Ranked among the nation’s best, the Woodland Park Zoo (601 N. 59th St., 206/684-4800, www.zoo.org, 9:30 a.m.–4 p.m. daily Oct.–Apr., 9:30 a.m.–6 p.m. daily May–Sept., $15 adults, $13 seniors, $10 ages 3–12, free 2 and under, parking $4.50) has re-created wildlife habitats from around the world.

The nocturnal house is home to bats, sloths, and other creatures of the night. Woodland Park Zoo also has a tropical Asian habitat and elephant forest where you can watch daily elephant logging demonstrations during the summer, and a Northern Trail section that leads past brown bears, river otters, bald eagles, mountain goats, gray wolves, and snowy owls, all in a relatively realistic setting (even the plants are native to Alaska).

Bug World reveals the secret lives of singing katydids, Brazilian cockroaches, New Guinea walkingsticks, and assassin bugs. Raptor demonstrations are given on summer weekends, and the big field in the middle is a good place for a lunch break.

The newest exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo is African village, where you enjoy music, dancing, and storytelling while watching animals from the African savanna.

Next to the Woodland Park Zoo is the Woodland Park Rose Garden (206/684-4880) with hundreds of rose varieties spread over two acres.