Cairns Aquarium

Credit in spades to all the staff at the Aquarium. The organised talks once you enter are fantastic to understand the landscape and journey that many of the species have to make as the seasons change. The presenters' stories make you remember how amazing these underwater creatures are. Well worth a visit! It's also been voted the best in Australia. A+++

5/5, what an absolutely awesome evening. The night tour of the Cairns aquarium is definitely worth it. Our tour guides were Sasha and Cameron and we couldn’t have asked for better guides. They were both packed full of knowledge and were engaging throughout the entire tour. Being able to walk through the aquarium at night and see the exhibits without the usual hustle and bustle was a treat and you feel so much more immersed in the environment. I highly recommend either the Twilight or Night tours for those that want to make the trip just that bit more special.

Was excellent and took a good 2.5 hours to go through. Our favourite was the huge walk thru tank where the sharks swim over our heads. The grandchildren loved where you could touch and feel. The staff were very knowledgeable except maybe lower the volume of the microphones a tad as at the last talk the girl had such a high pitched voice. But lovely all the same. The lizards were an unexpected attraction that was thoroughly enjoyed too.

We visited Cairns Aquarium and had a great time! Everything was clean, the staff was friendly and the education talks were great. We really enjoyed listening to them and learning about the different species that live here, as we are not from Australia. It is one of my favorite aquariums. I would recommend anyone to go and sit in for the education talks as well, especially if you’re not from Australia.

I don’t recommend night aquarium with course dinner. The night aquarium tour was nice however the dinner was poor. Recommend to go somewhere else. You will have dinner in front of the toilet not the beautiful fish tank. The picture in the advertisement is a scam.

Much more than an aquarium. Includes snakes, frogs, lizards. Highlight would be the walk through the underwater tunnel and the the deep reef aquarium. Definitely better than other aquariums visited internationally.

Great experience - they shut pretty early so plan your day accordingly. Saw some very interesting creatures, the whip rays, sharks and jelly fish were my favourites. Also loved the deep sea section which leaves a trembling reminder how little we still know of the oceans. Great staff everyone's happy to help out and share knowledge.

Absolutely spectacular! The aquariums were set out so well, along with information about the creatures. I learned a lot about the land and marine life, and had a blast at the same time. Unfortunately I only caught the latter part of a presentation, but from what I saw it was helpful for understanding the dynamics within the marine ecosystem. Another thing that stood out to me was that there were benches to view the animals from, which meant my father could rest his bad ankle. It was quite accessible in that regard, and because there are elevators next to staircases.

Definitely recommend you not skip this when visiting Cairns. There are a lot of interactive exhibits and beautiful, big aquariums. I loved everything about it. They had huge manta rays that were mesmerizing. It's the best aquarium I've been to so far, really well maintained and has a full restaurant at the bottom.

Even though this aquarium isn't large in size, it is definitely filled with lots of interesting animals to see! Take advantage of the scheduled times and talks. Even though these sea creatures are fun to take selfies with, they're even more interesting once you learn more about them. Not to mention it's pretty cool to see how these animals are fed! To see the entire aquarium, plan on spending 2 to 3 hours. But definitely don't miss this aquarium!

What I like about this aquarium is that it really is a "Cairns Aquarium". By that, I mean that it is a museum that aims to depict and educate about the aquatic environment around Cairns itself. It reminds me of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. This aquarium is rather new, and has an excellent and logical floor plan. There is a natural flow through the different habitats which follows the flow of water from the streams and rivers, through the rainforest and mangroves, then out to the sea. Along the way you'll see a variety of fish and reptiles native to each environment, and then end at the massive oceanarium that is full of creatures. There are regularly scheduled presentations throughout the morning and afternoon. If you schedule your visit according - arriving shortly after opening in the morning or shortly after noon - you can catch each presentation as you make your way slowly through the aquarium. These occur ever 30 minutes and each last about 10-15 minutes, allowing plenty of time to browse through the exhibits and still have time to list to the naturalists talk. Overall, we found the exhibits to be of very high quality. Some might find this place to be a little small and thus not a very good deal since the entry prices might seem a bit steep (though still considerably less expensive than Monterey). However, if you take your time to look casually at many of the displays and take in the presentations, you would enjoy a relaxing 3 hours here, just as we did.

We always try to make it to the local aquarium wherever we go. We had just done a dive out on the Great Barrier Reef and decided to take it easy a bit and see what the city had to offer. We were delighted to see that there was an aquarium and of course they are the only place in the world that features/specializes in North Queensland marine life. Just a few blocks away from the Reef Fleet Terminal, the Cairns Aquarium is actually a decently sized building. They have a couple of floors of exhibits starting with freshwater moving then to brackish water and then ended with saltwater. Your ticket will get you into the aquarium all day and if you plan to return, just bring your ticket and scan yourself in. My favorite part was seeing the freshwater fish (especially the freshwater saw fish and the fresh water moray eel). The reef exhibits were also stunning with several large tanks with huge fish and sharks as well. It's great that this place primarily focuses on local marine life so for those who don't get to go out into the water, this is a wonderful place to experience what the GBR has to offer. Highly suggest stopping by if you're looking for something to do! Easy walk from the touristy part of town. Don't forget to see the bats in the trees on your way over! Last entry is 4pm but they open at 9AM every day!

This was lots of fun. It's a nice aquarium with lots to look at. This area where we took photos made us feel like we were in the tank with the fish. I would definitely go back here again everyone enjoyed the experience.

Very nice and informative, the staff was friendly and I loved the different exhibits with speakers. The food at Dundee's was delicious, I highly recommend going there!