wildlife Park stretches across a bucolic woodland that provides natural habitat to all kinds of animals native to Hungary and the Carpathian Basin. After sundown, an evening tour gives an insight into the nighttime activities of foxes, lynxes and jackals. Gates open at 7pm, and the last tickets are sold at 10pm. Visitors are requested to leave the parkland by 11pm.

Watching snakes and alligators being fed at the Tropicarium might be worth the 30-minute bus ride from Bikás Park or Kelenföld alone. Rays, lizards, rare birds and piranhas can also be spotted within this exotic establishment. For the Night of the Zoos event, gates open at 8pm and Tropicarium welcomes visitors until midnight. Alligator feeding is at 9:30pm, followed by snake feeding at 10pm.