Georgia Aquarium - Atlanta - TravBuddy

I am a sucker for marine life. I visit the Georgia Aquarium at least once every year, and I don’t even have a season pass. The entrance fee can be pretty steep ($24 for adults and there’s no student fee), especially when you have other places to visit in Atlanta. However, here’s the trick. If you go to the aquarium close to their closing time (around 4 PM – they close at 6), they sell the ticket half-price. Naturally, you need to make sure you get there in time and have sufficient time to browse around the exhibit. Plus, going there toward the end of summer when school has started helps a lot as there are not that many visitors.

So I paid $12 and with the aquarium map in hand, I was ready to greet my marine friends. To use the short period of time allotted to see all the great exhibits, try to go reverse. Most people like to start from ‘River Scout’ because it is just across from the entrance hall and go clockwise to other exhibits. I recommend starting from ‘Ocean Voyager’ or ‘Tropical Diver’ and go counter-clockwise. Better yet, never leave the site without experiencing the underwater tunnel and the gigantic viewing window in ‘Ocean Voyager.’

My fave was and has always been the re-creation of tropical coral reef environment in ‘Tropical Diver’ – it’s just so fantastic. For me it’s just a total relaxing gallery. It’s blue and green and tropical water creatures in exceptional colors. What makes this exhibit even perfect is the creation of crashing waves above the viewing gallery that come in every few minutes, complete with the sounds.

The layout of the Georgia Aquarium was a little confusing a first, but once you understand it, it is great. Each section you visit is a different theme. They have a great kids area with slides and pools to pet different aquatic life. We could hardly get our daughter to leave the children's area. One thing I do recommend is that you eat before you go. There is a cafeteria style food area that is very expensive. We spent more than double what it would have cost outside of the aquarium.
I thought that the admission was a little high, especially for the children. Overall, the trip was enjoyable.
A parking garage is attached to the Georgia Aquarium. The cost is $10.

Newly openned, the Georgia Aquarium is a high volume state of the art aquatic complex in Atlanta, Georgia. The main attraction at the Georgia aquarium is the approximately 6 million gallon Ocean Voyager exhibit which houses the world's largest fish, the whale shark, as well thousands of smaller fish ranging from hammerhead sharks to grouper to stingrays and everything inbetween. All told, around 85,000 animals share this tank (most of them small fish swimming in large schools). The Cold Water Quest was also fantastic, this exhibit houses beluga whales, sea otters, sea lions and giant octopus as well as others. Other exhibits include the Tropical diver, a small coral reef exhibit; the River Scout, featuring freshwater fish and Asian small-clawed otters and the Georgia Explorer, featuring animals native to Georgia. This attraction costs around $20 per person, which is about average for an aquarium, and you should consider booking your reservation ahead of time online. Only a certain number of people are let in per hour, and online reservations ensure that you'll be able to get in when you want.