Appalachian Rivers Aquarium

Fantastic experience: Free and entertaining is all you need to know to spend some time here. Staff was super nice and the displays were awesome. It is small but if it was any bigger it wouldn’t be free.

Fantastic experience: An amazing little aquarium with no entrance fee! While it's very small, it offers a rare opportunity to see hellbender salamanders! It's also adjacent to the Appalachian Fly Fishing Museum, which is also free.

Fantastic experience: This was the perfect stop during our trip! Educational, unique, and engaging! Entry was free but I strongly encourage leaving a donation to support their education based adventure!!

Fantastic experience: A must-see while visiting Bryson City. If you’re into fish or other pretty rare species, this is the place for you. The ladies at the front entrance were super kind and had a big dobson fly on display. We nerded out for a while! Make sure you PURCHASE OR DONATE as there is no admission fee.

Fantastic experience: Very cute aquarium with local fish, salamanders, and a toad frog! They also have another section to visit that focuses on fly fishing. That was very educational and interesting! They have some items available to purchase that are pretty cool.

Positive experience: It is very small but nice. No cost to go in, but they ask for donations of any amount. In the same building, they have a museum as well.

Fantastic experience: Loved showing my 18month old the fish. Didn’t cost anything

Positive experience: Although it was small. There was a bunch of local species of fish inside of the tanks. There is also a museum that has fishing related things that fishermen would use to fish.

Fantastic experience: The kids love it!!!!! And Us adults loved it as well

Fantastic experience: Nice little aquarium. Friendly people. Fly fishing museum is adjacent. Free. Donations accepted.

Fantastic experience: Although the winter time is slow here and we are from NC, the wildlife is similar. But the local aquarium shows people the lives that live and flow in the rivers of North Carolina and Appalachia. The staff was friendly, and there was a scavenger hunt for kids. Not little kids, perhaps, but the reward at the end is a pretty cool sticker. It helps support the preservation of wildlife.

Fantastic experience: I was blown away by this little aquarium! We thoroughly enjoyed getting to see fish that are local. We also loved the frog and the Christmas decorations! It blew us away that they don't charge. Such a cool spot!

Fantastic experience: Loved the fish and the workers was fantastic.

Fantastic experience: Cute little aquarium to add in the activity list when you’re visiting Bryson City. My boyfriend and I had a great time looking at the fishes. The fish tanks are huge and everything is in good care, they have information on every fish.

Positive experience: I don't believe we actually visited this place more like parked there while we went fishing on the river but it looks like a great place.. But unfortunately, it also looked like it was closed during the week and a busy tourist Time of the year for the Town.

Fantastic experience: Made for a nice detour with our 7yr old. She enjoyed looking at the salamanders, bass and trout. It’s a small place in a small town but they’ve done a good job making the most of it. 5 stars for a pretty decent free thing to do. Expect a free aquarium and get what you pay for. Expect a paid aquarium and you will be dissatisfied.

Positive experience: Great spot to pass the time. Very informative section for the fly fisherman.

Positive experience: I'm not sure what their business model actually is, but we had a very pleasant conversation with the young lady at the ticket booth (?) about the local feral cat population. No hellbender salamanders in the hellbender tank though, which was a bit disappointing, because... "hellbender". No, I'm not a 13 year old boy.

Positive experience: Cute and free little experience. Worth the visit just to see the hellbender salamanders. Our toddlers enjoyed it.

Positive experience: There is no charge to visit the aquarium, but they do accept donations. They had more than one species of trout and other native fish.

Negative experience: Visited on a Tuesday, was not open. No big deal. We were in Bryson for another reason anyway. It said was open on Thursday. Came back Thursday all the way from Topton. Now there was a sign that said it was closed for maintenance. Maintenance that could have been done on one of the closed days, and further there could have been a sign put up earlier. Will never be back.

Fantastic experience: We took the kids Saturday. They enjoyed seeing all of the fish. The staff were super friendly.

Fantastic experience: We went in august, there was about 10 fish tanks with big and small fishies, (freshwater fishies), they also have fish stuffed animals, cups and water bottles for you to buy. When we went they also had a farmers market going on with some amazing pecan pies, cookies, paintings, bird feeders, necklaces, natural sprays, honey and vegetables. The farmers market was a great surprise and we are glad we caught it while visiting!

Fantastic experience: Awesome place to see local species in an aquarium setting. Everything was nice and clean. Tanks were super clean and well cared for. They did an awesome job. Definitely worth the stop.

Fantastic experience: Kids enjoyed learning about all the local fish and fly fishing history.

Fantastic experience: Very small but free and the kids liked it .

Fantastic experience: The four F's. Free. Fun. Family Friendly. Really unique to see the local fish (so five f's?)

Positive experience: It's a nice little aquarium that showcases the local fish. The fly fishing museum and Artisian market are located there as well.

Fantastic experience: This is a very special place in Bryson City NC. There are several large Fish Tanks with local fish that are found in the Mountains of Western North Carolina. There are Bass and Sunfish and a Hellbender Salamander and of course Rainbow Trout! Now Open next door is the Western North Carolina Trout Museum. There are new Restrooms and the place is pet friendly. This is also the place where the Farmers Market is held every Friday and Saturday. There are also some picnic tables available for you to have lunch or just enjoy the Tuckaseegee River as it rolls by. Don't Jump Too High when the Steam Train Whistle blows from the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad behind the Aquarium. Come on and enjoy your day at Beautiful Bryson City NC. So Much to Do!!

