ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center Review

We always enjoy bringing our son to Echo. There's so much to explore! Patient and knowledgeable staff.

Nice museum with a lot of information regarding lake Champlain. The museum feels a lot more suited to young families with plenty to exhaust young children.

My kids (ages. 16 months and 3yrs) and myself LOVE this place. We have a membership here and go at least twice a month. It's a great place for a rainy day with lots of activities

Educational and great for children of all ages!! We stayed all day and our children loved it. And us adults enjoyed it just as much.

Great for kids to learn and alot of hands on activities

We are so glad we visited the ECHO museum in Burlington! If my kids were young, this is where I would take them for interactive, fun learning. Their Trivial Pursuit display invites little kids to brush away rocks to reveal fossils, lay on a board as if they were snorkeling, and wear a vest or apron before sitting in a tiny covered wagon. I was mesmerized by the large tank of sturgeon, muskie, and drum. Families seemed to like the starfish touch tank. As non-members, we paid an extra $5 each to see the 3D shark movie and it was worth it.

It seems rather children oriented, but I didn't bring any. To adults, it's still interesting, but a bit overpriced: 15 dollars for less than an hour of content.

A fantastic museum for kids of all ages ;) Gorgeous views of Lake Champlain!

Very nice place with a very nice atmosphere is very nice people all doing very nice things to. Ice other people that are also very nice it all becomes maybe little bit too nice. But if you confuse now just know that I'm on the going on like this because I want to get one check closer to 3 reviews with over 200 characters so if you're still reading I apologize for wasting your time Because of my inability to actually type 200 characters About Eco Leehy center for Whatever the heck but I hope now if I keep talking to be over 200 because I just tried and it was under so Here I am rambling on about nothing And and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and hands and in hand in and to in the end So this was a valued this was a valued rug Yeah man it really tied the room together This Isn't a guy you built the railroads here

Fun place, except they had a fire drill in the middle of our visit. Not so fun then.

I liked it but it would have been fantastic if we had small kids.
There was so much for the little ones to do.
If you home school it is great for science.

Great place to spend two hours fun ... The place concentrates on the lake's fish so that anyone who expected to see dolphins and sharks, this is not the place. The little ones looked at 10 minutes of roof and then went on to the rest of the activities, which included boat-shaped facilities, a mini-grocery and a mini-restaurant, and they played there quite fun ... I guess older kids will get a bit bored ...

This place is the bomb! I still go here as an adult and have plenty to look at and learn!

Nice but not worth the money... There is nothing much to do

Awesome! Lots of info to learn on VT's watershed conservation, waterways, and the animals living in our environment especially aquatic life. There's native fish such as Pike, Sturgeons, and trout. Frogs, turtles, toads, and more. Tons of displays and cool kiosks for children. Overall a great place to go for a few hours and cruise through. You get a discount on admission for being a VT resident as well. Only thing is I wish Echo was a little bigger. Hard to spend a full day here due to it's smaller size but that also makes the experience more personable. Definitely worth checking out!

Awesome center for the little ones. Worth whatever the price of admission is (I can't remember).

One the best aquariums I've been too. Has 2 play areas for kids. One for the younger kids and one for the older group.

Loved the 3d dinosaur movie, worth the extra money to see! Great place to visit with kids on a rainy day.

Interesting, but if you don't have kids and/or don't watch a movie you probably won't spend more than an hour.

Small place, but so many great activities for children.

Smaller than it looks from the outside, but still an enjoyable few hours. Definitely more geared towards children than adults.

A great place to bring the family! We love the Echo center. It a museum oriented towards kids; and they always have something interesting on display; no matter when you visit. Facilities, cafe, and a gift shop are present on site. Beautiful views of the lake out of the west side of the building. A good venue to hold an event at as well.

Always a great time, had fun at dino exhibit with my 6 year old

Great little museum and activity center. All of the workers were very friendly and knowedgeable. Outside the center, there is a boating service, a park to relax and look out at the lake, and restaurants.

Great museum for kids! My 7 and 5 year old, loved it!

Absolutely Fabulous! Have been twice now. I think my 25 year old son had as much fun as my 2 and 6 year olds. Love the staff.

Very interesting and lots of fun, even for a child as young as 20 months.

It is overpriced in my opinion and many of the kids run wild, parents not exercising any control at all. This was the third time we took our grandson but I hope he ignores it from now on.

Very well maintained place with a lot of engaging activities for the kids. And the location itself is beautiful overlooking the lake. Over the 5 year olds had a nice time.

A fun and interesting place to go for a day! I will definitely be back!

More museum than aquarium. We went for a Girl Scout sleepover, so we were given the royal treatment in terms of activities for the kids. If we came for the day, however, I think we would have been disappointed. The museum is two small floors with exhibits, and a landing with an aquarium. You could probably go through the entire place in an hour, an hour & a half max.

there are more fish in a pet store than in this aquarium. if you do not have children spend 10 minutes max. for the visit at $ 14.50 US it's expensive per minute

Great place to take kids, view the lake, and kill an hour looking at some native species! Live feedings are a special treat

This is a great place for kids and adults. There's a pay to park, parking lot. If you plan to go here more than once it's worth getting the year pass, their pass works at other museums such as Boston Children's Museum and Boston Science Museum amongst many others

Absolutely breath taking and wonderful area to go and see!

