Waikiki Aquarium

On a rainy day, the Waikiki Aquarium is a great place to go. On a sunny day, the cool and darkened inside-exhibit area is a welcome relief from too much "fun in the sun". Some consider this to be the best small aquarium in the world. The Waikiki Aquarium has both an outdoor section and an indoor one. Outdoors, you can watch Hawaiian monk seals frolick in the water or get up close to see the Edge of the Reef exhibit.

Indoors you'll find a reef shark tank, several types of jellyfish, sea dragons, octopus, eels, and a colorful assortment of tropical reef fishes. What you may not realize, however, is that the Waikiki Aquarium has a world class assortment of live coral. Thanks to an innovative design, the tanks have access to natural sunlight which allows the coral to thrive.

The Aquarium is open daily from daily from 9AM - 5PM. It's closed on Christmas Day.

  • Waikiki Aquarium

    Waikiki Aquarium

  • Waikiki aquarium shark tank

    Watch the sharks in action

  • Moon jellies - jellyfish

    Be mesmerized by the moon jellies

  • Octopus

    The octopus is often quite active and playful

  • Tropical fish and coral at the Waikiki aquarium

    Colorful tropical fish and coral

  • Carpet anemone at Waikiki aquarium

    Carpet anemone

  • Tropical fish and coral at the Waikiki aquarium

    More tropical fish and coral"

Official Website:   http://www.waquarium.org/





Tips:
* Be sure to pick up the audio tour wand that come with your paid admission. Many of the tanks and exhibits have numbered plaques indicating a stop on the audio tour. You will enjoy the aquarium much more if you make use of this feature.

* There are often interesting early morning and after-hours educational activities for children and adults held here. Check out the website for a listing of upcoming events.

* Don't forget to check out the gift shop filled with ocean-related gifts, books, toys, and artwork.

* If you have kids, they might enjoy swinging on the vines of the large banyan trees adjacent to the museum. There's also an ocean-front walkway between the back of the aquarium building and the ocean. This heads down past Queen's Beach into Waikiki.

 

Explore the Waikiki Aquarium using Google Street View

Position your mouse over the image below and click on the circles to navigate through the front doors of the aquarium to the exhibits outside behind the building. See if you can find the Edge of the Reef exhibit. Be careful where you click or you will hop the fence and end up walking along the ocean. On second thought, go ahead and hop the fence! Click on the upper right corner to view it in full-screen mode.

 


 

Getting there:
The Waikiki Aquarium is located at 2777 Kalakaua Avenue on the Ocean near the Diamond Head side of Waikiki. It's a good-length walk from most of the Waikiki hotels. You can take The Bus #2 route: Waikiki-Kapiolani Park. The Waikiki Trolley red line and blue line also stop in front of the aquarium. If you drive, the aquarium has free parking in its small lot. There usually is a spot available. On-street parking is also available, but don't count on it on the weekends because of competition with beachgoers.

 


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Video of the Waikiki Aquarium