Dubai has so many wonderful places to visit, most of which are world class icons. Including the Burj Khalifa – the tallest tower of the world, Dubai Mall – the largest mall of the world, Dubai Fountain – the highest fountain of the world which can be witnessed from the outer space, some of the largest waterparks, biggest adventure parks and so on and so forth.
Amongst all of these lies the Dubai Aquarium and underwater zoo – the largest indoor aquarium of the world. A must visit among the list of places to visit in Dubai. And we had the opportunity to visit here on the first day of our 6 days trip to Dubai. So, today, I plan to take you on a trip of the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo with me. And present you with all the information needed to visit here.
Table of Contents
An Introduction to Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
The Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo is located inside the Dubai Mall. While the Dubai Aquarium is located on the ground floor, the underwater zoo is on level one. And you can experience both with a combined ticket that can be bought online. Or, even as a part of a packaged tour.
Fact check : When I was searching for “Free things to do in Dubai”, I saw Dubai Aquarium on several lists. That’s because, the Dubai Aquarium is made in such a way that you can see the fishes while standing outside the aquarium. So, even I got into self-doubt for a while thinking what was I doing paying for this activity. But, believe me, what you see from outside is not even 10% of what the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo has got to offer you. So, you must visit here on your trip to Dubai.
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It is a lifetime experience visiting here, even more so if you have kids like mine. Who get extremely excited spotting aquatic animals. Towards the end of the tour, as my younger one saw penguins for the first time, her innocent and genuine words were –
” Mumma now I know for sure Penguins are for real. Only unicorns are mythical 🙂 “
And at that moment, I knew that visiting the complete Dubai Aquarium and Underwater zoo instead of just glimpsing on it from outside was a great decision. Before I take you on a virtual tour through the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater zoo, lets learn some interesting facts about this place.
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Interesting facts about Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
- The Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo comprises of more than 33000 different species of aquatic animals
- These animals comprise of 140+ different species
- The Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo has a 10 million litre fish tank which is fed with sea water – one of the largest in any aquariums in the world !!
- In fact, The Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo is one of the largest indoor aquariums in the World.
- It holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s “Largest Acrylic Pane”
- Here you not just witness the aquatic animals. But there are several interactive sessions planned at different stages like feeding. And also there are interactive educational videos that can help you learn more about the unique species you get to see here.
- Sand tiger sharks, Giant Groupers and several fishes along with other aquatic creatures like crocodiles, penguins, otters, reptiles like different snakes, frogs, chameleons, and UAE’s night creatures like the white owl, bats and several others.
- The size of fishes in this Aquarium ranges from tiny winy colourful fishes to giant sharks.
Now that you have read through these interesting facts about the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater zoo, you can decide for yourself if you would like to visit all it’s sections or just take a glimpse of it’s outsides. Lets get going 🙂
PS: Some of the experiences in Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo are similar to the ones you can have at Singapore Aquarium that we visited on our trip to Singapore. But many are very different.
How to go around the aquarium and underwater zoo in Dubai Mall
You can either first go to Aquarium or to the Underwater Zoo. If you have online tickets, they will be scanned at the entryway at both the places. Else, if you intend to buy the tickets here, you can do so from near the Aquarium on Level 0. We had arrived at the Dubai Mall around lunch time. So, we first finished lunch and then proceeded to level 0. Since, we already had the online ticket with us, we skipped the tickets queue and directly went inside the acrylic tunnel.
Aquarium Tunnel
As you enter inside the 48-meter long Aquarium tunnel, you will be asked to pose for a picture. They edit this picture and make it a perfect moment for you which you can buy as a souvenir once your visit completes.
Once inside the Aquarium tunnel, you can sit or stand on a side and see the fishes swimming all around you – big and small. Our younger kid was a little skeptical in the beginning, not trusting the glass that separated us from the fishes. But as she eased up, she started having a blast going up and down the tunnel, spotting different types of fishes. And even naming some of them!
Usually a 20-30 minutes is enough to spend in the aquarium at Dubai Mall. But, we spent almost 45 minutes here as my kids were so fascinated, they were not ready to walk out of the tunnel for a long time.
We could also see divers inside the fish tank. You can have the diving experience, and swim with the fishes of the fish tank. The entry and the ticket for this activity is via the underwater zoo. Let me take you there next.
The Underwater Zoo at Dubai Mall
Once you come out of the Dubai Aquarium, you will see footsteps of different animals leading you all the way from outside the Dubai Aquarium to the entry of the Underwater Zoo. I really liked how they have linked the path to both the experiences so that visitors don’t miss out on one after experiencing the other.
Once inside the underwater zoo at the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, the first thing you see is an interactive educative video about the different aquatic species present in this place. Using a touch screen, you can choose which particular animal you want to learn about and it will display information about them.
As you move further, your actual journey starts.
Inside the underwater zoo
On the one side you will encounter the naughty Otters jumping in and out of the water.
While on the other side, you will get to see some little turtles and very tiny and very colorful fishes of different types.
As you move further, you arrive at a Y – section. From here, you can either take left first or right. Both paths lead to two different sections.
