Along with Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm, California Aquariums are considered a must-see while visiting the Golden State. From San Francisco to La Jolla, great aquariums are easy to find.

If you have young children, a trip to an aquarium can be a very rewarding experience as you see the wonder in their eyes as they get an up-close look at otherworldly creatures that swim in tanks designed to resemble native habitats. With elaborate signage and fun interactive exhibits, an aquarium seems almost like a theme park to most kids. They will discover marine life and various creatures that will provide hours of stimulation.

Here is where you can find some great aquariums in the state of California:

Monterey Bay Aquarium

With its colorful history and Cannery Row tourism, Monterey is a popular destination for many California travelers. And the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the main reasons people travel to Monterey. You can easily spend many hours in this world-class facility that is home to more than 6,500 fascinating sea creatures.

Housed in one of the old cannery buildings, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a fascinating exploration of the underwater life found near Monterey. The aquarium covers everything from tide pool creatures to sharks and even features a 31-foot tall kelp forest that is visible in one of the aquarium’s huge tanks. The two-story windows give visitors the feeling of truly being 20,000 leagues under the sea.

One of our first impressions was how unique and artistic many of the exhibits are. They combine living creatures with art exhibits in a very unusual way. The exhibits change frequently, but while we were there, we enjoyed the Jellies: Living Art exhibit, which featured not only the ever-colorful jellyfish, but also works of art and installations by such well-known art figures as Dale Chihuly, David Hockney, and Cork Marcheschi.

Among the other parts of the aquarium that we enjoyed were the sharks and schools of fish in the Monterey Bay Habitats section, the unusual animals found only at great depths in the Mysteries of the Deep exhibit, and the California Sea Otters, always a crowd favorite.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is located at 100 Aquarium Way in Long Beach. For more information, call 1-800-756-3737 or visit http://www.montereybayaquarium.org

aquarium of the pacific

If you haven’t been to Long Beach yet, you’re in for a treat. No doubt you’ve heard of the famous Queen Mary, worth exploring on its own for an hour or two, but nearby is Rainbow Harbor, offering a multitude of activities that are all within walking distance. The “boardwalk” around the harbor’s shoreline takes you past a plethora of seagoing vessels ranging from huge excursion boats to paddlewheel riverboats, historic schooners, and fishing boats of garden variety. Several boats offer harbor tours, while others will take you whale watching.

One of the must-see attractions in Rainbow Harbor is the Aquarium of the Pacific. Home to more than 12,500 marine animals, the Aquarium also features 19 main habitats and 32 focus exhibits. We spent a couple of hours wandering through the exhibits and found each one to be a fascinating and fun experience for both old and young.

One of the most popular exhibits at the Aquarium of the Pacific is Shark Lagoon, one of the Aquarium’s newest. With over 150 sharks, the lagoon includes large sharks, rays and shark contact pools where you get down and feel them as they swim by. There’s much more to the Aquarium, including exhibits on Southern California/Baja, the North Pacific, and the Tropical Pacific.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is an example of a major redevelopment that has made Long Beach one of California’s most exciting and exciting destinations. This is a former Navy town, which some people say spawned businesses that catered primarily to enlisted men and weren’t the kind of family-oriented businesses that needed to be a major tourist attraction. Now all that has changed, and posh condominiums, new restaurants, and colorful shopping areas like Shoreline Village and Pine Avenue have made Long Beach a popular spot for families and couples from all over California.

bay aquarium

The next time you visit Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, the Aquarium of the Bay will be right in the thick of the action. Even in summer, the cool breeze blowing off the pier can convince you that it would be nice to take a break and check out a great exhibit that is housed inside.

Uniquely, the Aquarium of the Bay has around 300 tunnels that visitors can walk through that make it feel like you’re walking through a fish tank. Sharks, eels, octopuses – whatever marine animal you’re interested in, chances are you’ll see it swimming somewhere in the Aquarium of the Bay.

Children will be especially interested in the touch pools where they can touch starfish, bat rays, and even small sharks.

But it’s not just the aquarium here that brings the ocean to life: the many seafood restaurants and tourist attractions along Pier 39 create a festive atmosphere with great views of San Francisco Bay. Take a stroll along the pier and you’ll likely see dozens of sea lions sprawling on the piers below. It is as if they are courting tourists who cannot resist their charms.

For more information about the Aquarium of the Bay, visit http://www.aquariumofthebay.com or call 1-888-732-3483.

birch aquarium

The town of La Jolla, near San Diego, is worth a getaway any time of year with its spectacular waterfront views, great restaurants, and trendy shops. But one of the best local attractions for kids is the Birch Aquarium.

This isn’t a huge facility like the Monterey and Long Beach Aquariums, but rather a smaller, more intimate experience where kids can take their time viewing the exhibits and where parents won’t have to deal with large crowds.

The exhibits in the aquarium are organized by type of fish and by type of environment. For example, “Gateway to Baja” looks at the fish of that particular region. Another exhibit is about the various species found in the tide pools. You can see the difference between the fish found in the waters of Southern California and those found in the tropics.

Among the most popular exhibits at the Birch Aquarium is the seahorse exhibit, where you can see a wide variety of these creatures, from tiny half-inch seahorses to sea dragons. Children will also learn a lot about oceanography through various interactive exhibits. They can ride a seismic machine or learn about the properties of water and how waves are formed. The videos offer extraordinary insights into life under the sea.

For more information about Birch Aquarium, call 858-534-3474 or visit http://aquarium.ucsd.edu