Time to allow
3 to 4 hours
Half a day to see the main tanks.
Adult ticket price
From €35.90
Standard adult ticket, up to €41.80 depending on the season.
Top pick
The tunnels
Watch sharks, fish and rays through the large glass panels.
Easy access
Line 10
Oceanogràfic stop, near the City of Arts and Sciences.
Our verdict
Don’t miss the large tunnels, including the one with sharks and tropical fish. Our daughter was impressed by the colourful fish. Allow a full half-day for your visit, and budget ahead if you’re visiting as a family.
Practical tips for your visit
To help you plan your half-day visit, here’s what you need to know about tickets, opening hours and getting there. Once you arrive, you enter through the building shaped like a giant water lily.
Prices: where can you buy tickets?
Visiting Oceanogràfic is one of the must-do activities in Valencia. ❗ We therefore recommend booking your tickets online in advance to avoid the queues at the entrance.
The standard ticket is a good choice if you want to explore the aquarium at your own pace.
| Visitor | Price |
|---|---|
| Adult | €35.90 to €41.80 |
| Child aged 4 to 12 | De 26,65 € à 31 € |
| Over 65s + retired visitors | De 26,65 € à 31 € |
| Child aged 0 to 3 | Free |
Opening hours
The Oceanogràfic is open all year round. Your entry time will be shown on your ticket.
Allow 3 to 4 hours to see the main tanks. We recommend arriving at opening time so you have time to stop and watch the marine life in the tanks.
How do you get to Valencia’s aquarium?
The Oceanogràfic is in Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences, away from the historic centre.
- By Metrovalencia: take line 10 to the Oceanogràfic stop.
- By bus: routes 95 and 15 serve the Oceanogràfic.
- By bike: allow for a ride of around 5 km from the historic centre, depending on your starting point. We love the route through the Turia Gardens.
- By car: parking costs €7 or €8 per day with an aquarium ticket. Show your ticket at a shop in the Oceanogràfic or at the car park control centre to get this rate. Otherwise, expect to pay €2.30 per hour, up to a maximum of €24 per day.
If you’re travelling in a campervan or motorhome, bear in mind the underground car park’s maximum vehicle height of 2.10 m.
What to see at Valencia’s aquarium: which areas to prioritise
The Oceanogràfic is huge, but you don’t have to spend the same amount of time in every area. For a first visit, we recommend making time for the large tunnels, the tropical fish and the polar areas. Here’s an overview to help you choose what interests you:
- Temperate and tropical waters: see colourful fish, including clownfish and surgeonfish, as well as species from cooler waters.
- The Océanos area: visit for its tunnel and its various shark species, including sand tiger sharks and grey sharks.
- The Mediterranean: discover coastal habitats, Posidonia seagrass meadows and species from deeper waters.
- Jellyfish and seahorses: take time to watch smaller animals that are just as interesting as those in the large tanks.
- The Arctic and Antarctic: visit the areas dedicated to beluga whales and penguins.
The large indoor tunnels were a feature we loved. We found ourselves surrounded by fish, some of them swimming over our heads.
It’s impressive, and gives you a different perspective from watching them through a conventional viewing window. If you’re short on time, we recommend keeping the tunnels on your itinerary.
Beyond that, it’s better to choose a few tanks and take your time watching them than to try to rush round everything. The information alongside the tanks also helps you understand the habitats on display and the threats they face.
The sharks and the Océanos tunnel: worth including in your visit
If sharks are among the animals you’d like to see, head to Océanos. This area is home to several species of sharks and rays, with a 35-metre tunnel connecting two sections of the same tank. We recommend taking time to watch the animals swimming around you, rather than simply walking through to reach the next area.
A useful tip so you don’t look in the wrong place: the hammerhead sharks are in the entrance building. The large sharks, including sand tiger sharks and grey sharks, can be seen in Océanos. So there isn’t a single tank containing all the species.
Temperate and tropical waters: discover a wider variety of marine life
The tropical fish tanks are well worth stopping at too. Here you’ll find clownfish and surgeonfish, among others, while the temperate sections feature species from cooler waters.
This is our daughter’s favourite section, so if you’re visiting with children, we recommend allowing time for these tanks, as well as for the jellyfish and seahorses.
There’s more to the visit than the most impressive large animals: watching the colours, shapes and movements of the smaller ones adds variety to what you discover.
The Mediterranean: discovering what lives near the coast
After the large tanks, the Mediterranean section introduces you to the marine environments near Valencia’s coast. The route takes you through Posidonia seagrass meadows and then deeper habitats, featuring coastal fish, octopuses, rays and cold-water corals.
We recommend taking your time in this section: it gives you a clearer idea of what lives underwater, near the beaches where you might swim during your stay. The small tanks and their information panels complement the larger animal displays nicely.
