Birch Aquarium at Scripps Review

Well done but small. Cost is a bit high but funds go to a good cause.

Fun, pretty view of the ocean, good variety of creatures.

The aquarium is nice. It's a pretty small aquarium, but has some really great things to see. I would expect to spend about 2.5 hours here if it is your first visit. I knocked it down a star because it is a bit expensive for how big it is.

Some amazing things to see here, my 1 year old nephew loved everything too.

Beautiful campus, so much too explore around the pier and campus! Even better during low tide and the winter months, amazing sunsets!

Very research based and wonderful exibits. The staff and volunteers were kind and well-informed. All of the kids seem to love the play area. Great views too!

I am disappointed the aquarium have not many difference specimens, the decorations from Halloween are great but I think they should have more specimens to show.

Small but good to hang around for 1-2 hours. Beautiful view for la Jolla shore

There were nice fish and they had lots of tech to explain it.

Fabulous aquarium and interesting lectures. Kid friendly.

Not what I expected. I thought I will see sharks, other big species. Thought that I will spend at least half an hour there, not 5 minutes.

This is the best aqaurium I have ever went to. Though it is small, each one of the displays are created by a very talented designer. Each of the scenes created by the fish look unique and beautiful!

Great little aquarium. My little one really enjoys the exhibits.

Surprisingly small aquarium that is tailored for children. There are a wide variety of small aquarium life but hardly any large fishes or wildlife.

Beautiful place, great view, great staff. It's a little small for the price.

Great variety of ocean/sea animals. Nice 2 outdoors area for kids to play and touch sea plants in the tide pools. My kids love it. Also,you can have lunch outside.

Great place to take your kids. The aquarium and the play area are both fun snd educational.

Fun for the whole family. Love the jellyfish. One of the best places to see the sunset in San Diego.

The facilities were very good but it was much smaller than I was expecting. While the tour was short, it was a good paying for my buck. Price was very manageable compared to other venues in San Diego.

This place is lovely and great for young kids. They have many interactive stations that little ones can stay entertained with. It is definitely not a big aquarium, but I think that adds to the charm of it all. Unlike Sea World, you don't have to pay an arm, a leg, and set aside 3 days to see it. My family and I toured the whole thing in about two and a half hours. The staff was very friendly and informative. They also have a wide range of animals, and the view from their tide pool area is a must see!

This is the second aquarium I have visited in my life and I am thrilled with this one. I got there when it opened and there was no lines no wait. The place is smaller but it still has plenty of stuff for kids to see and do

Great place for the kids to have fun and learn. And amazing special events.

I really enjoyed the exhibits at Birch Aquarium. It was great to watch this sea turtle swim and eat.

Such a beautiful aquarium, too bad it wasn t as big as we expected. But the one thing that did make up for it was, if you are a Bank of America cardholder with valid i.d. you get a free ticket per adult.

This place was awesome. I've been to allot of aquariums and this by far is my favorite. If your in the area or thinking of checking it out definitely do it. You wont regret it.

Great place to bring the family. Even as someone not keeping up with ecology I had a great time just looking at the seadragons and massive morays

Very enjoyable. Especially enjoyed the volunteers who worked at the outdoors displays explaining things I would never have thought of

Packed with kids on a school day. Lively atmosphere, still a quaint and intimate for learning and discovery.

Though not nearly as big as the Long Beach aquarium, it is still a fun place to visit. The live kelp tank with the diver definitely is worth the price of admission! Get there a few minutes early if you don't want to sit on the floor :)

So much fun. Beautiful displays of sea life. Amazing food outside at the food truck. And breathtaking view outside at lookout.

Nice aquarium but can be crowded at times if alot of people are going that day. Kinda small of an aquarium but good for a visit

This Scripps organization does great work in the environment, but the aquarium itself is fairly small. A good place to bring kids, or someone who is in town and interested in Ocean and Marine science. Still, it's a worthy organization to support!

The aquarium is extremely cool. The best part was the show where they fed this GIANT fish in their main tank. It was interesting to watch. The volunteers let the kids ask questions and all of the volunteers were engaged in what the kids wanted to do and let them explore, touch, and be as inquisitive as they wanted. Parking fills up so it's good to get there early.

Really love to take my 6 year old son here, it has a perfect location by La Jolla shores. All the exhibits are great, they have so much that is interactive compared to other aquariums. Great gift shop and outdoor restaurant.

The Birch Aquarium always brings a smile to my families face everytime we visit. Just wished it was a little bigger and had some trained seals or otter shows. Love it nonetheless. Solid 4 stars.

My kids love this place it was free for all of us. Because we went on a sunday. And the cashier told us its free every first sunday of the month for bank of america card holders

It was ideal for us because our daughter does not do well with extremely noisy places so it was good and she actually took time to look at things. The staff are great and helpful. The place is small though and so if you are looking for big and amazing I would say not fir you. But it was also so much more affordable and we got a coupon so totally worth it.

This is a quality Aquarium in a spectacular location overlooking the ocean.

Lovely place with cute animals. But a bit small. But you might think that's bad, but its actually good so your legs dont get tired.

A good way to spend an afternoon. Prices are reasonable. Don't expect to spend more than a few hours here. It is small, but it is a fun spot...especially for small children.

The Birch Aquarium is on UCSD campus and has a beautiful setting.
It overlooks the ocean and is completely about the ocean.
There are many very interesting exhibits inside and live simulated tide pools outside.

Should get a chance to come and check out the is it

First weekend of each month is Free for BofA card holders. Nice panorama of La Jolla outside. Perfect for kids and great exhibits for about an hour of exploring

It was nice, my two toddlers love all the fish. Wish there was more to touch and feel.

first time there a month ago. It was cool. I can see kids loving it for an hour then wanting ice cream

I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the food was prepared with perfect.

