Lisbon aquarium review – visiting Oceanario at Parque das Nações

In all my previous visits to Portugal, I’d never managed to squeeze in a day at Oceanario – but as you’ll see from my Lisbon aquarium review, this really is one of the best things to do in Lisbon with kids.

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My daughter has been fascinated by the underwater world since she was a toddler, and so we’ve found ourselves checking out fish, penguins and other marine creatures in aquariums around the world.

But there’s no question that Lisbon’s aquarium, in the Parque das Nações, is one of the best in Europe. Read on for the full Oceanario review to find out why.

Visiting the Lisbon aquarium: need to know

Opened in 1998, as part of the Lisbon Expo, the Oceanario aquarium is a little way from the centre of Lisbon in the Parque das Nações: it’s easy to hop on a bus to take you there, or the metro to Oriente station on the red line – public transport is included in the Lisboa card, Lisbon’s city pass.

If you’re planning to buy tickets for a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Lisbon, you can get combined options with entry to Oceanario and use the bus as transport too, as the route takes you to the Parque das Nações

With the Telecabine cable cars, the Pavilhão do Conhecimento science centre, waterside walks, public art, gardens and restaurants, it’s just as easy to spend the whole day in the area – including hours at the aquarium itself.

You can buy skip-the-line tickets to Oceanario online, but otherwise it’s worth getting there as early as you can after the 10am opening time as even in February (albeit in school holidays), the line started forming early.

There are also combined tickets to the Lisbon aquarium and zoo if you’re travelling to Lisbon with kids who love animals, and can’t choose between the two. Or get combined tickets for Oceanario and the Telecabine cable car.

The aquarium is buggy-friendly if you’re visiting Lisbon with a baby or toddler, and very easy to navigate. There are also lockers and baby changing (although no specific baby feeding areas), plus under-twos go free.

Check out my complete guide to Portugal with kids here

Oceanario: Lisbon aquarium review

Right from the moment you walk into Oceanario, the design of the aquarium is intended to make you think about the way the world’s oceans connect to each other.

Set around a huge central tank, the rest of the aquarium is divided into four quarters representing different areas of the world, from Antarctica and the North Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and Pacific.

Along the way, you’ll discover different creatures and habitats, with sea birds, other marine life and amphibians as well as the usual fish. Split over two floors, it also means you can see some of the tanks from above and below too.

Before you reach the main aquarium, there’s a temporary exhibition – during our visit, it was Forests Underwater, with a whole area dedicated to tropical forests.

Home to more than half the species to be found on the planet – despite taking up less than 6% of the Earth’s surface – it was a lovely glimpse into one of the world’s most diverse, and most threatened habitats.

With mood lit tanks running around the edge of the room plus added displays to tell you more about the creatures who make their home in these forests, it was an incredibly calm space – my daughter was mesmerised by the tiny silvery fish which flitted through the water.

But eventually I persuaded her away to head over the bridge out to the main aquarium, itself set on the water, for a first glimpse of the huge central tank.

With five million litres of seawater, and some floor-to-ceiling windows to gaze through along the way, you can almost imagine yourself in there with the fish.

A whole string of different rays and sharks cruise through the deep blue water, shoals of silvery fish swirling suddenly past with the occasional gigantic gleam of an ocean sunfish.

It’s a lovely way to connect all the parts of Oceanario: rounding a corner, there would regularly be another window into this undersea world, a chance to spot a new set of inhabitants, some lurking on the seafloor, others floating leisurely past or swimming through an eye-catching rock arch.

As you work your way through the aquarium, it’s almost like recognising old friends – some of whom seemed as fascinated by us as we were by them.

But at regular intervals, you’re swept away from this particular undersea world to venture into another ocean habitat so there’s never any chance to get bored.

Walking through the Atlantic habitat, we saw puffins speeding across the surface of the water while other seabirds soared overhead.

In the Antarctic habitat, rockhopper and Magellanic penguins waddled over the rocks, wiggling their tails before plunging back into the depths – later we got a second view from below, watching them glide gracefully through the water in a blur of black and white.