Penguin encounter and other activities
We took the left. This section had the penguin encounters, the way to go down in the fish tank to dive and swim with the fishes, the ticket counters for all the extra tickets you might want to purchase for interactive sessions and incubators breeding embryos of jelly fishes and several other aquatic species.
Aquatic and nocturnal animals
After finishing a round of the left section we came back and went right this time. This section led to a big area that has several aquatic and nocturnal animals. These include –
Crocodiles – 3 big ones. The largest one is the King Croc, a whopping 750 kgs and measuring over 5m in length. Which is a native of the Australian Queensland region.
Reptiles including chameleons, lizards of different varieties, snakes of different types, frogs and many others.
Insects of different types including scorpions, wild ants etc. White owl, Asian Bats. And several other animal species.
Special sessions and encounters at the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
- Snorkeling experience in the fish tank for both divers and non divers.
- 2-day scuba diving training with PADI certification.
- Personal interactive session with Sand Tiger Sharks.
- Close encounters with penguins, piranhas, crabs, water rats, seahorses, jellyfish.
- Opportunity to feed fishes, penguins and otters.
- Glass Boat ride within the fish tank like a submarine ride.
- Diving in the Shark tank under expert supervision.
- Watch upclose the different aquatic animals getting fed.
- As you dive or snorkel, your experience gets captured using a camera, and can be later personalised and documented for you.
Timings of Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
Weekdays:- 10:00 AM – 11:00 PM – Last admission 10:15 PM
Weekends:- 10:00 AM – 00:00 Midnight – Last admission 11:15 PM
Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo Ticket cost
Currently the entry ticket to Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo costs AED 199 (INR 4521 or USD 55)
There are separate tickets of the glass bottom boat ride, the scuba diving, snorkeling and other additional activities apart from the above entry ticket.
There is a souvenir shop at the exit where you can buy things at their MRP.
And there is a personalised photo that the team at Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo will offer you. You can buy the same at additional cost.
What other places can we visit along with this aquarium and zoo
Since the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo is located in Dubai Mall, which is the largest mall in the world, there is a plethora of activities to be done within the Dubai Mall itself. Some of the top activities in Dubai Mall include –
- Visit the VR Park for some great virtual reality experience
- Let kids have a blast at kidzania
- Enjoy ice skating right in the centre of Dubai Mall at the ice skating rink
- Witness the waterfall inside the Dubai Mall – yes, you heard it right – a waterfall inside a mall!!
- Experience Reel cinema – one of the largest and most luxurious cinemas in the world
- Enjoy the candies and print 3D candies at Candilicious
- Witness the real fossil of a dinasorous at the centre of the Dubai Mall which is the Diplodocus longus – 24 metres long and 4 metres high!!
- Get a little fearful and enjoy the thrill at Hysteria
And since the Dubai Mall is located right in front of the Dubai Fountain, you can time your visit such that you catch an evening show at the Dubai Fountain after visiting the mall. Like we did on our trip. The Dubai Fountain show starts at 7:30 pm and then takes place every 10 mins for 2 minutes.
After witnessing the Dubai Fountain, you can proceed to the Burj Khalifa. And get a magical 360 degree night view of Dubai from top of the Burj Khalifa.
And then after completing the above activities, you can call it a day.
Time required to visit the Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
The Dubai Aquarium will take around 20-40 minutes to visit depending on your interest levels.
While you can easily spend 2+ hrs in the Underwater Zoo. If you plan on specific excursions and activities as mentioned above, like snorkeling or glass bottom boat ride or witnessing a feeding session etc. then you might need more time.
How to get to the Dubai Aquarium and Zoo
Using the Dubai Metro : The nearest station is the Burj Khalifa station (red line M1). From the station, there are frequent feeder buses to The Dubai Mall. The Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo is located inside the Dubai Mall. One can also walk from Burj Khalifa to Dubai Mall using the Metro Link Bridge.
Using Buses : Buses from route 27 from the Deira Gold Souk station and route 29 from Ghubaiba bus station leave for Dubai Mall every 15 minutes. These buses arrive and depart from the tourist drop-off area in the basement of the Dubai Mall. This area is located in front of the Grand Drive Entrance on Lower Ground Floor of The Dubai Mall.
Taxi : Taxis are the most convenient as well as expensive means to reach Dubai Mall and hence the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. You can stop a taxi on the streets and mostly they will give you a ride by the meter. Or, you can book taxis online using taxi booking apps like uber or careem. Taxis also drop and pickup people from designated location on the lower ground floor and the second floor of the Dubai Mall
The Coach : The Dubai Mall even runs a coach from various locations of Dubai. Refer this route map for the Dubai Mall Coach.
PS: We visited the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo as a part of our Dubai Trip. Here’s our complete guide to plan a trip to Dubai. It includes all the information on places to visit, Best localities to stay in Dubai, things to do in Dubai etc. Along with visiting the Heritage Village Dubai, we also visited Legoland Dubai, did a desert safari in Dubai and did a one day trip from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, explored the Dubai Mall, scaled the heights of Burj Khalifa and also explored the city of Dubai. You will find all the information in our trip itinerary with day by day plan.