It's awesome but pretty small
It has a tidal pool exhibit were volunteer staff in truck how to touch the creachers in the pools and answer questions and all of the live exsibits are mini ecosystems in each habitat which is cool because it keeps the fish healthy

A cool aquarium in a great location! How many aquariums offer stunning views of the ocean? We took our four year old son, and we had the best time exploring the variety of sea life they had to offer. We also enjoyed the little water activities outside... The whale fountains in the front were a definite highlight for our son as well!

Love this place. Been coming for years. Its educational and relaxing.

It was fun to go once and see all the cool species they have. It's good but it's not very impressive. I saw everything in about 30 minutes.

Great collections of pacific sealife. Kids friendly. 2 hours visit.

Lots of interesting exhibits and cool things to see. The ladies at the touch tanks were super knowledgeable and sweet.

The aquarium was fine. Lots of good info or marine life. Beautiful fish and wildlife to view. Quite knowledgeable staff.
The issue is the tanks have many mislabeled items that are simply not there or have been moved which makes the experience frustrating.

We enjoyed it, was expecting something like the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. This is much smaller and you run out of things to see fast, but overall a good experience and great to take kids.

Loved it!. It's quite small but still packed with a ton of sea life and information. Staff were very kind and helpful. Spent a good two hours walking and looking around. They had very many interactive games and activities for kids. There were art tables, videos, games, dress up, water and sand tables. I could imagine if I would have brought my nieces and nephews they would have loved it and maybe spent much more time there. Although the activities were primarily for kids there was still a bunch for others. There is a ton of facts and knowledge about the sea life all over the walls. They even have some informative videos playing around in the background. Outside they had the pools with animals you could feel or hold. There's two of them and they switch back and forth throughout the day to give them a break so the life in them doesn't stress to much with all the excitement. The views of the beach and ocean outside are also amazing. We found it to be great for pictures or to just simply enjoy the view.

Smaller than we originally thought, but our grandson enjoyed the interactive learning they have. It's a beautiful place. We went first thing and pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Small Aquarium but always a blast seeing the ocean up close!!! Also if you like seahorses this is the place to come!!!!

Small aquarium in beautiful setting. Good for 2-3 hours with smaller kids. Many small tanks, one large, educational info, "tidepool", and outdoor playground.

On Sundays you are able to watch diver's feed sharks and fish in the last tank. They also have artificial tide pools where you can pet sea life.

So beautiful! Where else can you see a turtle that was repaired with a 3-d printed prosthetic, or get hands on with some beautiful aquatic animals!

My daughter (5) and I loved it it s a small aquarium but it s beautiful very clean a lot of fishes to see and some to touch, personnel is very patient, nice and knowledgeable. We will definitely come back love the experience.

If you love aquarium and want to spend some quality time this is one of the best one! The best part is they have lot of different species of fish. Kids will enjoy it!

Ask front desk staff and they'll tell you about the institute's own research vessels. So cool. Unlike many museums these days, this one doesn't need to use resin statues and tricky architecture to round out the experience; the exhibits are one after the next legit! There's a shark wing. Beautiful views of La Jolla coast.

Excellent, educational, great place for all ages. Great view.

Interesting, even beautiful exhibits, but they tend to remain the same from year to year. Nice for a visit, but not necessarily worth an ongoing membership.

We try to visit Scripps a couple of times per year, and see something new every time. The location is great, and it's awesome to be able to step outside for a break and see the ocean. The concessions are good too.

This is a really fun, family friendly place to go for an afternoon. My kids love it! It isn't huge, so don't plan for all day here. The sea life exhibits are good, but the best things for the kids to play with are outside. They have a water works toy where the kids (and adults) can build waterways for little boats to go down. It is fairly simple, but my kids (6 and 3) will play here for a good 30 + minutes really well.

Really small and not alot to see. The the veiw of the beach afterwards is breathtaking. The giftshop is little but has lots of cute stuff. I bought a windchime and book for my son. They also have a little food cart outside which has yummy pretzels and beer.

This was my very first time at the aquarium. My sister and nieces and mother are all members. It was my time to go. I visited with my brother Justin and his son Ezra. Cool acceptable front guest services. Once inside there is verything to keep you interested, distracted, enticed and its all worth the few dollars. My favorite fish are the Flying Fish and the Tiger Tail Seahorse! Both were kn display and I learned something new about dozens of other species of sea creatures. I'll definitely visit again.

Great! Probably one of the best! Great location, afterwards go for a walk on one of San Diego s best beaches

Great place to go with our young grandkids. Beautiful exhibits and not too large a space so it's easy to see everything. Outdoor tide pools were lots of fun for them!

It's a neat place to visit once, but it's easy to complete a tour in less than a couple of hours max.
Exhibits can be quite colorful and unusual.
They have a massive kelp forest exhibit, and several tide pools displays outside.
It's a bit pricey for what you get as the aquarium is not too large.

It was a bit pricey for the amount of sea creatures available. The clothing items in the gift shop were also overpriced. I had a good time I just expected a bit more for my money.

My son had a great time. It's a small aquarium, we spent about two hours here, walked through twice, and played in the kids area!

Nothing like a bag of mushrooms.. some good beer and a aquarium to finish off the perfect date.

A lot of cool sea life to see and strangely cool fish and others sea life in jars to to look at a must see for the whole family

One of my best childhood memories and still enjoy it as an adult

Great experience for kids, not huge but it is impactful, interactive, and fun

Nice small aquarium. Good place for kids. Educational.

This is an awesome place to take the family. It's kinda small but packs a huge punch. So many interesting things to see.