Monterey Bay Aquarium

What a wonderful place. Definitely better then Disney World. This place is huge! Took a couple of hours to see everything and I loved every min of it! The staff is wonderful! Just a great place to be.

Been to most of the biggest Aquariums in the west and this by far is the best. Pricy but if it's for the animals then I'm all for it.

Wonderful, educational, and great location! You must buy your tickets online and join the membership to do so. In joining, you will have to give out your personal information. Masks are no longer required. If you’re hungry, they do have a cafeteria, but bring your wallet! CA-CHING! $6.49 for a cup of iced tea! So…. A cheeseburger, fries, and three drinks will cost you around $41.00!

We love this aquarium, and we try to bring our kids here 1-2 times a year, if possible. It's small enough to do in a day, but there are interactive areas to make the day stretch if you want.
The new deep ocean area is really interesting, but I do wish they had more luminescent animals for viewing.
They do not sell tickets on site anymore, So you need to purchase them online before you arrive.

Was wonderstruck watching the "deep sea" section. Don't miss watching the feeding times of otters and fishes. They have informative sessions at the auditorium. I wouldn't recommend the food at the cafeteria. There are better places nearby for lunch.

Very expensive compared to the content much less interesting and surprising than the La Rochelle aquarium. Also very very noisy, visitors speak very loudly, children shout and bang on the windows. All the serenity of the place is invaded and thwarts the visit

It’s good but too pricey, it can be out of the reach for lower income groups if you have 2-5 kids above 4 years.
Fo your own research before planning to visit this aquarium.

Impressive exhibits but eye watering ticket prices. The aquarium has quite a few big tanks with an impressive collection of fish. Be prepared to spend a whole day to fully armotize the ticket cost.

This aquarium is extraordinary! It is worth the waiting time and the cost. You can see a lot of beautiful and awesome species.

This was my first time to any aquarium in general and I was amazed! All the people complaining about the crowds are Karens! I feel like you should know by default there will be a lot of people especially on a weekend and during the summer when it’s hot and Monterey is one of the only cooler places in California during summer. Overall though I personally had a wonderful experience and there were many cool things to look at and experience!

It is a beautiful aquarium and the outdoor terraces offer a view of the sea. We saw sea otters swimming in the sea. They can also be admired inside.
You could only buy tickets online. We were sent away at the entrance to buy tickets first. To buy the tickets you have to create an account for which you have to enter a ridiculous amount of personal data. It's quite pricey.

A nice place to visit with family and children. The line to get in was less than five minutes.the cost is a little high, but the amount of small things to do is great. There were a few petting areas where you could feel kelp and sea urchins. As well as one with different kinds of rays. It was slightly crowded.

Fun aquarium with rich collection of species and many experiences for kids, including pools where you can touch the creatures. Tickets are very expensive. Buy tickets online for a $10 discount.

The exhibits are wonderful, and everyone working there is friendly and informative. You will learn so much about our oceans and enjoy yourself while doing it. Be warned though that the crowds get intense. We went on a random summer Tuesday and it got unbearably crowded by 1. We left and shopped Cannery Row and Fisherman's Wharf for a few hours.when we returned at 4pm it was empty enough that we could linger as long as we wanted at each exhibit. Lesson learned.

Spent one night in beautiful Monterey during a 12 day road-trip and visited the aquarium. It was beautiful, entertaining and educational, we explored for over 3 hours. It was a Sunday afternoon and it was crowded, so no surprise that it would be a little difficult to get a good spot in front of the exhibits at times. It was surprising however how noisy all the overexcited children were, understandably so, the place IS exciting and kids will be noisy.
Just be prepared, unless you are in one of the outdoor areas, to be in a fairly crowded, noisy and pretty dark indoor space.
I used to scuba dive in the Southern California kelp forests off Point Loma, La Jolla and Catalina island, so this wonderful aquarium brought back some fine memories.

Completely mind blowing. The tanks are massive and present like the most impeccable screen savers! The collection of fish, jellies, crustaceans and corals is stupendous and the charm of the sea otters is enough to disarm even the harshest critic. 3.5 hours spent and we could have done more. Just a wonderful space that is doing important work.