Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District

Fantastic experience: Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District – Where Aloha Meets Underwater Awe If you’re anywhere near Waikiki and love the ocean even a little bit, this is an absolute must. The Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District is like stepping into a natural aquarium, only better—because you’re swimming in it. This protected stretch of ocean just off Queen’s Beach and Sans Souci is bursting with life, color, and quiet energy that pulls you in and won’t let go. As soon as you slip into the water, you feel it—the calm, the clarity, the magic. No surfboards zipping past your head, no boats roaring by—just you, the reef, and an underwater world that’s been left alone to thrive. You’ll see everything from schools of yellow tangs to parrotfish munching coral like it’s a buffet. Sea cucumbers lazing on the seafloor, triggerfish darting in and out, and if you’re lucky, a sea turtle cruising by like he owns the place (because honestly, he kinda does ‍♂️). Snorkeling here is peaceful, ideal for beginners and seasoned swimmers alike. The waves are mellow, visibility is solid, and there's a spiritual kind of calm knowing you're swimming in a zone dedicated to preservation. It’s also a great reminder that Hawaiians take stewardship of the ocean seriously—and we’re just lucky to witness it. Whether you’re starting your day with a snorkel session, floating on your back listening to your heartbeat, or just sitting on the sand appreciating what this place stands for, the Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District delivers connection—not just to nature, but to the spirit of the islands. Respect the space. No touching, no chasing, no standing on the reef. Just observe, appreciate, and let the ocean work its magic. This place isn't just a destination—it's a reminder that real beauty doesn’t need to be flashy. MTC

Fantastic experience: Watched a rescued turtle being released back into the wild

Negative experience: Took less than 10 minutes to walk through, absolutely no exhibits outside what so ever. Waste of time.

Negative experience: Sorry to say but it got boring. Almost every tank has a repeat kind of fish. Barely anything to see. Once you enter they ask you to take picture and by the end of your whole adventure you get to choose between 1 photo which is $20 and the whole book which includes 3 photos for $40. It’s good to have knowledge about the marine life in Hawai’i but lower your expectations when you enter.

Fantastic experience: Nice place for all family; they have a big variety of marine fauna and it seems that they take well care of them :)

Fantastic experience: What a day, if you have a local ID card, in the military there is a lower ticket price. On the day that we were there the people from Outrigger Hotels, Board of Water Supply, and a few others provided awareness for the sea animals. The trash that has been found has tripled and it's hurting the environment. Children were encouraged to sign their names pledging to help with the environment. Stickers, shave ice and sheer enjoyment was at the Aquarium that day.

Fantastic experience: It was a small one but worth it

Fantastic experience: Very educational. Aquariums are well taken care of. The fish look happy

Fantastic experience: Small aquarium with a nice variety of sea life. Very clean tanks to. The jellyfish were amazing as were the Dragon seahorses. I highly recommend this aquarium!

Fantastic experience: A great place to take the grandkids on a rainy day. Reasonable admission- $20 US first two seniors and two kids. Nice gift shop and reachable on the bus.

Fantastic experience: Small, tickets are not expensive to get in. Quick visit if you need to get out of the sun or need something for the kids to hold them over until their next meal. Exhibits are nice.

Positive experience: Very small aquarium setup. With how rich this island appears this place should be much larger. However they are doing the best with what they have. Unfortunately some of the corals are dying and some of the fish didn’t look so good the outside area was very cool.

Fantastic experience: Just a beautiful spot to relax and have some lunch or jump in to cool off

Positive experience: They have some beautiful fish. Very small place ~ could easily go thru in less than an hour. They have a few empty exhibits. I didn't see any employee to answer questions along the way. Overall I enjoyed it.

Positive experience: This is a small aquarium but very nice. I think everyone, especially children, will enjoy the different tanks and species. It really only takes about 30 minutes to see everything.

Fantastic experience: Wow, the best aquarium I have ever visited, very comfortable, not so big but it worth the quality and variety of marine specimens I never have seen in my life. I recommend it, price are very affordable

Fantastic experience: Nice little aquarium with difficult parking unfortunately. Worth the admission though. Shame the Mink Seals are still off exhibit.

Fantastic experience: Family friendly, affordable, $20 for 2 adults and a baby. Conservation oriented. Could be lots of reading, but great aquarium visibility. Very accessible with a stroller. Friendly staff.

