Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport

There are many displays, indoors and out with enough variety to interest children and adults. My kids like petting the anemones and I enjoy the shore birds exhibit, but the tunnel aquariums are where we spend the most time. The nearby Hatfield Marine Science Center is a superb value, less showy but equally educational and I believe by donation. Bring layers or a raincoat to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, as you never know what the coast has in store for weather.

I would suggest going here if you want to have fun with your family on the coast. It's a great atmosphere with touch tanks, tunnels underwater, a bird exhibit, and depending on when you go a different exhibit almost every year. It's very easy to log on to their website to tell when they are putting up a new exhibit and to plan your trip for a different time. The staff is very friendly, and very knowledgeable in the different species and varieties of marine life; they tell you about their diets, habitats, lifestyles, predators, and more. It's well worth the price if you plan on going once, or buying a membership to go back over and over; the staff makes sure to keep the glass outsides of the tanks very clean so you can get good photos, excellent photo opportunities btw; also most of the stuff is indoors so if the weather does take a turn for the worse you have somewhere to go, also some of the outdoor exhibits have shelter you can stand under and still see the animals. Definitely a must go, i would rate it a 9/10 far better than the aquarium in Seattle by far, A LOT MORE marine animals that aren't just fish; you actually get to see sharks, sting rays, and various other animals (alligators, puffer fish, spider crabs, multiple varieties of jelly fish, sea birds, ect) well worth it, so go and find out for yourselves!

Let my start off by saying i am an aquarium enthusiast. I read a lot of good reviews on this place so i headed down there from Washington. The Good: Clean, many species of fish, Shark tunnel is awesome, Touch tank is fun. The Bad: When i showed up i found out two exhibits were closed (only one had been listed on the website), Half of it was outside which is horrible for the Oregon coast where it is always raining and very cold and windy, The inside exhibits glass were all fogged up from the humidity in this place (you literally had to wipe the glass down with your sweatshirt to get a view), The staff are mostly Senior citizen volunteers who don't know anything about the fish and were rather unfriendly, Inside most of the tanks there were fake plants or glass beads instead of natural elements, and it costs 15.00 a person although i takes about an hour to explore all the areas thoroughly. If you love fish and live in the NW i would suggest the Seattle aquarium which is better in every way!

Very nice aquarium with a good variety of displays and aquatic life. Definitely worth seeing and a good value for y

my grandson wanted to see santa clause when we were living in newport. we walked around and seen the bats and other interesting things to see

I liked how all the animals were takin great care of. Everyone in the aquarium was nice and helpful. There were so many animals! There was so many nice people!

I loved the aquarium... it is a bit overpriced though. The crab exhibit was finished, so the whole area was closed. Maybe the price should reflect that. I thougth the Passages of the Deep was the coolest, I could stand in there for hours.

We went here on New Years day with our 6 and 3 year old and had a great time! Kid friendly and relaxing day.

Not exactly what you want to see when you spend a reasonable amount on entry. This place has found the dumps after Keiko left in 00?

It never seems too crowded. We try to go in the middle of the week. We go every year and the kids never get bored! There is enough to do for all ages.