Educational Family Fun at The National Aquarium in Baltimore

The National Aquarium, also referred to as the Baltimore Aquarium by locals is located in Baltimore Maryland, at Inner Harbor. When visiting, you will have to locate one of the parking garages that are within walking distance of the aquarium. They don't have their own parking facility.

Tickets to the aquarium can be purchased online or at the door. We recommend buying them online to avoid long lines, especially if you plan on visiting during the weekend or during a special event. You'll want to allow at least 2 hours in your schedule when visiting, although 3 hours is more ideal...especially if you have children along with you.

Here are a few tips: Wear comfortable walking shoes and dress appropriately for the weather. You'll want to limit taking bags into facility (they're subject to a security check) and we recommend eating before you arrive. You can't take food or beverages in with you. If your a parent you can take in a diaper bag, baby bottles and other baby feeding essentials.

The National Aquarium is broken down into several different types of areas: Amazon River Forest, Atlantic Coral Reef, Blacktip Reef, Jellies Invasion, Shark Alley, Living Seashore, Maryland Experience, Atlantic to Pacific and more! You can visit all of them or pick and choose what you want to see.

They have a beautiful exhibit called "Living Seashore" which is a hands-on exhibit where you can touch jellyfish, snails and other animals. This is the ONLY area where you are permitted to touch the animals...so please remember that as you are visiting. In addition, you are NOT allowed to tap or beat on their aquariums or walls to get the animal's attention. You're not permitted to feed them. Please be respectful.

One of my favorite exhibits was the Upland Tropical Amazon Rain Forest where they had several different kinds of tropical birds, an adorable & furry sloth, golden lion tamarin, a few frogs, a gorgeous yellow-footed tortoise and more. I'm a big fan of primates and I really adore sloths, so this was definitely one of my favorite areas in the aquarium.

After you're done visiting the National Aquarium you can walk to other nearby attractions. You can rent a paddle boat, take a dinner cruise, visit the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum, take in an Orioles baseball game, enjoy a nice dinner with drinks on the waterfront, do some shopping, etc. There are a lot of great things to see in Inner Harbor.

We really had a great time during our third visit to the National Aquarium in Baltimore and look forward to making it an annual tradition to visit with the grandchildren every year. It's just a 2 hour drive or less from most locations in south central Pennsylvania. A great destination for a family day trip for sure!

You can learn more about The National Aquarium by visiting their site online. You can get their hours of operation, schedule of events and even reserve/buy your admission tickets online.