I think few hours is enough – depending on whether you want to watch the main dolphin show in the afternoon. If the weather is good, they also have nearby very nice expansive botanic garden park and greenhouses and coastal walk path that I can recommend – it is less touristy and not crowded at all
Also, they do sell snacks like ice cream, etc. – but the only restaurant and the cafeteria within the area are serving low-quality dreadful overpriced slop so I would not recommend eating a lunch there. Bring a sandwich.
The aquarium is cool but if you like plants you’ll love the tropical dream center. Count an extra hour
I have been there a few times; when my kids were under five it took us about four hours to do the whole thing (including the dolphin show). As they got older and moved quicker, we shaved about an hour off of that time. Now my eldest is into photography so we’re back at about four hours.
I’ve recently moved back to the U.S. after 19 years overseas so I don’t have a lot of experience with stateside aquariums. With regard to Asia, I personally rank Churaumi Aquarium #2 after Osaka and ahead of Singapore in terms of overall experience at a world-famous aquarium. That being said don’t sleep on the other big and less famous ones such as Ikebukuro Sunshine Aquarium, Nagoya Aquarium, and Yokohama Sea Paradise.
Enjoy the whale sharks! They’re incredible up close.
I agree with the other comments there is better food than that in the aquarium. And once you’ve seen one Japanese aquarium gift shop, you’ve seen them all.
3hours should be okay….and at least.
If you have good timing to delphines showcase.
And of course tropical park have sense to go through it.
So 5hs I recommend for this visit complete.
2 hours is plenty. Pay the $5 to sit in the cafe, it was probably the most memorable part of the trip.
If we go, we spend all day in the park, but probably a few hours at the aquarium. There are a bunch of other museums, botanical gardens, playgrounds, the beach, etc. right there.
I was just there last week. In my opinion is very overrated. I have been to better aquariums. The dolphin show was just dumb and also very brief (I’ve been to much better dolphin shows elsewhere in the world). I think the total time we spent there was two hours, maybe a bit less.
Many of the enclosures for the larger animals seemed far too small, and you could see injuries on their nose and fins where they had repeatedly been bumping into the glass or the walls of their enclosure. It was quite disheartening to see this.
It is also overrun with people, absolutely packed with screaming children and screaming mainland Chinese tourists in particular.
If you have kids, they’re gonna love it. But if you don’t, and if you have limited time in Okinawa, I wouldn’t give it a priority over other things. Fortunately, there were other places to visit in the vicinity of the aquarium which still made the long drive up there worthwhile.
7 comments
I think few hours is enough – depending on whether you want to watch the main dolphin show in the afternoon. If the weather is good, they also have nearby very nice expansive botanic garden park and greenhouses and coastal walk path that I can recommend – it is less touristy and not crowded at all
Also, they do sell snacks like ice cream, etc. – but the only restaurant and the cafeteria within the area are serving low-quality dreadful overpriced slop so I would not recommend eating a lunch there. Bring a sandwich.
The aquarium is cool but if you like plants you’ll love the tropical dream center. Count an extra hour
I have been there a few times; when my kids were under five it took us about four hours to do the whole thing (including the dolphin show). As they got older and moved quicker, we shaved about an hour off of that time. Now my eldest is into photography so we’re back at about four hours.
I’ve recently moved back to the U.S. after 19 years overseas so I don’t have a lot of experience with stateside aquariums. With regard to Asia, I personally rank Churaumi Aquarium #2 after Osaka and ahead of Singapore in terms of overall experience at a world-famous aquarium. That being said don’t sleep on the other big and less famous ones such as Ikebukuro Sunshine Aquarium, Nagoya Aquarium, and Yokohama Sea Paradise.
Enjoy the whale sharks! They’re incredible up close.
I agree with the other comments there is better food than that in the aquarium. And once you’ve seen one Japanese aquarium gift shop, you’ve seen them all.
3hours should be okay….and at least.
If you have good timing to delphines showcase.
And of course tropical park have sense to go through it.
So 5hs I recommend for this visit complete.
2 hours is plenty. Pay the $5 to sit in the cafe, it was probably the most memorable part of the trip.
If we go, we spend all day in the park, but probably a few hours at the aquarium. There are a bunch of other museums, botanical gardens, playgrounds, the beach, etc. right there.
I was just there last week. In my opinion is very overrated. I have been to better aquariums. The dolphin show was just dumb and also very brief (I’ve been to much better dolphin shows elsewhere in the world). I think the total time we spent there was two hours, maybe a bit less.
Many of the enclosures for the larger animals seemed far too small, and you could see injuries on their nose and fins where they had repeatedly been bumping into the glass or the walls of their enclosure. It was quite disheartening to see this.
It is also overrun with people, absolutely packed with screaming children and screaming mainland Chinese tourists in particular.
If you have kids, they’re gonna love it. But if you don’t, and if you have limited time in Okinawa, I wouldn’t give it a priority over other things. Fortunately, there were other places to visit in the vicinity of the aquarium which still made the long drive up there worthwhile.