Each individual penguin is marked with coloured beads on their flipper and there’s a chart on the wall too, so you know who you’re looking at – Oliver Twist in one case, which amused us.

It’s another of the lovely touches which helps kids feel even more connected to the creatures: my daughter darted back and forth trying to identify the penguins on the rocks before picking her favourite names and trying to spot them in the water.

One of the biggest highlights was waiting in the Pacific zone, where you can spy Europe’s only sea otters.

We’re both a sucker for otters anyway, but sea otters really are wonderful – we could hardly drag ourselves away as we watched one sculling across the habitat on her back, paws full of what looked like strips of cuttlefish bone or clam shell before somersaulting onto her stomach and submerging in a powerful dive.

It’s something to do with the slightly disapproving but still distinctly cute expression they have, I think. Obviously less cute if you’re a clam watching one bear down on you hungrily!

Along the way, there are plenty of colourful fish to spot with some kid favourites like clownfish and blue tangs (aka Nemo and Dory), a bright yellow porcupine puffer fish, zebra fish, butterfly fish and trigger fish.

But you can also spy a giant Pacific octopus and various eels, plus tanks of jellyfish, including moon jellyfish floating dreamily in a tank.

Elsewhere, there were sea horses but also leafy sea dragons, disguised against the fronds of undersea plants.

Another section included amphibians, with poison dart frogs hopping brightly and lethally through the leaves, fire salamanders curled up together in a corner.

All in all, there are around 8,000 different creatures from 500 different species, so this is still only a taste of what you can expect to find.

There’s a big emphasis on conservation too. The aquarium is involved in various projects worldwide, including some in Portuguese waters – such as with manta rays in the Azores – as well as elsewhere across the globe.

And as well as encouraging all visitors to protect the wonderful creatures on display, there were some extra displays – art highlighting the problem of plastic pollution, for example.

As we turned around the final corner, I felt very tempted to turn around and do it all again.

What to do after visiting Lisbon’s aqarium

While you’re at the Parque das Nações, don’t miss the chance to wander around the area.

There’s some great public art, from the black tiled shapes in the pavement near Oceanario to this ferocious head emerging from the water – we couldn’t decide if it was sea monster or sea dragon.

Elsewhere, this brightly coloured cat made from plastic was eye-catching against the blue skies – especially when you saw the very ordinary pieces it was made from, right down to dustbin lids.

Or spot your country’s flag among the line-up from the countries originally attending the Lisbon Expo 98.

The water gardens, or Jardins da Agua are lovely shady spots to stroll through with sculptures as well as water features – you’ll spot fountains all over.

Wander along the waterfront boardwalk and there are some fabulous views of the Vasco da Gama bridge curving across the horizon too.

The best panoramas over the River Tagus are from the cable car though – the Telecabine runs overhead from near Oceanario to more gardens, Jardim Garcia de Orta.

You can choose to sail one way or choose a return trip, which takes around 20 minutes and costs only slightly more than a one-way ticket – you can buy tickets online in advance to save queuing (including one-way tickets)

We went for a return trip, looping around back to where we started, before walking through the Parque das Nações to find lunch.

There are a string of restaurants to choose from, including fast food and plenty of other child-friendly options. We grabbed an outdoor table at Zero Zero for some fantastic pizza and chance to soak up some sun.

If you’re spending the whole day in the area, you could also visit the Pavilhao do Conhecimento – the Pavilion of Knowledge has plenty of chance for kids to get hands on with some science experiments.

For more great things to do in Lisbon with kids, check out my top picks, as well as a review of our self-catering Lisbon apartment

PIN FOR LATER: LISBON AQUARIUM REVIEW

Disclosure: Our entry to Oceanario was free for the purpose of this Lisbon aquarium review. All opinions and love of sea otters are my own. This post contains affiliate links – any purchases you make are unaffected but I may receive a small commission

Images copyright MummyTravels

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