Monterey Bay Aquarium Review

We planned our trip as a family to take my daughter, even grandparents had a good time, took us about 2-3 hours considering my daughter was playing in most of the play areas for kids. There is lots of interactive activities for kids to visualize up close and personal the ocean life. Very educational, the whole family enjoyed the experience. We went on a pretty cold day, however the weather didn t affect us much since we were inside. Once inside there is stroller parking and elevators. Snacks are welcome.

you can easily spend more than 5 hours specially if you have explorer kids... we love it and we got the tickets from AAA, and yes it deserve every penny specially the plastic exhibits, and also the Monterey bay story show , and now we are trying to reduce our plastic use to save the turtles.

Amazing. Way better than the one in Newport, Kentucky. it has amazing exhibits and is super fun for kids.

Fantastic place for kids, amazing location, must do if you are in the area....

WORTH EVERY PENNY. Cuddlefish!!!

However, if you want to avoid paying for parking, park in neighboorhoods up the hill, several blocks away. You'll enjoy a good walk anyway.

Don't make the $48 dollar mistake of thinking you can park in a grocery store lot or something like that.

Though, that's probably how Pacific Grove, CA makes super awesome income. Must be thousands of dollars a second based on the number of parking tickets I saw walking to and from the aquarium.

:)

Amazing spot for kids and adults. If you stay local, take sdvantage of the two day pass you can pirchade through most local hotels. Two days for the price of one...so ejen the kids get tired, before seeing everything, you can return the next day at no additional cost.

Nice experience and great staff. This is a must stop if you have kids or just appreciate the ocean.

The best aquarium in the world, and I've been to over 1/10th of them!

I love this place so much. All their exhibits are very well done and kid friendly. The 2nd floor is devoted to activities for younger kids. Great place to go at any age to learn more about the ecosystem of the bay and conservation efforts.

You can touch stingrays. Not too impressed with the crowd, but what do you expect. Bring some edibles, and get lost in the variety of exhibits they offer

Such unforgettable memory earned in the aquarium.
I love Jellyfish, so this place is like heaven to me.
Proceed through the door you would see the info center for picking up the map and feeding schedule, remember to take one with you if you like to see feeding for different fish and animals, ah of course can't miss the penguin.
It has a touch pool, where you can actually feel the fish and plant in the sea, staff full of knowledge about them would patiently explain any questions you have. Such a great learning experience for both adults and kids.
The cafe is great too if you would like to drop by.

This was our 3rd trip to Monterey and our 1st to the Aquarium. Honestly I had never been really interested but figured we really should check it out.
Now I have no idea why we waited so long. It's spectacular!
If you like to take pictures, this is heaven. Be prepared it's busy, be patient in waiting to get your photo op & be courteous not to be a window hog to get your perfect pic.
There is an amazing exhibit of artwork ( my fav was the Albatross) and the perfect mix of learning and exploring.
I left feeling serene (thank you underneath the sea exhibit) and appreciative of the beautiful world we live in. Also you understand how fragile that beauty is and it is all of our responsibility to ensure it remains.

Love the Aquarium and there's always something new to see. Go early and it's less crowded- definitely avoid holidays and school vacations.

Always a great time! First time we took our daughter and she probably had the best time in her 1 year old life. There's a lot of activities and exhibits for the littles to interact with.

This place gets massively crowded, but we went around 3pm on Friday (stays open till 6) and the place was relatively empty.

We are locals and LOVE coming to visit. It's always clean, always friendly, and just perfect for all ages

Nice displays. Plenty of room to move around. Great for kids and adults. You can easily spend most of the day there.

Best aquarium experience there is. Go here, great learning experience, awesome location, good food, everything you want in a day trip to go through everything there is to see there.

What an amazing place to take the family. There is something for kids of all ages including a play area for little toddler who can t walk yet. We stayed in Monterey for four days and went to the aquarium everyday at least once.

We can t wait to go there again! It will definitely be a top destination for our family.

Good place for young kids to learn about marine life with lots of hands on activities.

I loved this place it was very big and with amazing creatures. My favorite part were the 15 little penguins.

