Aquàrium Barcelona

What a wonderful place this is. It's not huge, so you don't get tired or bored at a certain time. Halfway, there's a coffee shop, a little pricey but convenient. Their exhibits are amazing. I am so happy we were able to visit it again after 14 years.

Lovely trip to the aquarium! Arrived at 1700 and there was no wait to enter. There was a line for people buying tickets in-person, I ordered my tickets online as I walked to the aquarium and got 10% off my purchase so I would recommend buying tickets in advance on their website! The aquarium itself has a diverse variety, the frogs and the Picasso fish were highlights as well as the interactive stingray tank! The large wrap-around tunnel was also very cool!! This is a great place for kids and I highly recommend this as a visit for families and anyone looking to get out of the city for a bit.

Be sure to buy tickets in advance to avoid standing in line. Very beautiful aquariums and especially the tunnel aquarium on the lower floor. Amazing variety of fish, sharks, seahorses, jellyfish, etc. There are a lot of people and sometimes you have to stand in line to look at the aquarium (this was on a weekday)

Amazing staff, very nice! Everything is clean, and the dive with sharks was great. The woman who helped us get into water was the nicest and very passionate about her work. For tourists wondering: - There are some lockers available to put your stuff in, ~2€ each I think - You may use one ticket for the whole day, and therefore split the visit throughout the day

It’s a very nice activity if you have children. Lots of sea animals to see and in the end you can buy a picture you made in the beginning and play games. However, due to some construction work, there were some things that I couldn’t see. I have expected more from this aquarium for the price, but the experience was nice.

Visited on a rainy Tuesday which happened to also be a popular field trip day. There is a fair bit of renovation happening currently, but what I did see was great! Huge variety of colorful fish, neat sharks, some penguins and I really liked the display format for the names of all the fish. My favorite feature was the tunnel!! There is a half tunnel and a full tunnel, both with a moving escalator feature which is great for crowd control. I would definitely book a ticket in advance if you are planning a visit. My only downside is I fish that had more jellyfish.

The kids totally loved it, but I wasn't too impressed given the price point. Way too expensive for what they offer. There is decent variety, but maybe the Vienna aquarium has set the bar too high for me. If the prices were at 20 or lower, it would have been a 5, but the competitors offer better variety. Anyway, the good things are the variety of species (apart from fish, some amphibians and penguins too) and the large tank that has overhead tunnels. Some of the expositions are too dark, the signs didn't work and you'd have to use your torch to see anything written. Also the interactive games and some design playground-like features are aslo cool and interesting for kids.

I went with my 3-year-old son, and he really enjoyed the place. It was busy; some of the smaller tanks were occupied by three people who stayed there indefinitely, preventing others from appreciating what was there. The shark fin exhibit was amazing.

Located in Port Vell, my friend and I only went here to pass some time. After all, there are aquariums everywhere and we were not sure this one had anything unique to offer. As it turned out, this place is actually regularly listed as one of the best in Europe and for good reason. The highlight of the aquarium is their Oceanarium - a massive tank of 4.5 million liters of water with a huge and diverse selection of sea life on display. And best of all, they also have a long and transparent shark tunnel that cuts through it. The Oceanarium was definitely a sight to behold.

They are currently under construction in a lot of areas of the aquarium so it would've been nice to have a reduced price. I've been in a dozen aquariums and this one did not have the WOW factor we were hoping for.

When in Barcelona , take a trip to aquarium it's offers many interactive activities such as diving in a tank among sharks and other sea creatures. That activity is sold out quick, I recommend try to get here early to purchase that "activity". Or you can purchase a bottle to feed baby koi fish! So adorable All the restrooms are clean often I seen the cleaning crew twice within 2 hrs and the cafe upstairs offers a good variety chips n fish , hamburgers, saladas fresh fruit and beverages. We love our visit here at L'Aquarium Barcelona. Todos aquí son muy amables!

