On August 13th, my father, my children, a friend from Paddy's school and his family went to the Oceanarium in Lisbon. My father is the most fascinated person about fish that I know and I made sure to include this tour during his 3-week stay here in Portugal. It was a delightful tour, because seeing him as excited as his 3-year-old grandson was simply wonderful! <3

Tickets

We drove for 40 minutes from Cascais and parked the car in the parking lot indicated for the Oceanarium, very close to there. We didn't buy tickets online because we didn't know what time we would be able to arrive and also because we didn't see any discounts for tickets on the spot, so we went straight to the ticket office line. It was long, but it moved relatively quickly since we were chatting with friends. I paid 19 euros, dad paid 13 (senior) and Paddy got in for free, since children only pay from 4 years old. See more information about prices and combined tickets on their official website. (There is a combined ticket with the cable car which must be really cool and which I will try next year!)

The Oceanarium

For those who don't know the place, it's a spectacle! There are 7.5 million liters of salt water throughout the complex, with the main tank holding 5 million liters.. You can get an idea of its size, right? Huge! Incredible. There are more than 30 aquariums and 8 thousand organisms in a beautiful, well-kept environment with a well-defined route. Oh, and one important detail: the Oceanarium in Lisbon was once considered the best in the world in this category! It makes you proud.

Our tour

We spent hours looking at the animals, reading the eye-catching information on the walls/plaques and taking pictures of the kids who were completely enchanted by everything. It really is a spectacular tour for children and adults alike. We thought the place would be empty on a sunny Friday during the summer holidays, since many people prefer to go to the beach, but we were wrong. It was very crowded and so there was a moment right at the end of the tour when I felt a little claustrophobic and I hurried along. I confess that I still can't relax with children in closed spaces, especially with Juju so young (at the time she was 3 months old).

Anyway, it's a MUST SEE for kids and adults who enjoy this type of program. I plan on taking all my guests there! 🙂