Omaha's Zoo Is #1 in America Again: A Warm-Weather Escape for Winter Break

If you grew up around here, you probably measure your childhood in zoo trips. And now it's official, again: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium has been named the number one zoo in America for 2026 in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards. That's the fourth year running. The same national vote also crowned the zoo's membership the best in the country and named the Desert Dome the best single zoo exhibit anywhere. Not bad for a place tucked off South 10th Street.

Most folks think of the zoo as a summer thing. Sunscreen, a stroller, a melting snow cone by the sea lions. But here's the quiet secret every local family should know: the Henry Doorly Zoo might be the single best cold-weather outing in the metro. A huge chunk of it is indoors, climate-controlled, and genuinely warm. When the wind is howling down the Missouri River and the kids have been cooped up over holiday break, you can walk into a rainforest and forget it's January.

Start with that award-winning Desert Dome. Under the big geodesic glass roof sits the world's largest indoor desert, dry and toasty, with rock cliffs, sand dunes, and critters from three continents. Then take the ramp down and you're in Kingdoms of the Night, the world's largest nocturnal exhibit, a dim indoor swamp full of bats, gators, and things that rustle in the dark. Kids love how spooky-but-safe it feels. There's no bad weather down there, ever.

The Lied Jungle is the one that really sells winter. It's an indoor rainforest under one roof, warm and humid, with waterfalls, monkeys, and a canopy trail. You'll shed your coat five minutes in. Next door, the Suzanne and Walter Scott Aquarium walks you through a glass tunnel while sharks and rays glide overhead, then drops you into a penguin room that, fittingly, is the one place that's supposed to feel cold. Add the Berniece Grewcock Butterfly and Insect Pavilion, Hubbard Gorilla Valley, and the orangutan forest, and you've got hours of indoor wandering before anyone asks to leave.

The newest big addition worth planning around is Asian Highlands. It's an eight-acre stretch built to feel like a climb through the mountains of central Asia, and it's home to Amur tigers, snow leopards, Indian rhinos, and red pandas. These are cold-climate animals, so a crisp winter day is actually when they're at their liveliest, prowling and playing instead of napping in the shade. If your kids have only ever seen a sleepy summer tiger, a winter visit is a whole different show.

A word to the wise for a holiday-break trip: mornings are your friend. Come right at opening, hit the indoor exhibits first while everyone's fresh, and you'll have the Desert Dome nearly to yourself. Pack layers you can peel off, because you'll go from a chilly walkway to a steamy jungle and back again in the same hour. And build in a warm-up lunch indoors so the little ones can reset. Hours shift with the season, so check the official site before you load the van.

Here's the other angle, and it's a good one for this time of year. That number-one-in-America membership makes a genuinely thoughtful Christmas gift. A family membership pays for itself in about two visits, gets you in free all year, and gives grandparents a way to bless the grandkids with time together instead of one more plastic toy. Tuck the card in a stocking, and you've handed your family a hundred future afternoons. In a season that can get loud and expensive, that's a gift that keeps pointing everyone back to each other.

There's something steadying about a place like this in the dead of winter. The world outside is gray and frozen, and inside you're standing under a waterfall watching your four-year-old press her nose to the glass. It's a small reminder of how wide and wonderful creation is, and of how much of it we get to enjoy right here without leaving town. Omaha has quietly built one of the finest zoos on the planet, and the rest of the country keeps noticing.

So when the break hits and the house feels small, point the family toward South Omaha. Bundle up for the walk from the parking lot, then let the tropics and the desert do the rest.

Plan your visit, check current hours and prices, and grab a membership at the zoo's official site: omahazoo.com.

Details are accurate as of August 2026. Hours, prices, exhibit availability, and membership options change, so please confirm at omahazoo.com before you go.