Jen’s note: Fab Fave Friday is a recurring feature in which I highlight some of my favorite things — in all sorts of categories. Today’s category is San Diego tourist attractions.

In addition to being classy (obviously), San Diego is a major tourist destination. The weather here is basically perfect year-round, the beaches are gorgeous, and there is tons of stuff to do. Some of it is awesome, some of it is lame, but my favorite is the San Diego Zoo.

You may be thinking, “Really? A zoo?” but this isn’t an ordinary zoo.The San Diego Zoo is world-famous for a reason.

There are many things to love about the San Diego Zoo, including the important conservation work they do and the fact that it is HUGE (100 acres) and has just about every animal you can imagine. But it is also laid out and landscaped in a visually interesting way, so you (and the animals) feel more like you are in their natural habitats. Obviously there are pens and fences — you don’t want lions and tigers and bears roaming the streets of San Diego — but they generally incorporate them in a non-obtrusive way.

Because of the size, there are lots of animals that you don’t see at every zoo: Camels with two humps, reindeer, koalas, sun bears, Tasmanian devils, and, of course, PANDAS.

The pandas are super popular — they’re like the zoo’s quarterback and head cheerleader — so you do have to stand in line to see them, and you can’t stand in front of them for an hour. But they have the whole thing organized so you see other animals, like red pandas, while standing in line, so it’s not boring.

There are plenty of other “normal” zoo animals, too, and the zoo employees do different presentations throughout the day so you can learn more about them or even see them getting fed. They also have special programs you can pay extra for, such as feeding the giraffes or being the first to see the pandas in the morning.

You definitely need to wear comfortable walking shoes when you go to the zoo, because even though there is a (free) bus and a (terrifying) aerial gondola thing to help you get around, you will likely end up walking a lot, and the terrain is not flat.

Of course, the biggest reason I like this zoo better than the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park (which is also a fantastic place to visit), is that they have polar bears. I love polar bears. Especially when they do backflips.

And, as you can see, they have a big plastic wall separating the tourists from the bears, so you can get really close to them. They are amazing.

Find out more about the San Diego Zoo on their webpage, or just watch the polar bears, pandas, tigers or koalas chill out.

Linking up with Style Elixir