New England Aquarium Review

The aquarium was ok. Lack of large exhibits made the walkthrough pretty quick. All the exhibits were well put together just lacking in variety.

My only other aquarium experience is Baltimore which is much larger, so take my review with a grain of salt.

A great aquarium with wonderful experiences and a beautiful central aquarium that you walk a spiral ramp around for 3 stories. Great staff and beautiful sea life shown off here.

Crowded and small for the price you pay. Go elsewhere

Great aquarium if you combine it with a Boston Go City Card. Otherwise a little pricey.
Beautiful fish, turtles and penguins. There are starfish for people to pet. Sea lions are great too.

No to as great as 20 yrs ago but my kids also love it so tootolls to them

Such a cool place to visit in Boston! The aquarium is absolutely beautiful, and is located right on the waterfront near the North End. While the tickets are pretty expensive, the aquarium is a good size and is very unique, featuring a cylindrical deep ocean tank with a walkway that spirals up to the top. All around the outside of the ocean tank are a bunch of smaller exhibits displaying different kinds of aquatic habitats ranging from east coast tide pools to the rainforests of South America. There also also two different touch tanks, one for tidepool creatures and one for rays, as well!
There is a cafe and gift shop within the aquarium, and there are lockers and stroller storage for families.

I really like it .
So far that's the most beautiful aquarium ever been.
A place to visit .

I'm a native New Yorker. We have some excellent aquariums. I like the New England aquarium more. Fantastic layout.

Get discounted tickets from your local library and go on school days for the best experience, it tends to get crowded.

I had brought my service dog here to see how she would interact with the environment she absolutely love watching the seals and penguins swim. We also brought her on a whale watch in she loves it I plan on going many more the summer

Thought it would of been bigger not impressed for the cost

The aquarium is nice, lots to see but it might run a bit small for a large city aquarium.

1.Must see the octopus!!!
2.The panels on the first floor are very informative.
3.Its a cool aquarium, however it reminded me bit of a garage converted to an aquarium, maybe because of that central spiral ramp.

With the newly rebuilt big ocean tank, the many smaller exhibits, and the ray touch tank, this is a great 'smaller aquarium' (as opposed to, for example, Mystic, with a much larger footprint but no single thing as special as the big ocean tank). NEA also has a clear conservation mission, putting it above other animal exhibits in the area where the conservation mission may be less clear. The facility is also well kept, and the staff are generally friendly and knowledgeable. It would be great if the aquarium were open an hour later on weekdays, as trying to get from school to downtown and actually have time to see anything is a challenge and makes the annual membership somewhat less worth while.

Aquarium itself was decent. Spent about 90 minutes meandering the premises.
40 dollars to park for 90 minutes is my complaint.

Good aquarium...but not great. High priced for what they offer. Over $100 for family of three plus parking. (Add IMAX movie, food, and a t-shirt and you're easily over $200.) You could tour the entire place in an hour. Okay displays but no large fish. No large or medium sized sharks, small whales either. Interesting smaller fish displayed in tanks that are well lit and clean. Seal and penguin exhibits are nice. Crowded city traffic to and from the aquarium can be expected.

The huge central tank is the primary draw, and it's surrounded by a smattering of exhibits. In general, it's pretty small and you can go through it in three hours.

Have not been here since I was a child. Still just as fun. Love the sea lions and sea turtles!

Awesome collection of sea animals
My kid enjoyed a lot

I like the seal show, it's nit very big aquarium but still worth to see different kind of fish and sharks

One of the best aquarium we ve visited by far in USA. So far we have been to SFO, CA, Charleston, SC, Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Columbia, SC aquariums. By far the best one is the Boston New England Aquarium. There cylindrical giant sea tank was our favorite. There is a giant sea turtle 90+ years old. Their dolphin show was on another level. Everything is well organized. Giant anaconda, unbelievable sea horses are awesome! Definitely a must visit place in Boston.

The facility was under construction, so a majority of the experience felt incomplete or appeared unsightly. The penguins were "on vacation," which means patrons could not observe most of them, except for a few that were in the corner of one room. The building felt congested, despite the fact that it was the off-season (March).

The positive aspects of the experience were due to the impressive nature of the animals; the sea otters were incredible and close to the viewer, the jellyfish were amazing to observe, and one exhibit allowed you to touch the sting-rays. That was fun!

With the cost of admission being $8 and $18 for children and adults, respectively, and with parking that was $8 - $60, depending on whether you stayed 20 minutes or 3 hours, the experience may or may not be worth the money.

This is a great place to visit! Make sure to see one of their movies as they are great! If it is cold outside, bring a jacket because seals are held in an outside location. It is covered with a "roof" but it can get quite chilly.
This is a very popular place and it can get quite crowded but it is definitely worth visiting. We loved watching seals play.
They provide very interesting classes on animals, their lives, and required care.

