Discover the Oceanogràfic

An underwater trip over the biggest aquarium in Europe.

The Oceanogràfic of the City of Arts and Sciences is the largest aquarium in Europe and contains representatives of the world’s main marine ecosystems. Each building is identified with the following aquatic environments: the Mediterranean, Wetlands, Temperate and Tropical Seas, Oceans, the Antarctic, the Arctic, Islands, and the Red Sea, as well as the Dolphinarium with 24 million litres of water and a depth of 10.5 metres. The Underwater Restaurant and the Access Building which welcomes visitors stand out because of their spectacular roofs designed by Félix Candela.

During their route through the various installations, visitors can get to know at first hand the behaviour and way of life of over 45,000 individuals of 500 different species: dolphins, belugas, walruses, sea lions, seals, penguins, turtles, sharks, rays, sawfish, jellyfish, starfish, sea urchins, and crustaceans of all kin..., as well as wetland bird species such as those inhabiting the Albufera de Valencia and tropical mangrove swamps.

Since they were first opened in 2003 over 10 million people have visited these installations, which are also the venue throughout the year for numerous informative activities, series of lectures, exhibitions on various subjects, and congresses and courses, without forgetting the research projects and the bioeducational workshops which were set up from the outset in collaboration with universities and both Spanish and international scientific bodies.

Their avant-garde architecture, the layout of their various buildings, the lack of visual barriers, their educational vocation, the large size of the aquarium tanks, and their special equipment such as vaults or underground tunnels (the longest of which is seventy metres in length) allow the visitor to have a unique experience with a close look at the marine world and the extraordinary biodiversity of the oceans and seas of the world.

The Oceanogràfic of the City of Arts and Sciences is thus conceived as a nature reserve and at the same time as a scientific and dissemination centre. Its objective is to recover protected animal and plant species and to spread among its visitors an educational and recreational message so as to encourage the conservation of and respect for the environment, and at the same time to develop specific research programmes on the sciences of the sea and its inhabitants.