Dinosaur exhibit fun! Kids enjoyed the realistic dinosaurs

very geared for kids, but a lot can be learned about the lake and region.

The new addition of Champ Lane, which even includes an area for pre-walkers, makes this a great place for kids of all ages. I would say that especially if you have kids age 10 and under, they will love it. Many exhibits are as thrilling for adults as they are for kids.

Very small. Not a lot to see. Seemed more set up for children. Over-priced for what is offered. Very disappointed.

I went here while visiting Burlington and it was very cool!!! The prices are good and there's a lot to see! I'd like to recommend seeing one of the movies, I saw the coral reef one and it was really cool!! The aquarium was awesome especially because I've never seen a sturgeon before! I would totally revisit this museum again sometime!!

Fun place with lots of things for kids to do and see.

Nice educational tour to understand the wildlife of Lake Champlain and surrounding area. We spent about 2.5 hours there and were entertained most of the time. We saw an Eel feeding and played with all the interactive exhibits. It was nice to see a wide variety of marine and reptile life up close.
We would recommend ECHO as a stop for anyone coming to Burlington for more than a day. See my funny face with a Muskie.

Great place for kids of all ages! Hands on and live fish display

Very fun and education science center. Definitely intended more for children, but adults will still get a lot out of it too. Lots of interesting fish and animals, plus many interactive exhibits.

I only went in to see what was going on. Don't have kids so I turned around and left. Looked like lots of fun for kids.

Great Museum for younger kids and those who are young at heart. Lots of fun, hands on science exhibits.

What a fabulous place for kids and grownup kids. So many activities. Gorgeous view of Lake Champlain.

a very neat, though not huge, museum. Great for younger kids and includes a fun play area upstairs. When we visited there was a play area set up downstairs also including some huge foam blocks. Our little one loved watching the fish.

A wonderful, magical place for kids to go and explore hands on learning!

Great for family time with many hand on exhibits. It has a playground inside for children under 5.

Great! Our 17 month old loves the water and was really able to splash and play in the water area (didn't even get that wet!)
This place has tons of fun things to look at and touch for kids. Definitely worth the money ($29 four two adults). Locals should get membership ($120 for four).

Great place to bring the kiddies. Has a cool collection of critters and interesting, rotating exhibits. Also a site for meetings and small conferences.

We had a fun time celebrating our friends wedding. Echo was very accommodating.

Visited with my Grandson who as been through the exhibit of Butterflies before. He explained all the rules and how you have to be checked so that none excape. The interesting thing is one did and it was interesting to see the crew run around with nets to catch the butterlfy that got out. It is a seasonal display that is well worth seeing.

Great place for kids to learn about local ecology and animals! A must see!

This is a must visit place for families, or anyone interested in learning about the local ecology! I went with a group of friends, and really enjoyed ourselves. When we visited, there was a neat butterfly exhibit, definitely check it out while it's there!

Excellent place to bring your children to but is very expensive for what is in there.

So sad, signed up for the museum at the entrance with young lady that it was supposed to called us between 15/20 minutes and She NEVER text or call.

Fun and interactive learning center. Convinced immediately to get a membership and plan to go back this weekend! Great for kids and supports the local environment.

The educational mission statement of the museum claims "our expert education staff works to create a connection to Lake Champlain that in turn helps develop a strong sense of stewardship-- igniting a passion to make our home a better place." I do not believe the museum meets its own mission statement.

Our visit to the museum began quite hopeful with the exhibit about Love and Forgiveness. It was very well executed and perfectly interactive for our six year old. It was well thought out and enjoyable. However, once you enter the animals exhibits it becomes clear that this is a museum built with the interests of the observer in mind and not the basic needs of the animals hailing from the Lake. Besides food and water, it seems as if an institution such as this should work to ensure the animals' basic needs for exercise or even minimal movement should be considered. The tanks and cages are so small that there is literally no space for movement for several of the animals.

I was struck particularly by the case for the frogs. The american bullfrog is cased in a clear cylinder that is slightly larger than his body. The animal would not be able to stretch its legs out at any moment. Hopping is obviously never possible. It is kept in a case so that it is purely for display. There were other striking examples of tanks that were far too small for the animal in question. I am not alone in feeling uneasy with this museum. Other parents I talked with who are also interested in conservation and science are becoming irritated by the conditions animals are kept in "educational" facilities such as the Echo Museum.

It is difficult to imagine that the project of teaching future generations about the importance of respect for the natural environment is possible as long as sentient beings are displayed as props. I can only hope these practices which fail to find respect for the natural world will be remanded to the history of environmental education as they have no place in a forward looking pedagogy.

Nice visit for the whole family. We learn a lot about dinausaurs, batrachians, Burlington, ... Visit where there are several activities, the staff is there to answer our questions. No child can get bored and the same for adults.

It is a great place, with loads of fun for the kids and the whole family. Very friendly staff and well thought exhibitions and movies.

Visited from Massachusetts. We loved the 50 States exhibit. Best for younger children but my daughter (10 yo) enjoyed the lecture on snakes. Weekends are packed and parking was tricky but not impossible. Nice hands-on museum.