BestAquariums
The public aquariums worth a detour — the vast ocean halls built around whale sharks and open-water tanks, and the smaller institutions doing the serious breeding and conservation work. Feeding and diver-talk times are usually the difference between a good visit and a great one, and they are published daily rather than fixed.
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
Darling Harbour, Sydney
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A major public aquarium on Sydney's waterfront, known for its underwater tunnels and dugongs, showcasing marine life drawn largely from Australian waters including the Great Barrier Reef.
Oceanário de Aracaju
Orla de Atalaia, Aracaju
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A coastal aquarium on the Atalaia beachfront run in partnership with Projeto TAMAR, Brazil’s national sea-turtle programme, with tanks covering the reef, mangrove and open-ocean habitats of the Sergipe coast.
Ripley's Aquarium of Canada
Downtown Toronto (beside the CN Tower)
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A large downtown aquarium next to the CN Tower whose signature attraction is a long moving walkway that carries visitors through a tunnel surrounded by sharks and other predators.
Vancouver Aquarium
Stanley Park, Vancouver
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Located in Stanley Park, this is one of Canada's oldest and largest aquariums, long recognized as a center for marine research, conservation, and public education about ocean life.
Shanghai Ocean Aquarium
Pudong, Shanghai
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Set in the Pudong district near the Oriental Pearl Tower, it is organized around regional zones and features one of the world's longest underwater viewing tunnels.
Den Blå Planet
Kastrup, Copenhagen
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Denmark's national aquarium, whose distinctive whirlpool-shaped building near Copenhagen's airport houses freshwater and marine exhibits ranging from Amazon rivers to open-ocean tanks.
Ozeaneum
Old Town Harbour, Stralsund
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
Tempozan Harbour Village, Osaka
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One of Japan's largest aquariums, arranged so visitors spiral downward around a central Pacific Ocean tank, recreating the marine habitats of the Ring of Fire.
Atlanterhavsparken
Tueneset, Ålesund
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Norway's largest aquarium sits on a rocky peninsula outside Ålesund with tanks fed directly by Atlantic seawater, and outdoor areas for penguins and seals alongside deep-sea Atlantic exhibits.
Oceanário de Lisboa
Parque das Nações, Lisbon
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Built for the 1998 World Expo in Lisbon's riverside Parque das Nações, it centers on a single enormous ocean tank surrounded by habitats representing the world's oceans.
S.E.A. Aquarium
Resorts World Sentosa, Sentosa Island
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Part of the Resorts World Sentosa complex, this large aquarium is built around a vast open-ocean habitat viewed through one of the world's biggest acrylic windows.
Two Oceans Aquarium
V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
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On Cape Town's V&A Waterfront, it showcases the marine life where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, with a large predator exhibit and a strong conservation focus.
L'Aquàrium de Barcelona
Port Vell, Barcelona
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Located in the Port Vell marina, it focuses on Mediterranean marine life and is best known for a long glass tunnel that lets visitors walk beneath sharks and rays.
SEA LIFE Bangkok Ocean World
Siam Paragon, Bangkok
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One of Southeast Asia's largest aquariums, occupying the basement levels of the Siam Paragon mall, with diverse marine zones and experiences including shark dives and a glass-bottom boat ride.
Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo
The Dubai Mall, Downtown Dubai
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Set inside The Dubai Mall, its giant viewing panel and walk-through tunnel display thousands of aquatic animals, with a paired underwater zoo housing additional species above.
SEA LIFE London Aquarium
County Hall, South Bank, London
Georgia Aquarium
Atlanta, Georgia
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One of the largest aquariums in the world, it is among the few outside Asia to keep whale sharks, housed in a massive tank alongside manta rays and other open-ocean species.
Shedd Aquarium
Museum Campus, Chicago, Illinois
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A landmark on Chicago's lakefront Museum Campus, this historic aquarium houses a wide range of freshwater and marine species, including a large oceanarium for marine mammals.
New England Aquarium
Central Wharf, Boston, Massachusetts
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A waterfront institution on Boston Harbor built around a four-story cylindrical coral reef tank, one of the oldest and most recognized aquariums in the United States and a model for urban marine education.
Birch Aquarium at Scripps
La Jolla, California
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Perched on a bluff above the Pacific at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, it blends research and public education with exhibits focused on Pacific Ocean and California coastal habitats.
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