Birch Aquarium at Scripps Reviews

Great experience for the kids. Small place but great views and exhibits. Took us about 2 hours but only $28 USD for 4 of us.

I liked it. Wish they had more displays or activities for $20 pp. Only took 30min to see everything.

A million times better than SeaWorld! Spending an afternoon here will give you and your children much more appreciation for the ocean than 3 days at SeaWorld ever would.

Very educational and a great place to enjoy time with the family.

Very good aquarium with lots of interactive exhibits.

It wasn't what i expected!! Too small i could have just gone to pet smart

Not a really big aquarium but still a great experience

Very good exhibits. Educative for kids.

A bit cramped, I felt.

Breathtaking sunset views & mind boggling creatures from the depths of the sea. Memorable moments from our recent visit to the Birch Aquarium!

I enjoy the aquarium everytime I visit. great for everyone of all ages

this is cool ..great way to see the fish you cannot catch like the 8 lb calico .

This is a great place for kids and families. Even a date. It's connected to a school which i think is amazing. Lots to learn so take your time. The exhibits are fascinating and worth the trip if your in La Joya.

Gorgeous animals, good circulation patterns for residents and visitors make Birch a good place.

Great for the kids. A little boring for the adults unless you are really into Ocean research. SeaWorld has everything that Birch has and more.

Cool place to visit had some unique exibits and fun tidepools!

Love this place and recommend it for all ages. The set up is beautiful, the staff is knowledgeable and helpful. I prefer to go in the morning when it first opens. Plan for 2+ hours if you want to take your time , read, see, experience everything. I could spend hours sitting and watching the kelp tank!

Liked this, especially the touch tanks where kids could touch sea cucumber and shark eggs. I also like that it was not too large, we were able to visit and see most of it and not leave exhausted
We spent half a day here.

I went here with my sister, brother in law & their new baby - sweet little aquarium that seems to be kept up well.

What a beautiful location. Great aquarium, tons of fish and marine animals to look at. The setting is gorgeous. The views off the tide pool deck are amazing. The family membership is an excellent deal! My daughter loves ocean life and this has been a great place to bring her time and time again.

Beautiful Coral.. So many kinds! Lots of hugs aquraiums with unusual fish. I especially loved the aquarium by the kids playground. And no, not a good place to bring your dog!

WE love this place! The kids can play in the water toys for hours. It is small but plenty big enough to be a few hours trip and still see it all. The week days are great to go for.

Informative signage, well informed staff, and beautiful view of the ocean from the patio!

This place is really awesome. Small but perfect for a small stroll

Beautiful experience tonight seeing 10,000 Maniacs at the last Green Flash Concert.

An aquarium is an aquarium is an aquarium. I don't generally get my hopes up. I did enjoy seeing it thru my grandbaby's eyes tho and how excited everything made them. :)

I made my dream of childhood come true, visiting the Aquarium. Just beautiful and well organized

Nice little aquarium. Lots of things for children to interact with. Nice Scenic views of the ocean. Good way to spend an afternoon.

Great views. A little small but if you're in town you should definitely check this place out! The kiddos would love it

Went on the day they organized the "largest earthquake drill in the state" or something along those lines. The whole experience was very enjoyable, earthquake drill included.

Great experience. Beautiful amazing @ sunset if you can make it there at this time of day. Gorgeous Seahorse Exhibit. Simply amazing!

Fun quick visit to this small aquarium situated in a great spot above the ocean

Excellent place to visit with or without kids. The parking can get to be a bite tough and pedestrian foot traffic can get heavy, but if you follow the parking lot atound the parking is much better. Spaces are narrow also. Lots of fun and education inside for all. Veteran discount for whole family also.

Most interesting acquarium and well planned out. You take the trip a whale makes from he cold waters of the North Pacific to the warm tropical ones of Mexico ad encounter the other aquatic life along the way. It also has great hands on experience for children, a nice cafe and gift shop which make for an entertaining and educationally environmentally aware day.

One of my favorite places it San Diego to visit mainly when I go to LA jolla it is an amazing place to go for people of all ages

Very fun and clean atmosphere. The staff is very knowledgeable about the underwater creatures you'll see, and the hands on exhibits give the kids something fun to do while learning.

Had a great time. Lots of fish and other aquatic animals. Family enjoyed it. Will do again.

Great place to visit. Got to see and touch marine life. Plenty of learning interaction for kids little and big.

A nice small aquarium for children. A bit pricey in that it takes adults about 30 minutes to tour it.

Amazing place to take kids. They have some amazing sea creatures and great hands on activities.

The aquarium felt small compared to others we've seen, but a portion of one wing was closed off for renovations. We also picked a bad time to go - apparently there were three different middle school groups there, so it was quite noisy and crowded. The exhibits we're clean and varied, though. Lots of seahorses, which are a favorite of mine. I would have liked more information on different species and habitats. If you or your children like interactive exhibits, this aquarium is rather lacking in that department. Overall it was a pleasant experience, but lacked depth (no pun intended). Perhaps after the renovations are finished the place will feel larger.

