Sharks overhead, penguins at eye level, and a ticket that costs less than lunch.
Which aquariums fill a whole day and which are a good hour out of the rain. What skip-the-line actually buys you at the gate. Whether the combo ticket beats two separate entries. Reviews of the tickets you can book today.
Which aquariums fill a whole day and which are a good hour out of the rain, and what skip-the-line really buys you at the gate.
Barcelona, Genoa, Atlanta, London: four tanks worth planning a day around.
The four aquarium tickets more travellers buy than any others on the site. What each costs at the gate, and what you get for the walk-through.
01The Mediterranean oneBarcelona Aquarium: Entry TicketA glass tunnel under the shark tank on the old harbour front. Book a morning slot; the afternoon is school groups.
02The one built into a shipGenoa: Aquarium of Genoa Entry TicketRenzo Piano put it on the quay and it still runs long. Dolphins, manatees and a seahorse room, three hours at a walk.
03The biggest tank in AmericaAtlanta: Georgia Aquarium Skip-the-Box-Office Entry TicketWhale sharks and manta rays in one ocean-sized window. Timed entry, and the early slots go first every day.
04The rainy London answerLondon: SEA LIFE Entry TicketUnder County Hall on the South Bank, twenty minutes from the Eye. Small, warm, and open when the weather is not.
American aquariums come in three sizes. Pick before you pay.
The biggest ocean tanks in the world are here, and so are the theme-park marine days and the harbour-front centres you finish in an hour. They are priced nothing like each other.
Plain entry, combo, or the whole theme-park day?
Almost every aquarium sells the same visit three ways. The plain entry is the floor. The combo pairs it with the wheel or the wax museum next door. The park ticket buys the rides too, and costs the difference.
Six countries that keep an aquarium worth crossing town for.
A shark tunnel under a shopping mall, a Renzo Piano building on a quay, a reef tank an hour from the actual reef, and the oldest public aquarium in Europe. Six starting points, and the best ticket in each.
Dubai keeps its ocean indoors, and charges accordingly.
A ten-million-litre tank behind the mall food court, an underwater zoo on the floor below it, and a full oceanarium up the road in Abu Dhabi. Book the combined ticket unless you only want the tunnel.
The aquarium tickets more people buy than any others.
Every aquarium review →One tank in Barcelona shifts more tickets than most countries on this site. Here is what the queue knows.
1
Barcelona Aquarium: Entry Ticket
Visit L’Aquàrium de Barcelona in Port Vell for more than 80 Mediterranean and tropical aquariums, an 80-metre shark tunnel, Planeta Aqua, mangrove exhibits, and the Journey to the Depths digital room. Allow about two to three hours, especially with children.
From · $34
Read our review →
2
Genoa: Aquarium of Genoa Entry Ticket
from $35
3
Dubai: Aquarium and Underwater Zoo Experience
from $56
4
Atlantis Aquaventure Ticket (with options for Aquarium), Dubai
from $89
5
Atlanta: Georgia Aquarium Skip-the-Box-Office Entry Ticket
from $64
6
London: SEA LIFE Entry Ticket
from $37
7
Mallorca: Palma Aquarium Entry Ticket w/ Optional 3D Cinema
from $36
8
London: Madame Tussauds, London Eye & SEA LIFE Combo Ticket
from $72
What a walk round an aquarium actually costs.
Every ticket on the site, grouped by price. A surprising number of the best tanks come in under the price of a cinema seat.
Municipal aquariums, seaside Sea Life centres and the small harbour tanks. An hour or two, well spent.
The named ones: Barcelona, Genoa, Lisbon, Atlanta. Half a day, and usually a tunnel.
Marine parks with rides and shows, the Gulf oceanariums, and the encounters that put you in the water.
Three things an aquarium lets you do that a tank never can.
Anyone can walk the tunnel. These are the extras that sell out first: a keeper handing you a bucket, a turtle at arm’s length, and a cage with a shark on the other side of it.