The smallest aquarium I've seen. L'Aquàrium Barcelona has exhibits across two relatively small floors. The lower floor has around 20 tanks mostly filled with fish. There are some other types of animals like a single lobster, octopuses and sea urchins as well, but mostly fish. The biggest attraction here is perhaps the oceanarium, a 4.5 million liter tank filled with 4,000 organisms representing 80 different species. Lots more fish, including some sharks (yes, sharks are a species of fish). A moving walkway rotates slowly around the perimeter of the oceanarium, taking guests past a relaxing seascape. The second floor has penguins, eagle rays, jellyfish and more fish - a bit less content than the lower floor. Admission is €20 for adults and less for kids depending on age. We only came here because this place was included in our Barcelona Pass; otherwise the amount of content doesn't seem worth the cost of admission.

Don't let the low ratings scare you away, this is a very nice aquarium. Aquariums and zoos are expensive to maintain so I think the price, although high, is fair. It's not a huge aquarium but we were able to spend a couple of hours here and get out of the heat. We started out with the upstairs exhibits first but it's set up to start downstairs and work your way up. When you go downstairs they stop you for a quick picture and send you on your way. There was really no way to bypass this. The exhibits downstairs were the most crowded for some reason. They also have a moving belt around the shark tank which is very cool. If you don't want to stand on it there is a walkway on the outside. Upstairs there are some interactive areas for the kids and a cafeteria. We had a great time here. I'd definitely suggest eating outside if you can.

Honestly this place is just a dissapointment. Old, cramped, expensive... the tanks are old, visibility is low as a result of small spaces for both fish and people... Compared to most aquariums in the USA, this is far below average. For 22 euros per ticket and the amount of people they have...as well as the location this place should be gorgeous, but it isnt... Not worth your money or your time.

Terrible. This is small and overpriced. Yep, taking care of animals costs mlm money but this is dirty, crowded and expensive. And despite it being next to a ton of things in the harbor area you cannot leave and come back within the same day. Seems if they wanted to encourage tourism and experience of the water area you could come and go at your pleasure within the same day. Probably the worst aquarium I've been to.

This was my first time in Barcelona as a mom, so was fun to bring rock star baby to see the fish. I always get a giddy feeling in aquariums...reminds me of fun school trips and great weekends with my parents. As others mentioned, the aquarium is pretty small. The moving sidewalk, underwater tank display was cool and the penguins were fun as always. Baby really dug the upstairs play area. I took the L4 to Barceloneta. Easy. The aquarium is located at Port Vell. Great spot to walk around, sit, eat, drink and be merry.

A decent aquarium. High admission price is required to maintain the infrastructure. Animals seem well taken care of, but nothing really seemed differentiated. Not a bad place to go with kids, but would not go out of my way.

On our first day in Barcelona, we explored their aquarium. The price is pretty standard - $48ish for two adults. It opens at around 10AM and the size of it is fairly large. To me, it is like any aquarium but like all aquariums, they do not disappoint in dazzling me with their underwater creatures and fish. If that is something you love, then most definitely visit. Who cares what the ratings are like anyway right?

This aquarium is small, but the content is spectacular, and the animals seem healthy. We specifically enjoyed the tube and moving floor, and this was a nice change of scenery from museums.

A bit pricey for what it is, but interesting. Smallish aquarium focused on Mediterranean marine life, overrun with children during school hours

This aquarium is a lot better than many of the reviews might lead you to believe. We took our 10 year old there on our last day in Spain and are glad we did. It was much more enjoyable than another couple of hours at a museum or a long walk in the heat would've been. The sting ray tank has an interesting variety of rays. The shark tank is massive. There are octopus, which isn't something you see everywhere. And it's not so big that it requires a lot of time or becomes exhausting. There's easy access via the hop on and hop off double decker bus (I don't remember if it was the blue or red line), which was definitely worth the money, as it's an efficient and easy way to cover a large swath of Barcelona in one day.

