Since I don’t live near a beach when I want to sea underwater animals I do the next best thing, visit the aquarium. While we were exploring Houston with our CityPASS I quickly added a visit to the Downtown Aquarium to our itinerary. When we arrived at the Aquarium on a Saturday afternoon, the ticket booths and outdoor area was packed. I had hoped for less people inside, but was disappointed. If you feel claustrophobic, I suggest going at nonpeak times because the exhibit rooms are small and become crowded quickly.
The aquarium features eight exhibits:
- The Louisiana Swamp— Can’t get enough of the bayou? It’s a Cajun country delight with alligators, snapping turtles, bullfrogs and all those other critters that live in the swamp.
- Shipwreck—Find aquatic treasure in the sunken hull of a 17th century Spanish galleon. Living coral reefs are filled with Clownfish, tangs, a moray eel and even a giant pacific octopus.
- The Rainforest—Explore a river teeming with Red-bellied piranhas and venomous freshwater stingrays. And it’s not just fish we should beware! Watch out for the emerald tree boa. It’s not all dangerous in the Rainforest, colorful frogs and birds are also on exhibit.
- The Sunken Temple—Take a visit back in time to the land of the ancient Mayans. There’s plenty of activity here with an electric eel, a Tiger Reticulated Python and my personal favorite, pufferfish.
- The Gulf of Mexico—What’s a visit to Texas without a tribute to their huge gulf? Watch out for the Nurse sharks swimming among the offshore rig drivers.
- The Education Room—This is a great place for the kids with plenty of hands on learning. You can watch interactive monitors that follow sharks in real time as well as learn about animals like bearded dragons and snakes. Of course, you can learn about several species of fish too.
- White Tigers of the Maharaja’s Temple—This exhibit caught me off guard. A white tiger was the last animal I expected to see at an aquarium. He’s truly a beautiful animal and the room is large enough to stand and admire the view for as long as you want.
There’s also a Stingray Reef, available for an additional fee. People are encouraged to pet the stingrays. Food can be purchased if you would like to try your hand at feeding them.
It’s hot in Houston in the summer and kids will want to experience the outdoor area where they can splash in a cool sprinkler, play games or ride one of four rides. My favorite? The Shark Voyage where people can hop aboard the train and ride through the center of a 200,000 gallon shark tank for an up-close view of a variety of shark species.
Travel Tips:
Use a CityPASS and you don’t have to wait in long lines, you can go straight inside. This pass also allows admission to the Stingray Exhibit.
If you don’t want to purchase a CityPASS, purchase an All-Day Adventure Pass for $16.99. It includes all day access to the exhibits and stingray reef, plus unlimited rides.
Parking costs an additional $5.00.
Have you visited the Houston Aquarium? What travel tips do you have to share?
They have a splash pad too? Awesome! We always do the stingray areas. It’s the best part 🙂
This looks like a place that my boys would just love.
WOW.. what a great Aquarium… I’m sooo jealous of your Houston trip and this post just wants me to go to Houston… This looks like a wonderful place to take your family and soo many things to do and to see. Thanks for sharing… One day I will make it there and see all the fun things for myself.. until then I will keep following your posts…
That is great… when you are in Atlanta, come to our aquarium,.
Ooh, this looks like a lot of fun! Love all of the different themed exhibits!
Did you try feeding the stingrays? I’ve done it a few times at SeaWorld – it’s a freaky feeling!
You got a great picture of the tiger! We were lucky to go when it wasn’t so busy. The kids had a blast! We pet the sting rays, too! 🙂
The Louisiana swamp seems like it would spot on to the real thing. Interesting that they have a tiger there. My favorite mammal to see is the manatee. I haven’t been to the aquarium in years, and would love to visit one. You reminded me how fun and educational aquariums are.
Wow!! That is a lot of exhibits in that one spot. It is almost like visiting 8 places for the price of one. I would love to see the White Tigers. They used to have them at the Mirage in Las Vegas but have since done away with that.
That is some Aquarium!! If I lived in Houston I would be a visitor more then once for sure!!
I’ve never been before to the Houston location. We’re lucky to live in Atlanta and visit the Georgia Aquarium. The Houston one looks like a fun experience, too!
That looks amazing. I haven’t been to one in a long time. Love all of the exotic fish and the tiger at the end.
Looks like a neat place and the tiger is so beautiful. I want to take my kids to our local aquarium hopefully before summer concludes.
This aquarium looks like an amazing place to visit with the family. My sons would love to go there and see all of the animals.
I was surprised to see the tiger also! Lovely aquarium. I bet it was really nice to get in from the heat and visit all the beautiful fish swimming around.
My son would love visiting here. He is 3 years old and at the age where seeing fish or animals in “real life” is absolutely amazing. I always call stuff like this “good childhood” when I try to convince my husband into going. 🙂
The white tiger is beautiful, what a wonderful surprise at the Houston Aquarium!
A white tiger was the last animal I expected to see at an aquarium too. Is he real? He sure looks like he is real. What a great idea. I love aquariums and I’m going to vacation in Houston now after seeing all these great places to visit.
Oh wow, that aquarium looks incredible!!!! I was also shocked about the tiger.. and ever more so about the awesome outdoor water and activities! That sounds amazing!
Looks like a ton of fun for the entire family! Love the tiger! My kids would like the fish most though 🙂
Wow what an aquarium 🙂 I would love to get to look around it 🙂 x
I love visiting aquariums so much. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Just grab my camara and go have fun!
That white tiger is gorgeous! I love aquariums and would love to go to this one!
That is one amazing aquarium! And I thought the one down here was fun!