The Arctic and Antarctic
For a bit of variety during your visit, allow time for the polar sections: the belugas in the Arctic section and the penguins in the Antarctic section. These areas complement the tropical fish and large tanks. If you’re visiting with children, we also recommend choosing sections based on the animals they want to see, rather than sticking to a rigid itinerary.
With the tunnels and several habitats to explore, a visit can easily fill half a day. You can book your ticket for the Oceanogràfic, then keep the rest of your Valencia itinerary fairly light so you can enjoy the park at your own pace.
Dolphin shows: why we chose not to attend
There are dolphin presentations scheduled throughout the day. If you’d like to attend, check the times for the day of your visit before you start exploring the tanks.
As for us, we didn’t attend the aquatic show. Although children may enjoy these performances, we don’t want our daughter to get used to this type of show. If you’ve been reading our blog for a long time, you’ll know we’re not fans.
We used this time to explore the other sections at a leisurely pace while some of the other visitors watched the show. It’s perfectly possible to explore the aquarium without including a show in your plans: the tanks and tunnels already take up a good part of the visit.
Should you add an experience to your ticket?
If you’d like to do more than look around the tanks, the Oceanogràfic offers additional activities. You can go behind the scenes or visit ARCA del Mar, the sea turtle rehabilitation area, to learn more about animal care and how the site operates.
These experiences cost extra on top of your admission ticket and have their own booking, age and access requirements. We recommend choosing them if you’re particularly interested in what they cover.
For a first visit with children, the standard route already gives you plenty to do, so there’s no need to feel you have to add an activity.
Sustainability and the environment
Talking about environmental protection after visiting an aquarium calls for a little nuance. We are well aware that this sort of place is not necessarily the first that comes to mind when you want to protect the environment.
Still, we wanted to explain the work carried out by the Oceanogràfic and its foundation beyond the tanks you visit. Research, caring for marine animals and raising awareness are also part of what they do. We feel this helps explain the institution’s role, without removing our reservations about the shows.
To see what goes on beyond your visit, you can follow their work on social media. We find it interesting to learn about the institution’s projects, rather than limiting ourselves to what we see during a few hours there.
Research and conservation programmes
The ARCA del Mar is a concrete example of this work: sea turtles are taken in for treatment and prepared for a return to the sea. The foundation also takes part in research into marine species and habitats, in collaboration with scientific institutions.
After years of environmental destruction, we believe this conservation work has become necessary. We wanted to mention it while maintaining a distinction between these efforts and the animal shows we chose not to attend.
Education and awareness
The educational activities cover topics including marine litter, threats from fishing and the effects of climate change. They help connect the animals seen in the tanks with the challenges they face in their natural habitats.
Programmes are also offered to schools to teach children about protecting marine environments. For families, the information provided along the visitor route can be a starting point for discussing these topics with children, depending on their age and the questions they ask.
Initiatives to reduce the site’s environmental impact
The Oceanogràfic also publishes a sustainability report covering its water management, waste treatment and monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions. The institution also mentions purchasing electricity backed by guarantees of origin.
We do not see these measures as a sufficient answer to all the questions this sort of place raises. But we wanted to acknowledge the efforts being made, and we hope they continue.
Our verdict: is Valencia’s aquarium worth visiting?
As you will have gathered from this article, we enjoyed the visit, particularly the large tunnels and the variety of species. Our daughter was impressed by the colours and by some of the fish and marine mammals she had not yet had the chance to see in their natural habitats. That is what stands out most from this family visit.
Should you include it in your itinerary? We think so, if you enjoy aquariums or want to introduce your children to these animals. However, if your stay in Valencia is very short or your budget limits your choice of activities, bear in mind the ticket prices and the half-day you will need. It is better to allow enough time to enjoy it than to pay for admission only to rush through your visit.
The Oceanogràfic can be a good option when it rains or during a winter stay in Valencia, as many of the tanks are indoors. Bear in mind, though, that you will also need to go outside to move between buildings. Wearing weather-appropriate clothing will stop these walks from becoming an unpleasant part of your visit.
For a place to stay near the City of Sciences, we recommend the hotel Valenciaflats Ciudad de las Ciencias, a 5-minute walk away.
If you only have one day in Valencia, we recommend focusing on the historic centre, with its Central Market, the Silk Exchange and St Mary’s Cathedral in Valencia (and its El Miguelete tower).
If this sounds like your kind of visit, you can check ticket availability for Valencia’s aquarium. To round off your half-day without heading straight to another major attraction, we recommend setting aside some time to stroll around the buildings of the City of Arts and Sciences or explore Valencia’s beaches.
Are you planning to visit the Oceanogràfic, or have you already been? You can leave us a little note below, ask your questions or share your experience on our Instagram. We’ll be happy to reply!
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