Fantastic experience: Interesting place to get a glimpse of local marine life. You can cover the place at easy pace within 30-45 minutes.

Positive experience: Beautiful fish, but not a large place. We spent an hour there and part of it was using the restroom and sitting on a bench outside.

Positive experience: Something to kill the time. The place is interesting to visit, but it’s small, self guided tour lasts about 20 minutes. You can extend it to 40 minutes if you check for every detail and read every single bit of information.

Fantastic experience: A small but might aquarium! I grew up coming here and I still enjoy visiting. It’s one of my favorites. They have amazing exhibits and very friendly and knowledgeable staff. I highly recommended visiting during the week during the school year for a quiet visit. The price is great too. As of Oct 2023, admission for a non-Hawaiian resident was $12 and a senior was $5.

Positive experience: Overall a good small activity to do, definitely more geared towards kids. One of the smallest aquariums I’ve been to but the quality animals and information they give you was nice. Unfortunately the seal habitat was under construction so we didn’t get to see them. This is an indoor outdoor aquarium

Positive experience: This place looks sad and needs renovation. There's no sea lion. But very educational and good for the kids

Positive experience: It’s a pretty small exhibit, however they had a variety of marine life available to view. Unfortunately the seals weren’t available to see. Definitely would recommend to come check it out.

Positive experience: Got to see some fish I’d never seen before. This aquarium is very small but it’s fun.

Fantastic experience: Beautiful aquarium!! A lovely, quiet, peaceful experience with the family! Very affordable, in my humble opinion, especially when compared to other attractions. We started outside, but I suggest starting inside, no one said to do it either way, just my suggestion. I loved the family photo they took, and a whole book was just 39 dollars with 4 different poses, so worth it!!

Fantastic experience: Small but excellent aquarium...we loved our time there with my 16 yo son!

Positive experience: Pretty small but neat to see some fish up close. Also a great way to escape the sun for a little bit. Some exhibits were closed but overall had a good time.

Fantastic experience: Went here with my fiance, and I am happy to have local rates. I wasn't happy with the fact I had to use my phone to download the tour guide and it was hard jumping back to camera, I found that frustrating. The tour needs to be upgraded as to the large clam that past away. And other changes in the exhibition. Other than that I had fun with my love walking around seeing the fish and other creatures. Mahalo

Positive experience: I went there for the Diamond Head Luau. It was a very good luau, the food and the entertainment were great and we received free tickets to aquarium! The aquarium is small, but had many interesting sea creatures for up close viewing.

Fantastic experience: Cute and small! The kids loved it.

Fantastic experience: It was small but I enjoy the experience.

Fantastic experience: Always fantastic, especially for how small of a aquarium it is. Me and kiddo spend about a hour and half here each time we come.

Fantastic experience: Almost 120 years old with the largest coral collection in the United States. Really small but worth the admission price .

Positive experience: Walkable from our hotel in Waikiki. Most outside exhibits were closed for renovations. Small aquarium but worth a look. I believe it is a not for profit organization so paying the admission was okay. And of course the Gift Shop was nice.

Positive experience: Well, I actually wondered into the Aquarium. it was great for the Grandbaby. Cost is $12 for adults.

Fantastic experience: The Waikiki marine life conservation center was fantastic. They had a wide variety of the local fish species in the area as well as other kind of sea life. My new favorite marine animal is the sea dragon! The sea lion exhibit was drained and closed while we were there which was kind of a bummer but all together a good trip

Fantastic experience: We loved the aquarium. We go every time we're on Oahu. It's laid out well even though it's a bit smallish. It's very educational.

Positive experience: It was nice, but small. Photos available to take, usual pricey gift shop. If ur expecting the big city aquarium, this ain't it. But it was still worth the small fee.

Positive experience: Interesting small Aquarium with an amazing collection of corals. Great for kids.

Positive experience: Have not been here in many, many years and I just don't remember it being soooo small. I mean, you can probably walk-thru the entire complex in about 15 minutes if you don't really stop to, as they say, "smell the roses", or at least read all the fish types. The staff though is wonderful and friendly.

Positive experience: Few of the exhibits were "under construction", in that case we missed out on seeing those beautiful creatures. Other than that, the aquarium was nice too.

Fantastic experience: Great place to visit on a rainy day. The free audio tour is a must for those life long learners.