Negative experience: Signs outside says bathroom and can not get into bathrooms unless you pay for a ticket. Please change the sign.

Fantastic experience: Very small but free aquarium that's worth a visit. In and out in ten minutes with plenty of parking. The tanks are kept very clean and the fish appear to be healthy. Enjoy!

Fantastic experience: Great place to know the fish living in the waters up there for fishermen to catch!

Fantastic experience: Not tropical fish; but fish you might go fishing for in the local streams and lakes.

Positive experience: Interesting to know what fish inhabit the rivers there. Also had a very small farmers market there that morning very nice people.

Fantastic experience: The Appalacian Rivers Aquarium in Bryson City NC was impressive. It is a small one room building but has some really nice tanks of local fish and one with Hellbender salamanders. My grandchildren enjoyed the aquarium. We will be sure to visit on future trips to see what's new there.

Positive experience: Water in tanks was clear and fish were healthy. No admission charge was nice. Employees were knowledgeable on the fish also.

Positive experience: Do you do anything with the donations? What a weird little place. Saw a dead fish stuck to an underwater fan. Nice.

Fantastic experience: A nice quick stop! This is a very small place (that is also free) so don’t come expecting a large aquarium! For being such a small town it is very well maintained and the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. There is a small gift shop with some handmade goods that are very cute, also their is a place to donate some money which is suggested as it is free! Just a heads up that there are some cats that do wander around and inside this building if anyone in your group has allergies!

Fantastic experience: Spectacular, small aquarium with beautiful local fish and amphibians. Free, and fun.

Fantastic experience: Had such a great time that we had to visit Gremlin and his buddies twice! Highly recommended.

Positive experience: Smaller than expected. Didn't have as much as I thought they would have.

Fantastic experience: What a treasure!! A must stop destination if you are in Bryson City! How enjoyable to see our fresh water fish and amphibians in an aquatic setting devoid of murky pond/stream waters. The staff does an incredible job of maintaining the facilities and educating all who visit.

Fantastic experience: Nice little aquarium! Nothing exotic just a nice, small collection of local fish.

Fantastic experience: Such a great place to check out when you visit Bryson City!

Fantastic experience: This is a small, but great place to visit! My son absolutely loved it. The volunteer was very well versed in information about the fish/frogs inside. It is free but they are donation based. I highly recommend!

Fantastic experience: Just off the main road. It was educational and something fun for the kids (or adults) who don't like shopping

Positive experience: Small, but fun. Great for little ones with low attention spans. Good opportunity to learn about native aquatic animals in NC. I'm an adult and I loved it! Bonus: it's free, but they do take donations.

Positive experience: Very small not even a bathroom. But just to go there and look at it is very cool.

Fantastic experience: The great place to see all those fish that you wish you could have caught and a very intelligent volunteer inside to give you further insight to all the local species. It's free but donations are accepted. And for those wanting to get out of the heat the air conditioning is very good

Fantastic experience: Really great place to visit and see different kinds of native freshwater fish from NC

Fantastic experience: We loved this aquarium! After hearing about the legendary Hellbender salamander of the Smoky Mountains, seeing two up close was thrilling. The staff was also super friendly and knowledgeable, and gave us a deeper appreciation for the diversity and uniqueness of aquatic life in the Smokies.

Positive experience: It's small, but very clean and nice healthy fish

Fantastic experience: The kids enjoyed.Just the right size for the youngest to engage.

Fantastic experience: Very cute little aquarium, with some awesome information about the fish, & stuff they have.

Fantastic experience: Took my grandson and great grandson. Enjoyed it. The people were very friendly and knowledgeable. Learned a lot about river fish.

Fantastic experience: Cute and small. Donation based entry fee. Very clean and animals are healthy. Kids enjoyed it. The "Hellbenders" are super neat. Worth visiting just to see them.

Fantastic experience: The aquarium was the reason for my visit to town. I specifically wanted to see the hellbender exhibit. It is great and more people should know about these amphibians which are native to area streams. This is a small aquarium featuring fish and amphibians from local streams and lakes. Exhibits were well cared for and fish were in good health. Signage is limited but informative. Staff was very friendly and willing to share lots of information about the fish and how they are cared for. There were a few salamanders, newts, and frogs but no snakes or biotope aquariums. It is unlikely someone will make a trip just to see the aquarium, but it is well worth a visit if you are in town anyway. Check the hours they are open. They are limited.

Fantastic experience: Quaint but super cute! Free but donations are excepted. Very nice and informative.

Fantastic experience: Fun little aquarium for a cloudy, dreary day! Rita, at the front door, was engaging & knowledgeable. Learned a lot about these fresh water fish! This is a clean, educational facility. Rita told us they are a free place to visit, and you can make a voluntary donation (we gladly did this).

Positive experience: The Aquarium is just beginning and growing. It is becoming an asset to Bryson City.