Amaze aquarium. Very clean and well maintained. Buy your tickets online and skip the line.

Situated in the renovated port area, 10 minutes from the end of La Rambla, this claims to be one of Europe's largest aquariums. It makes for a good half day out for the kids if they are interested in wildlife, though it is undoubtedly expensive. To start with, the aquarium is fairly traditional - lots of tanks, mostly well displayed, with captions in Catalan, Spanish and English, and a strong conservation theme. (There's no need to buy the guide-book, so save yourself EUR3). These cover the various different types of marine environments, from rocky coasts to sandy bottoms, in both temperate and tropical waters. After about a dozen or so tanks, the main event is the huge sea tank which has two walk-through tunnels, equipped with moving walkways. These are seriously impressive (OK, not as big as the ones in Sydney, but as big as you'll find in Europe), with some large sharks, rays and a wide variety of other fish. For a separate fee you can dive with sharks, if you want to, at specified times. After that, there are some more tanks, including a good one of octopuses and with the largest lobster I've ever seen in captivity - he/she was over a metre long, including the antennae. On the next floor there's an activity area, with fresh water tanks (with piranhas), a large penguin tank with viewing platform, a lot of educational material, and a small but really interesting set of tanks containing jellyfish, spookily illuminated with UV light so their occupants glow in the dark. There is also a petting tank with rays and flatfish, though on our visit this was covered over. Also closed was the 'Explore!' area for kids, which contains more hands-on educational exhibits, like divers' costumes. Practicalities The main downer is the price - an eye-watering EUR17.50 for adults and EUR12.50 for children and EUR14.50 for people over 60 (2010 prices). Most of the facility has level/wheelchair access (via lifts and some long ramps to start with) and there is a non-moving walkway through the large tanks if you prefer. There is a self-service locker area to leave coats etc (EUR1 charge). Photography is allowed, but not flash. There's an expensive cafeteria and a good shop - lots of cuddly versions of the critters you've just seen, plus the usual assortment of fridge magnets, pens, key-rings and the like. On our visit, it was blissfully uncrowded, but I'm told in high summer (and school holidays) it can get packed, so judge your timings carefully.

It's not your Long Beach aquarium but hey we are in BCN so your gonna get there version. To me and my daughter it was fun and cool things to check out. It's just a pass thru and check out the fishes. There is even a little playground for the kids to explore. That was cool. FYI if you have your student ID they will give you a discount.

A decent aquarium. I've been a few times. Slightly underwhelming compared to the giant first room you walk into. Still some nice exhibits, slightly outdated decor but my very young son enjoys seeing the fish.

Wish we read reviews on this place before going. It was incredibly overpriced and ridiculously small. We came here because we had time to kill, but honestly should've just stayed along the pier since there was a summer concert shortly after we had entered. Not really worth it. Save your $$ and go elsewhere. Would recommend for kids though as there is a play area a lot of the kids there seemed to really enjoy.

Great for kids, but as a 20-something I enjoy aquariums too and this just didn't do it for me. Maybe aquariums in America are different but the fish here were very boring. The best part was feeding the koi fish, for 4€ you get to feed them (god knows what) and it's so fun and totally worth the money especially if you've never done that before which I haven't. There's also some very cool 180 degree tanks that go over your head that I'm sure you'll see if you google the place. But don't let that excite you, they are both FILLED from beginning to end with tourists. Impossible to even get a good photo.

So, I've kept tropical fish for years, so any time I have an opportunity to visit an aquarium, I jump at the chance. Barcelona aquarium is great fun - there are loads of tanks of different types of water / fish, and a huge shark tank - which had a treadmill thing to take you slowly round. Additionally, there's a penguin tank - we were lucky enough to see them being fed, which was great fun. There's lots of touchy feely exhibits for the kids, and a pretty large cafe. I think it was reasonably priced and we spent several hours here taking it all in. The only reason I'm giving this a 4 star, is because there was a very limited freshwater selection on display. But it was super for all sorts of marine fish, and some obscure seahorses and octopuses! The gift shop was also awesome!

