Aquarium of the Bay Review

Watching the otters and stingrays swimming and playing was fun. The jellyfish exhibit was the best I have seen.

Great aquarium experience for whole family and now with ocean pioneer sculpture collection too.

Small aquarium but it's in the city and you don't have to drive to Monterey. Has jellyfish, feedings, a tunnel, and fun exhibits!

We purchased the "City Pass" when visiting San Francisco which included a pass to the aquarium. It was worth a stop in, we spent a couple of hours looking around. My favorite was getting to see the otters playing.

This aquarium is not big, but shark and bat ray through the tunnel gives kids an unique view of the sea animals. The river otters at third level are super cute locals. This place is good for younger kids to know more and touch more.

Not worth the money, don't go. Took us less than 15 minutes to complete the walk. Small place.

Baby shark dooo dooo doo doo. Kids love to ting the songs around the sharks. (Or adults). Great place for bring the kids to go during weekend.

very pricey for the size. but it was a great experience. everyone had a blast.

It was ok. Not really worth the money spent on the ticket. Just wasn't enough to see.

Very good place to go to see some cool aquatic life, rays, sharks and more! However, do be aware that if it is a particularly busy time (such as a public holiday) some areas can get very backed up. Would recommend, they also issued a ticket to madame tussaudes for free with the purchase of aquarium tickets.

Impressive.
I didn't even expect what I saw. The underwater tunnels are impressive and just great.
Children can also stroke small baby rays and you have perfect entertainment for young and old!
Is included in the San Francisco City Pass and definitely worth seeing.

The fish I understand but why would anyone put a squirt in a litterly the smallest cage "exhibit" possible. Squirrels are not the type of animal you put on display. Plus they are everywhere and the river otters looked so sad with very little space to be you know animals they swim back and forth in the tiny pools while people sit there and gawk at them like I said. Fish and sea life I understand but things like river otters and squirrels is just crule.

Small but lovely aquarium. Love the octopus, rays, otters and jelly fish. Wouldn t plan for more than an hour here. Parking very very expensive.

Nice aquarium but too small for it's price. At $28, I expected more.

This was so much fun! The fish were fun to see and the location is awesome. I loved their walk through aquarium. People at gift shop were friendly. Not sure I got my money s worth though.

Liked it. I had even entered the city pass, so I went. I found it a bit small, but it has some very beautiful aquariums.

I went to San Francisco on vacation and of course there is lots and lots to do and see. One place is the amazing aquarium they have. It is awesome to visit. I Loved It!!!!

Fun aquarium, not huge, but very informative, staff are very enthusiastic. Lots of information, suitable for children

My son enjoyed the water tunnels. Bit expensive for a small aquarium.

In the heart of the touristy area of San Fran, the Aquarium came up a little short as many touristy spots do. The layout of the building can be a little confusing. You have to walk up a sizable set of stairs to find the, not so obvious, entrance. A short walk pass several fish tanks will lead you to an elevator to take you to the next section.

The next section was a pretty cool walk past many jelly fish then through a tunnel under a huge tank. There was a plethora of fish ranging from seven-gil sharks to a school of anchovies. In the middle there is a tank with one octopus. After this section you find your way back to the elevator that takes you to the third and final section.

The final section was my favorite; the sea otters. It was pass a few hands on exhibits that allow you to touch baby rays and other sea life that I found the otters. Full of life and character, these little mammals torpedoed through the water making a spectacle of themselves.

The tour ends in the gift shop, like most tours end. Overall, it was a nice aquarium but I was expecting more. It took us no more than an hour to go through and we weren t rushing.

A little over priced. Walked through every exhibit in less than half hour.

For an aquarium by the bay, its lacking alot of features. The underwater tunnel is basically the entire reason to visit. Not alot of attractions. Staff is very nice but that's not what I pay to see.

Nice aquarium, similar format to others around the world, but still well worth a visit.

This is a very underwhelming aquarium for the price paid.

Not so clean. And there where some dead fish inside the aquarium

Fun for the hole family. The underwater tunes are super cool!

Nice place to visit with kids. Not that impressive as other California aquariums in Monterrey and Long Beach

Small aquarium with 2 tunnels. Takes less than 2 hours to see full. They have some big sharks with cool views from the tunnel. The touch pools are a good addition for kids.

Pretty small place, lacks variety of fish. You will most likely finish it in about 15 minutes. Simply not worth the money. And if you do decide to enter, buy tickets inside (at the entrance on second floor) instead of the external vendors on street, it will save you a couple of bucks.

Leaving San Francisco today so it is time for reviews. The aquarium was just okay. The exhibits were great and everyone was very friendly. The problem is if you got two minutes to spare then this is worth it. Just way too small to be called an aquarium.

It's nice, I'll be honest, I expected more, but I know the cost is to help the ocean and the animals that live in it, so yes, I enjoyed it very much with my children and husband.

Very small aquarium but have very cute river otters and lots of jellyfish varieties!

Nothing wrong with what is there, however the place is very small. It probably only takes an hour to see everything. The baby stingrays were a highlight, very amusing creatures.

It was okay. Expensive for such a small place. But you get to touch baby sting rays.

This aquarium is nice and has some great displays, but is one of the more expensive that I have gone to so far. One good thing though, is that your ticket is good for all day and you can reenter. Also, they offer a AAA discount and other discounts as well if you are interested. Research the city pass they try to sell you in advance to see if you will really use everything they offer you on the deal before buying.