My first visit as a kid was phenomenal. Since then nothing much has changed. Great exhibits for the-little-ones. Young children and people who have never attended will love the aquarium. Pros: There's lots of marine life to observe. Cons: A bit pricey.

I would like for them to have more variety. Not worth the $55 dollars in my opinion. They had a lot of small fishes. And the area where the kids get to touch the animals is mostly full of sea plants not animals.

Very cool! Lots of walking with 3 levels of awesomeness!

place was amazing I took my nephew there I would recommend going there on the week instead of the weekend because it's really packed and there's a lot of people but other than that it is fantastic phenomenal and personally I would recommend everybody to at least try to go to it at least once.

This is an amazing aquarium and a treasure for our Central coast and our state truly gives you a better aspect and look at what Marine life is going on around us

Great time! Staff was friendly and helpful, clean and we'll organized. So many educational activities for our 16month old and a great family time.

Incredible aquarium. Gets very busy in the weekends but they are really good at keeping the ticket lines moving. Great place for families. They had a lot more hands on areas for very young children than other aquariums I've seen. Like how some exhibits included art.

A fun place with a lot of cool animals and fish. The giant octopuses are pretty active and it's cool to see them move and interact with people and other things in their tank.

My kids loved it here although i do wish we went on a slower day, we will go back soon

Amazing aquarium. Lots of hands on stuff and things to do throughout the visit (animal feeding). I loved watching the sea otters and penguins get fed. The only downside is the cost it's very expensive.

It had lots of fish and was nice to look at them. Was a pricy but would go again.. Amd i spent most of the time in the gift shop so i definetly recomend that also.

Loved it! The shoals of fish and jellyfish were mesmerising

Best aquarium. Great for children, so much to see and touch and hear. Always a must go anytime we visit California.

If you choose your visit time wisely, the Monterey Bay Aquarium can be one of the best aquariums experiences you'll ever have.

One of the most influential institutions in oceanic conservation and aquarium management. My favorite public attraction in all of California. They may no longer have the biggest tanks but they are still the best.

Great place to see marine life live! Children friendly, they have a lot to offer not only for kids but for adults as well! The staffs are friendly and can answer any of your questions. Very educational and entertaining as well...and it gets better every time I come back here! It s always worth a come-back!

Beautiful aquarium. A wide range of exhibits. Located right on the coast in Monterey.

Great place to visit, just awesome. The immense variety of fish is countless. Amazing shows, do not miss it.

This place was crazy busy but absolutely amazing! We loved every minute. I would definitely recommend coming in the off season if you could, though!

An very educational spot and fun for the whole family.

Great place. Lots of infotainment and knowledge for full family.

Quite amazing. A lot of species. Nice design. Well routed.

Excellent exhibits and wonderful day trip for the kids.

Doesn't get much better than this. Get to visit a few family members in Monterey every so often and make the extra effort to get to the aquarium every time. Something about those jellyfish! Always a good experience for the fam

I went to the aquarium today with family members. This trip was a gift from my daughter for my 65th birthday.
First off I want to thank Carina, at the front of the building. I'm not sure what her job title is, but she was so cheerful and helpful. She went out of her way to help me and I greatly appreciated it.
The only criticism i have of the aquarium is I would have found it helpful to have employees interspersed throughout answering questions and giving some insight.
Otherwise it was a wonderful day. .
Thank you
Ms. Jackson

Fantastic place great to take your kids. Really amazing kids will love it.

My first aquarium, excellent experience. I loved the otters

Always a captivating experience for our family. The kids love the jellyfish. My favorite is the cuttlefish! They have many different species to see & feedings throughout the day to watch.

Just too many people. Every exhibit was too crowded

A great place to visit with the family, there is a lot to do and see, definitely worth it.

It does take a couple hours to see the whole thing, so be there early to get the most of your day. :D

It was busy on the Friday we went, like a school field trip was going on. Many different activities for a range of ages

Great aquarium, especially for families with small kids. Unfortunately, it is overpriced and the places for some animals are quite small. For kids I love the area where you can touch sea plants and some animals.