Terrible aquarium, small, expensive, dirty , crowded. Don't waste your time. Finished the entire aquarium in 20 min and was not impressed at all. Plus they make you wait in line for 20 min at the beginning for a picture you don't want.

I feel I didn't get my 20€ worth. It's a decent size place and the exhibits were beautiful. But since Barcelona is a large city with lots of people, the place was packed. It was hard to see an exhibit between all the children, strollers, and clearly annoyed parents. Most the information was stuck on small placards which were hard to read. Some were only written in Catalan or Spanish. The food at the cafeteria was overpriced. This place would be a lot better if it tried to manage the flow of people better.

A little bit disappointed by this place. The treadmill around the sharks is cool but it"s the only good point. The aquarium is quite small, and quite expensive. Un peu déçue par l'endroit. Le tapis roulant autour du bassin où il y a les requins est cool mais c'est le seul point positif. Aquarium petit et pas super.

Enjoyable, if expensive aquarium by the harbor has a lot of great live exhibits and is fairly large so you won't feel ripped off. Great fish tanks and a really great underwater shark tunnel. It's €18 to get in but it was a lot of fun.

I have mixed emotions about aquariums. But, if they heighten awareness about ocean and reef preservation, I'm probably more for than against them. L'Aquàrium Barcelona is a bit small and perhaps a bit pricy at €20 but I enjoyed it and I recommend a visit. It's at the marina at Playa Barceloneta. Very easy to find and even walk to from the city.

2 kids enjoyed but very small nothing really that exciting my kids love to feed koi fish, but when you have seen some really cool one back in Atlanta

It was ok. Way smaller than expected. Priced normal for an aquarium. It had a few highlights that used the limited collection well. Many of the hands-on activities were broken or unusable. I really enjoy aquariums and my son had a nice time. For 20 euros a person, on a blistering July day... Worked for me.

This place is one of the smaller aquariums I've been too. Yet even so, it makes good use of it's space. There are informative panels above each tank in three languages (happily one was english). With these, there was a lot more information then most aquariums have. However, there are no 'big exhibits' like many aquariums have where you can see divers or shows. It's all smaller sized tanks. There's a path through the aquarium that takes you by each exhibit individually with the final one a moving path that sort of tunnels through the main tank where you can watch fishes and sharks and what not swim above you and by your side. Try to go on off times (early or late). When I went there were a couple of really loud groups of younger kids.

This Is One of the most important and beautiful aquariums in all of Europe. I was impressed with the large selection of different species of fishes. It seemed very well maintained, no evidence of sickness and all enclosures had very high quality clarity of water. The Large Shark Tank was very impressive along with the underwater tunnel that goes through it. They also had Penguins which was a very refreshing way to end our tour. I highly recommend you visit , it was worth it and at the same time entertaining to see.

I was expecting something better for the price i paid. A 30 minutes visit for ~19 € is expensive. The aquarium itself is not really interesting, small and it was disappointing. But what disappointed me the most was the following thing: the guy selling the tickets was talking to us in spanish despite the fact we were talking in english and almost scammed us with the guide thing. He was charging us extra fees and was insisting. After our complaint to her co-worker, he lied and told her it wasn't true... Very professional isn't it? To make it short, don't go there. There are a lot of way better aquariums around the world.

Great place for families and children. Not so great for adults on their own. Don't stand in line for tickets. Instead, go online to their site and buy tickets on your phone.

My 5 year old and I had a lot of fun visiting this aquarium. She wanted to return the next day. Yes, it's pricey but caring for so many animals is expensive. It is on the smaller side but that's not such a bad thing when visiting with little ones. We really enjoyed walking under the sharks in the big tank and my kiddo most loved feeding the koi and exploring the submarine. Great way to break up the visits to cathedrals and art museums when traveling with little ones.