It is conveniently l located near Pier 39 where all the waterfront sites are along with all the usual tourist traps, so it is something definitely to do if in the area.

Warning! If you are not a fan of kids, there are lots of kids. You might plan your time there either first thing in the morning or later in the day when less traffic and then you can enjoy the exhibits with a little more peace and quiet.

The jelly fish exhibits are amazing and fascinating. You can just stare at them for hours if given the opportunity. However the walking tubes with fish swimming around is breath taking as stingrays, sharks, and other large ocean fish swim next and over you. For a fun aspect, the river otters will give you lots of laughs and smiles.

To me it felt like there wasn't as much education and science associated with this aquarium as I have experienced at others, but fun all the same.

It was included with the city pass! I wouldn't have bought it separately!

Compared to other aquariums like Kelly Taltons in Auckland, New Zealand, this is a smaller verison (copy) of it. However the jellyfish are outstanding. If you have never been in an acrylic domed aquarium then go. Well worth it.

Definitely surprised to find this variety and size at the pier. Long Beach aquarium is definitely bigger and better. But recommend this stop if in fisherman's wharf area.

Very interesting, if small, aquarium. I would go again, the otter feeding was worth the price of admission.

It was really nice but a little smaller than I expected.

If you have already arrived at Pier 39, then you should definitely look here. It is very beautiful here, if you are still with children, then you need to visit the 100% location :)

Not very big, very beautiful the 2 tunnels with the marine habitation of the Bay ...

Very small aquarium. Price is exp. staff r great. There're feeding times where u can see the fishes (e.g sharks and so on) having their meals. There's a section with other small animals, like turtle and otter.

The aquarium was really nice experience...I went with my daughter, boyfriend and hes sister and daughter and man...we enjoyed it...

Only experience in San Francisco that s worth it in my opinion.

not worth it, only about 15 minutes of entertainment, go to a pet store that sells fish

Fun experience, however not worth it. Go to Monterrey bay. This aquarium is only a couple of rooms. With most of the excitement in the crowded hallways

Fabulous, learned way more than I expected, and had a genuinely delightful visit

Bean there for the first time. I liked it. Got good information about aquatic life. Liked the under water tunnel gallery. Kids will enjoy the experience.

This is such a cool aquarium for it's size!! It was my first stop when I got to San Francisco. The gift shop was nice and the sharks were even better. Was worth the money.

I don't like giving bad reviews, usually I only review to be funny or support small business. This time I feel obligated to do this. I paid 170 dollars for me and my two buddies to go through and extra for the shark feeding tour. First off, the website says they have an octopus, they don't have an octopus. After looking through the Otter exhibit and figuring that was out of commission too, we finally found 3 otters sleeping in a hidden cove. That is what it is, not a lot of otters and no octopus (the two main things I was excited to see), we still had the shark feeding ahead of us.

The shark feeding tour was an hour and a half of looking at pump rooms that run the very small aquarium, and literally no feeding sharks. We each got half a quart of calamari, were walked onto a catwalk above the fish, and fed squid to a swarm of bass and smaller fish. Yes, there was a chance of a medium size shark maybe possibly deciding to eat a piece of calamari, but that didn't happen. Maybe I'm stupid, but I was expecting a bucket of fish to throw to circling sharks. I was expecting some shark week action. Zero interaction with sharks. It should be called "Spend money to feed the fish for us, and maybe a shark might by chance inhale a piece of super little shrimp as it swims by". Extremely disappointed. Afterwards, the most boring tour I've ever been on continued with lectures on how jellyfish bang each other for another hour of misery. I wanted to just leave but felt it would be rude, so I continued to be held hostage by the most drab uninteresting tour guide I have met in my 29 years of existence. They also had a rear vanguard tour guide to make sure there was zero shenanigans in the back that might cause any sort of fun. Every time I talked or joked to one of my buddies the tour guide stopped talking any of us speaking like we were interrupting his seventh grade science class.

A better use of my nearly two hundred dollars spent here would have been to cash in for all ones and make an army of small origami swans to sail into the bay , or simply to burn it in the woods for warmth, because literally anything would have been a more entertaining use of money.

I understand they're a non profit organization and push to benefit the bays marine life, but seriously, I would give them that amount of cash again to not go on that mindnumbingly boring tour.

Once again we paid for a shark feeding tour and feed bass which you can literally do at any pond with a loaf of wonderbread.

This is a very nice and awesome place I will definitely be coming back

Smaller than Monterey but the tunnel tanks are great and the staff is world class

2 stars because I had higher expectations for this place. Nothing like the Monterey Bay aquarium.

Way to expensive for what you get. I could get in there for free, but if you have to pay then you should better go to the academy of science museum. Their aquarium part is way more impressive and beautiful.

Well worth the visit if you are ever in the SF area, the underwater tunnels are mesmerizing! There are 2 underwater tunnel areas, one for smaller fish and another for the sharks and bigger fish. The tickets were not cheap ($30 per adult) but they included a free Madame Tussauds ticket (1 free ticket for every aquarium ticket), so the cost was definitely worth it! I don't think I would go to the wax museum again, but would definitely go back to the aquarium if the tickets are cheaper .