The exhibits are fantastic. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. The food is way overpriced and very mediocre. The gift shop had some cool stuff, albeit expensive. Unfortunately they also have some mislabeled merchandise, my mom bought 2 nice 68$ hoodies. Somehow the 2X was smaller than the large. There was no phone number on the receipt. The website had a phone number but it is apparently only manned a few hours a day a few days a week. My mom lives in a small town in rural Washington so it's not like she can pop back in for an exchange.

Incredible family trip with our baby and grandparents! Activities and exhibits for all ages to enjoy.

THE BEST PLACE ON EARTH!!! I like to get in early and during the weekdays (less crowd & leas kids) so I can enjoy the jellyfish room while being able to hear the serene music they have playing. It s almost emotionally overwhelming for me to watch the jellies do their thing. The whole aquarium is so well thought out and great for all ages. I haven t tried the food yet, but there is always a big crowd. My family have a membership, which is nice because they have a separate, quicker entrance & you get notifications for special events! The staff is always asking if there s anything they can do for me or if I do ask a question, they have walked me to where I m looking. I am so impressed with this place!

It's not cheap, let's start there. At about $50 a ticket for adults, a little cheaper for kids, a family of 4 is looking at a $200 trip easy. Maybe consider a membership if you want to go more than once. That's what I did, and it's already saved me money. Food and drink is pricy here, but competitive for the area. You eat in a cafeteria style area, so any large group you can forget eating together. First come first serve. Despite the eating arrangements, the aquarium is beautiful. A lot of care goes into this aquarium and it shows. My kids (5 & 8) love it. There is a lot of intaction with exhibits and the entire aquarium is really clean. There is a lot to do and aquarium staff is very friendly. The way the aquarium is organized, it's level of professionalism, and the amount of stuff to look at makes it rate high on my Must See in Monterey list.

Always love going here. We've been members since 1983!

Wonderful place to take your family to and explore all the creatures of the sea. This is an animal sanctuary as well so the animals are not taken from their natural habitats just for show.

Amazing Aquarium, they tell you a lot of information about the ocean!

Only giving it 4 stars because of the crowds. If you go on a non crowded day I m sure it would be Fantastic exhibits though. Really well thought out too!

It is a very nice aquarium the best so far took my 1 yr old and she absolutely loved it

This aquarium is absolutely fantastic. I ve been to quite a few, and this one still blows me away every time I go. Catch the Otter Feeding and the Open Ocean.

Watching the sea otter feedings is a must. Loved going here as an kid and bringing in new generations to enjoy the fun.

Excellent aquarium, well staffed. Volunteers are really friendly and helpful. Lots to see and do. Well worth a visit.

A favorite of mine since I was a kid! I m lucky to still get to go as an adult on occasion. Can recommend, for all ages. Inspiring conservation of the ocean is one of the more important causes of our day and age, and a goal that we should all get behind.

Always a great time here. Do yourself a favor and grab a map and don't be afraid to ask the freindly staff for directions

Love, love, love this Aquarium!! There is hours and hours of things to do! The year round pass is the best because it's so dang expensive to go here but still worth it if you're just visiting. The feeding shows are so cool and theres so much for kids to explore as well. There's a lot of things you can touch as well including sting rays! Would definitely recommend!

Nice enough overall (famous and legendary, afterall). But when the school busses arrive, along with the tour busses and hoards of others, it becomes a trial. Pretty much always overcrowded. I guess just another problem that comes with success.

Are aquariums rolling in money or just struggling to get by. Zoos and Aquariums struggle in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

Great aquarium. Very educational, and the sea creatures are beautiful. Highly recommend going if you are in town with or without children.

Its not cheap but it is the best aquarium I have ever visited loved the sea otters. massive tanks really good Food was expensive but as it all goes back in.

Nice and educational. Highly recommend purchasing tickets online to avoid the lines. Also recommend NOT going on the weekend...very crowded!!
Must see the octopus and otters Enjoy some of the shows if you can--very interesting.

An amazing place. If you are in the area it's worth seeing, especially the deep ocean during feeding time.