ZooParc de Beauval

Beauval is less a loop than a series of separate worlds – the tropical greenhouses, the Dome Equatorial, Les Roches Vives, and Le Nuage de Beauval, the cable car that crosses the park overhead. Decide before you arrive which of them your children actually want, because the site is big and some alleys climb sharply; the park says most of it is accessible to visitors with reduced mobility apart from those steepest paths, and wheelchairs can be reserved by phone. Guide dogs and assistance dogs are admitted.

Food works better with a plan. Picnicking happens outside the park rather than among the enclosures, the catering points have microwaves for warming a small child’s meal, and rigid cool boxes and shopping bags of packaged food are turned away at the gate. Once you have your ticket you can leave and come back with an exit stamp, so a quiet hour at the car is not a lost day.

Heat is the one thing to weigh. Shaded alleys and misting sprayers make a hot afternoon walkable – but in the same conditions some animals move into their indoor spaces, so the warmest day is not always the best viewing day.