We heard good things about this aquarium so we went for a look. A bit on the pricy side for us, but perhaps not so for Europeans. It is hard to impress us with aquariums due to the very large and elaborate facilities we have access to back in North America, but this one seemed OK. We did see our first Sunfish, which is a truly bizarre creature, so I guess t was worthwhile.

Decent aquarium for a toddler-- we enjoyed the shark exhibit but was sorry we missed the ray and penguin feeding!

I was so looking forward to visiting L'Aquàrium Barcelona on our trip. I had read that it's one of the biggest aquarium's in Europe and from the outside it looks huge. Overall though I was pretty disappointed. Inside is pretty small and for 20€ per person it's pretty pricey for what it is. The main attraction is a huge tank that takes you through a people mover in a glass tunnel. They have lots of sharks and a nice variety of marine life. Unfortunately that's about it. You can go through the entire aquarium in about an hour. That's with walking slow, taking lots of photos, and even visiting the gift shop. When we went the place was full of tons of screaming kids on school field trips, that got annoying quick. If you've been to the Monterey Bay aquarium or the Georgia aquarium this place will be a massive disappointment.

Don't waste your time or money on this. Especially if you have been to other nicer aquariums in the world. Not much here. Go do something more interesting. My companion is a sea life lover and she felt the same.

A good standard aquarium with a good array of fish and a massive underwater tunnel complete with travellator to move you around. If you're not a fan of sea-life and have not enjoyed aquariums before then it doesn't really hold anything new to wow you except maybe the Penguins - I never realised just how amazing they are until I saw them swimming underwater. Incredibly fast!! No flash photography is allowed (although that didn't seem to stop most people) and the tickets were around 15EUR

Very small aquarium. We saw the whole thing in about 30 min. The only cool thing was the underwater treadmill to see the sharks, but everything else is something I've seen before. Not worth 20 euro.

Definitely too expensive. The exhibits are all nice but there is only one room with approx 15 little aquariums and one big exhibit. All that takes about 20 min if you look at everything. 20 € is definetly too much for that. I expected a lot more that this!

2 HOUR LINE, TERRIBLE UNFRIENDLY SERVICE, PATHETIC AQUARIUM When we arrived, there was a ridiculously long line. (It is tourist season, so that's not so much of a surprise, but a line that takes maybe 30 minutes to get through in the US takes ~2 hours in Spain). Thinking ahead, I had purchased tickets online. But when I get to the information desk, I'm told by a very unfriendly woman that they would not honor my purchase since I had not printed the tickets out (there was no mention of the need to do so on the confirmation page. Who requires paper tickets these days anyway?) She gave us extremely poor directions to an internet cafe ("go that way for a little bit") where she said we had to go to print our tickets. I was able to find the cafe using my iPhone, but after 20+ minutes of walking we arrived to find it closed! Fantastic. We returned to the aquarium and I confronted the unfriendly woman asking to speak to her manager. She claimed that she was the manager, and even though she freely admitted that she had a printer in front of her and was fully capable of printing our tickets, she refused to do so. To my surprise she then began to yell at me, making a huge scene before storming off into some back room. What lovely customer service! If she was indeed the manager, I pity the poor employees working under her. We finally returned the next day with printed tickets in hand to what turned out to be a pathetic excuse for an aquarium. Perhaps I'm spoiled having the beautiful Monterrey Bay Aquarium so nearby to my hometown, but this was pretty poor by any measure. TL;DR: Barcelona is a beautiful city with much to explore. Save your time, sanity and money and avoid this place at all costs.

In a nutshell, I think that the Barcelona aquarium is overpriced for what it offers. The exhibits are standard, the museum space is fairly small, and there was nothing there that I can't see at our own world class aquarium here in Chicago. I think I was expecting more because this facility is listed as one of the biggest aquariums in Europe. I would skip this site, and spend your time and money elsewhere.