Penguin Encounters
A keeper takes six people at a time behind the viewing glass, onto the rock at the back of the enclosure. You get a bucket of fish, a briefing on which bird bites, and about twenty minutes before the next group. Slots are capped by law in most countries, which is why they close weeks out in school holidays.
- 1Dubai Mall Aquarium & Underwater Zoo with Penguin Cove Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 77 reviews
- 2Burj Khalifa, Dubai Aquarium & UWZ with Penguin Cove Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 63 reviews
- 3Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo with Penguin Cove★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 40 reviews
Turtle Encounters
Green and hawksbill turtles in rehab tanks, usually rescues with a boat strike or a hook injury behind them. The good sessions put you on the service walkway above the water with lettuce on a pole and a vet explaining the scars. The weak ones are a viewing window with a talk.
- 1Zanzibar: Nungwi Turtle Aquarium Guided Half-Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 197 reviews
- 2Cairns: Aquarium Entry Ticket and Turtle Rehabilitation Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 89 reviews
- 3Zanzibar: Swim with Sea Turtles at Baraka or Salaam Aquarium★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 65 reviews
Shark Encounters
Two versions exist and they cost very different money. One is a cage in the main tank with a regulator and a wetsuit. The other is a walk-in reef pool with nurse sharks and rays, no cage and no certification, which is the one most families actually want.
- 1Las Vegas: Shark Reef Aquarium Entry Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 892 reviews
- 2Ripley’s Aquarium: Sharks After Dark Entry (After 5PM)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 401 reviews
- 3Porto Moniz: Diving with Sharks and Rays in Madeira Aquarium★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 192 reviews
Timed slots, feeding times and the queue at eleven.
Aquariums run on a clock the ticket page rarely mentions. Entry is slotted and capped at the big ones, the feeds and dive shows are on a fixed timetable, and every rainy morning in a beach town ends in the same building at about eleven. Book a slot, arrive for a feed, and skip the middle of the day.
Four aquarium tickets that will not wait for you.
Most tanks will sell you a ticket at the door on a wet Tuesday. These four run on capped slots, capped groups and a school-holiday calendar that takes no interest in your flight.
- 01Atlanta: Georgia Aquarium Skip-the-Box-Office Entry TicketEntry runs in timed slots with a cap on each one, and the early ones go first every day of the year.
- 02Barcelona Aquarium: Entry TicketThe busiest tank on this site. Buy the slot before you fly and walk past the box-office queue on the Moll d’Espanya.
- 03Cancun: Interactive Aquarium – Swim with Dolphins SplashGroup sizes are capped by the pool, not by demand. A single session takes a handful of people and the day sells out.
- 04Dubai Mall Aquarium & Underwater Zoo with Penguin Cove TicketsKeeper sessions run a few times a day for six or eight people. There is no standby line for one.
By city — where the doors are
The newest aquarium tickets we have been through.
More tanks just added →
Zanzibar: Nungwi Mnarani Aquarium Feed and Swim with Turtles
Read our review →
Zanzibar: Jozani Forest, Kuza Cave & Salaam Cave Aquarium
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Zanzibar: Horseback Riding and Turtle Aquarium Visit
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ZANZIBAR: Mnemba island, Baraka aquarium and spice farm
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From Orlando: Clearwater Beach and Marine Aquarium Admission
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Veracruz: 5-Attraction Tour with Aquarium and Boat Tour
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Veracruz: Panoramic Sightseeing City Tour and Aquarium
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Movie World, Sea World, & Wet’n’Wild Multi Park 1-Day Pass
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Baraka Aquarium and Dolphin Sightseeing with Sunset Cruise
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Full Day Private Mnemba Island + Turtles Aquarium & Kendwa Beach
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Tokyo Sumida Aquarium E-Ticket with Optional Tokyo Metro Pass
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