Beautiful for those traveling with children, an expensive attraction for those who have already visited similar sites.

Overpriced. The wait in the pouring rain to purchase tickets was 45 minutes. It was so crowded I felt the floor give a little.

Went here at the same time as I went to the Museum of Science.
The aquarium is just the place to lose yourself for a few hours . It s amazing. I went as a kid and loved it. I had to go back as an adult and made the trip . It's so worth it !

Nothing but small animal tanks. Nothing exciting or interesting. Price was a total rip off. In there for less than 1 hour to see everything.

Beautiful facility with a lot of interesting information. Try not to drive there, the nearby parking is very expensive. Don't miss the stingray tank just off of the main entrance.

Luckily got free tickets from a friend and enjoyed our visit. Not very large, didn't expect to go outside and then back in (seals), but they were adorable.

Lots of penguin's. No sharks.

Two turtles i chased up and down the center tank, so pretty.

Very pretty jelly fish.

It is not a large place, it can get very crowded very quickly.

My family has had a membership here for years. There is so much to see here that if you don't walk slowly you will miss something! The sea lion show is short in length which is perfect for kids with short attention spans. It can be extremely crowded during peak vacation times. There are two different touch stations and endless tanks to peek in. The nice thing is that it is walking distance from Faniel Hall. The cafe is cramped and expensive. The gift shop is full of so many sea creature stuffies that kids and adults will want and those are $20 each. So definitely expect to spend. For fans of aquariums, the membership pays for itself in two visits.

Love visiting here. Good for a day of entertainment.

Over rated and over crowded. The national aquarium in Baltimore is like a major upgraded version of this one. I guess it's still better than the renovated Coney island one...

Great aquarium with plenty to see and do for kids. Crab/starfish touch tank, shark touch tank, penguin exhibit, etc.

This aquarium was large, clean, and had a lot of different animals.

Great sensory friendly experience - opened early for it, thank you

It s ok to spend few hours but not worth for your money! They advertise movies but it comes with it s own cost

I like aquariums, and this one was fun. Big emphasis on the penguins I guess. The big tank in the center was something I spent a lot of time staring into. They also had so.e cuddle fish which are radder than your average aquarium exhibit.

Such an amazing aquarium. It's smaller than the more sprawling ones like Chicago Shedd Aquarium, but the layout is so fun. It's brilliantly put together, with everything designed around the central big ocean tank. Absolutely worth the ticket price!

The penguins exhibit has each of the penguins tagged, and you can look up their names and little stories on each one. That was my favorite part!

Myrtle the Turtle is a 550 pound 95-year-old green sea turtle that is "queen of the tank" and is quite a spectacle.

Aquarius with excellent structure, only loses to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Taiwan.

If you want something unique, fun, and memorable for your wedding, I highly recommend NE Aquarium! As a wedding photographer, there is SO many portrait possibilities for you. They are clean and super friendly.

Small, warm, welcoming, simple, very good place to visit, a must-see in the city

You can experience some endanger species here... A must place for travelers with kids.. pretty expensive tho -26$-

Enjoyed going to this aquarium, was a nice set up with a giant tank in the center to walk around with other exhibits to see around it

Beautiful area with awesome animals to see, although a little expensive.

A great adventure for kids and adults. The penguins are so much fun to watch. The sea lions and fur seals are incredible. My 4 year old daughter loves the big tank in the middle, with the huge sea turtles.

Not enough stuff and expensive. The aquarium where i live is 3x as big.

Good for families, but doesn't rate high vs aquariums in other cities. A little underwhelming.

Nicely set up aquarium, loved the sea turtles and seals!

Really great attraction was a lil crowded so didn't get to see everything with out interruption however it was really amazing

It was so much fun! 4 stars because the gift shop was over priced, but I'll still go back and spend more $ than I should.

Very clean and great for adults and kids alike. My favorite was the shark and stingray touch tank.

Beautiful fun and incredibly interesting place. Recommend it to everyone

Nice aquarium, set right on the coast. A bit smaller than I expected it would be.

It was nice to see the live penguins when you walk in and stingrays , But the shark exhibition was closed. You did see a lot of different types of dishes a huge fish tank in the middle. The seals were outside of the aquarium which I prefer for it to be inside so I can enjoy taking better pictures and the heat not being on me so much. But that was all. I really did expect a bit more for the price I paid. But I do recommend for families.

Great place to learn new things in our oceans and a place for kids to see love animals

This is a decent aquarium. You can see the while thing in less than 2 hours.

Always fun to go to. Found out about their renovations coming up and can't wait to see the new tanks!

I have been to many aquariums, and this one luckily had no empty exhibits. I went during President's Day weekend, so it was really crowded. It was hard to get around, but they tried to sell you a picture. I would have had to buy 3 pictures and could not buy 1 single picture. Unfortunately, I did not stay long, but it was worth the price with the city pass booklet.