Total tourist trap. I can't believe I actually paid 20.fucking.dollars to walk around this sad excuse of an aquarium. When you first walk in, you'll notice the fish tanks are barely decorated to resemble a natural habitat and the fish seemed cramped swimming around in the cloudy water. As you continue your tour through to the next room, you quickly realize that it's going to take you all of 15, maybe 20 minutes for you to see everything this aquarium has to offer, it's that small...I think the gift shop and cafeteria combined are bigger than the space allocated for the 'aquarium'. Don't waste your time with this place.

I am not really sure what the other reviews are talking about. I thought that this was a rather nice aquarium for the price of admission. The price was 20€ and that's about 20$ in America. 20$ is about what aquariums are in America. I went there having looked at the other reviews that say it took them 30 minutes to walk through, and I was worried that it wouldn't be worth it. But I had so much fun looking at the small tanks with smaller fish and looking at the big shark tank with the moving walk way! I really advise you to go and it is very kid friendly! We did stop to have lunch in their cafeteria and it wasn't bad compared to other places I've been. Also they had signs in English and Spanish which was very helpful for me. I love fish and have been to a lot of aquariums and this one was one of the best. We also saw that you can go swimming with sharks,(for an extra fee of course) so we will come back and do that!

So pricey for such a small aquarium! I felt horrible looking at their fish collection, sharks, and etc because their tanks were so so so so tiny :-( They definitely lack variety and quality. I felt like I was at a big pet store. I definitely do NOT recommend anyone visiting this place while you are traveling at Barcelona.

The aquarium of Barcelona is said to be the biggest with mediterranean fish. Nevertheless, it is disappointingly small. I haven't been to many aquariums, but this one seemed very limited. The price is almost 20€, so see how that fits your budget and decide.

The aquarium isn't huge and endless, but it has a good amount of content. My favorite is the huge circular exhibit that guests just rotate around on a moving platform, where you can see all of the fish, sharks, etc swimming together. Also, they have penguins, which I don't think have anything to do with Mediterranean oceanography but is a great draw nonetheless. I got in for free on a group tour, but I think its a little on the pricey side for the average visitor, so weigh how much you love the sea before venturing there.

Great aquarium. Lots of areas to explore. However, the day we went, the childrenwere out of control! It was rainy & they were excited!

Apparently one of the largest aquariums in Europe and one of the main (surprisingly actually) one of Barcelona's main attractions, if you're in Barcelona for a good few days then I'd wholeheartedly recommend a visit here. It's situated on a new entertainment complex on the seafront next to Port Vell and pretty much dominated the area. Access is by a new walkway bridge from the Port. It is, unsurprisingly, not that cheap with tickets for adults at EUR14.80 although kids under 4 go free but if you do get to see a lot of fish for you buck here. After a good run through all the delicate and colourful fish in the smaller tanks (and the odd jellyfish) such as the camouflage fish (it possibly isn't really called that) - my personal favourite, you're eventually led out to the main tank on a circular travelator. It is here that most impresses - there are a good selection of huge sharks which swim right over your head - our kids where in awe. Alongside these are stingrays and what's best described as a floating head fish (literally look as though the head had been separated from the body) - I'll have to look up the name of these ones as they were pretty fascinating. Following the walk around the various aquariums you can enter an activity area and information section. This section alone kills another hour so I'd say well worth the money. Here you'll find slides and apparatus where the kids can just about interact with the fish and following on from here there is a penguin enclosurenot quite sure they should be kept indoors but perhaps they had outdoor access I couldn't see. This is part of the museum segment of the aquarium. All in all terrific value for money.

really enjoyed this trip. Amazing sea life, i saw fish i never new existed.

i went here a coule of years ago with my family and we were bored out of our brains. on a hot day the place was packed and you are shuffled around the exibits, praying to get out. It has all the usual stuff - nothing new or different than you would see at any other Seaworld. the place is over priced and was a serious let down. i advise you not to go unless there is nothing else left to do! Staff not terribly friendly either and not brilliant if you have a pushchair or very young children as they won't last 5 minutes.