Informative and fun! Great displays and hands on exhibits. Loved the seahorse exhibit.

All three of my kids - ages of 4, 7, and almost 10 - loved this aquarium. There's a ton of fun hands on experiences, and a good variety of sea creatures to see. The cafe is also quite good.

It was Amazing, I enjoyed it very much. It was my first time at Birch Aquarium.

Great price and opportunity to see aquatic water life. Some people were bad guests using flash photography when you shouldn't and it's far from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but for where it is and the resources it provides including a touch pool and rays, plus deep sea turtles, it is well worth the trip. Arrive early to beat the crowds!

This aquarium was pretty cool. They had a lot of different sea creatures here. The outside exhibit was cool and the shark tank was amazing. I guess I expected something bigger as far as the actual aquarium is concerned, but I still had fun and would recommend anyone going for themselves.

My six year old had a good time. There is a beautiful view of the beach. They have an area where you can touch shark eggs and anemones outside in the "tide" pool. The staff was nice and they're the reason I gave this place 4 instead of 3 stars. I went on a Tuesday. It was a little crowded. Parking was free. Some of the exhibits' buttons don't work. They have a nice collection of exhibits but it seems small. Like it's missing something.

Nice afternoon that I spent here. Admission is reasonably priced. I say go and try it and enjoy your afternoon or morning

Free parking and free admission on first full weekend of each month with BofA Atm card

Wonderful for all. Careful inside some of the exhibits, ran into some rancid farters. Needs more ventilation! Tide Pools are outside, fresh Air, nice relaxing for kids and adults.

Green Flash summer concert series highly recommended

It is a neat little aquarium. The exhibits are open so a lot of people can view at once. They have a great variety of species. There are petting areas and a water conservation area outside. They were doing and educational thing about sharks the day we went so we were able to touch some shark egg cases and learn more about sharks.

Take your time, it's not a huge place but they have a lot to look at. I had to go through twice to see all the stuff I missed.

Too small . High way robbery ...totally not worth no 20 dollars ...Need to make one big megalodon aquarium.. The shark reef in Las Vegas is way better .. & Siegfried & Roy is better ...Even Sea is outstanding but too expensive now

The place is amazing. Lots to learn here and awesome views of the Pacific Ocean

A must visit whenever we are in Southern California. Not just fun and interesting, but these guys truly have passion and are not in it for the money.

Great place for families....loved the experience and atmosphere!

Closed for Covid. My wife went here while I was in school and they re closed. As of 8/18 they have not changed their status to temporarily closed

Nice little aquarium with a decent view. Don't expect too much as it is small.

One of my favorite parks to visit on random weekends. Extremely large and fun to show little kids. An experience that I'm grateful to be able to have so often.

I love this place. There you can learn a lot about the sea creatures. Beautiful space and ocean view.

Wonderful place for the kids to discover ocean life....

Definitely recommend if you are in the area. It's a small version of the Monterey Aquarium but it has alot of neat areas and exhibits. They also have a designated area for kids to play and learn which is great. Provides great views of the coast as well since it is located up on a hill.

Nice aquarium, a little on the small side give the cost. The touch tanks are fun and the kid zone has a lot for them to do. Worth visit.

Great but small. Great for a half day excursion with the family.

I have been to many aquariums but still saw quite a few sea creatures I had never seen. The tanks were labelled well, with nice pictures to help identify animals. Parking was ok on a weekday but is most likely hard on the weekend. Outside snack/ sandwich bar was good.

Good spot for a date (not that i went on a date here) if you and your partner like learning, get to see alot of different species of fish. And the splash cafe, while it is overpriced, had some good food. Would come again (because i work there occasionally lol)

I like this aquarium. A lot of exhibits are of local interest, as well as some exotic species. It's a small aquarium, don't expect Monterey, or the National, but it's nice.

It's a really informative aquarium. I look forward to going again. The sharks were my favorite.

Great place to teach your kids about the ocean and it s creatures ecosystems etc lots of hands on stuff like tide pools and shark eggs they have a little play area for those hyped up kids both my daughters had a blast they didn t want to leave and the gift shop was actually cheap not bad at all so got some souvenirs and tickets all for under 100 for all four of us not bad for California considering everything else is a bit pricy I give it five stars ! Love Birch aquarium been going since I was a kid !

This is one of our favorite places to go. My four year old and 2 year old love running around looking at the fish. It s about a two hour max for us. There s a little outdoor cafe that has very decent food, wine and beer.

Quaint aquarium with several exhibits featuring sea creatures. Simple and straight forward layout of halls, though a bit dark and could use some ambient room lighting. Fun learning activities for children and outdoor seating is pleasant. Best views available from outdoors and was very impressed with the knowledge and friendliness of staff. Much smaller than many other aquariums and impossible to compete against the aquarium in Okinawa, but still a great place to visit while in SD county.

Nice aquaruim. Not very large but that makes it better for smaller children with a limited attention span.