Fantastic experience: The site looked underwhelming, but the close-up exhibits were great! Small and intimate. Jellyfish and dragon horses were my favorite. 2 hours parking right in the front. Good on a rainy day.

Fantastic experience: Awesome local aquarium! Fabulous display of local species! Great place to bring children. Cute gift shop.

Positive experience: Seal exhibit was closed, so no show to put on, that would have been cool, heard great things. Great place to being young kids, the kids there were having an absolute blast on the inside exhibits. Great depth of sea life and coral. Staff was great!

Positive experience: Nice. Quaint. Small. Seal exhibit was closed. Coral exhibits were impressive.

Fantastic experience: Had a great time here, lots of great marine like to see. The seals were not available for to construction

Fantastic experience: Small aquarium, but I absolutely loved it here. It think it's better than some of the bigger aquariums I've been to.

Positive experience: For the price I would've thought larger and more aquariums. My Grandson had a great time so 4 stars.

Fantastic experience: Good selection of marine life. I found the audio tour very informative. Thrilled I found Nemo.

Positive experience: It was ok, the outdoor exhibit was closed. Disappointing, that could have been listed on the website. I would definitely call before visiting if you're mainly going to see the seal as we were.

Positive experience: Nice aquarium, save this for a rainy day, doesn't cost more than 12 usd. Not that big, but got some variety of fish and corals, up to you how long you want to spend looking at the different fishes. Like 20 min walk from waikiki beach and is relaxing. Seems like they have seals also but they were in California when we was there so their pool was empty.

Positive experience: This is a good place to learn about marine life. It's not too expensive and kids will like it. It isn't very big, so a trip through didn't take us very long. It's quite convenient to get there from Waikiki Beach. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about the area's aquatic life, though I wouldn't quite say it's a "must-do" in Honolulu.

Fantastic experience: A great place to take the kids to look at aquatic life that's unique to Hawaii. The kids had a blast at the inside and outside exhibits. There's an area where they can interact with some live creatures and there was an area to create a take home shellfish made of arts and crafts. The young ones had fun making those. You can see everything and do the activities in an hour or so.

Fantastic experience: Great local aquarium to take the kids or visit on your own. You can walk through the entire place in under 30 minutes or take your time and spend a couple hours there. The tanks are filled with tropical fish that seem very vibrant. Unfortunately, when we went the Monk seal was sent away for educational purposes; however, there were still plenty of things for the kids to observe. The kids found the sea dragons the most interesting. I can't be certain, but my wife felt that the fish here seemed brighter than at the other aquariums we've visited in the past.

Fantastic experience: Awesome place to check out. It's a bit small for an aquarium but don't let that fool you, what they have is awesome. Worth the few dollars you spend to get in to door. I was there around Halloween time and they had decorated the tanks with fun skulls, skeletons, and odd eyeballs everywhere.

Fantastic experience: Great location especially if you have kids. A lot of sea creatures and interesting fish to look at. With your phone you can login to get an audio your if you so wish. Recommend

Positive experience: Pretty good place. Some exhibits were closed though. The inside aquarium was well laid out and really interesting to walk around. Very informative.

Positive experience: It's not a large Aquarium like we expected but it does have a huge assortment of the local fish and jelly fish of the area. Some good size sharks and a huge grouper as well.

Positive experience: Great little aquarium, not all the exhibits we're up and swimming, but we'll worth the visit.

Fantastic experience: I didn't know what to expect. I had been to the aquarium in Chicago and thought this might be on the same scale. It wasn't. However, it was a nice sized exhibit with interesting displays. They had a nice variety of dish and sea life. But what really made the visit special were the interpreters outside who interacted with the guests. You could tell they were excited about their work and talking with people. Nice job. My oldest daughter loved the shark tank. My youngest loved the jellyfish. I personally liked the sea dragons. I had never seen anything like them before.

Positive experience: Very small but nicely presented exhibits. Cool outside tropical tanks. Nice to combine with visit to Zoo which is just down the road.

Positive experience: It was ok. I guess I'm spoiled with the Georgia aquarium. But it was something to do.

Positive experience: Some things were closed at this time but was still really cool

Positive experience: Good place to stop with the kids or without. Entry fee is 12$ and you don't need reservations,just pay at the door. You can go through the whole place in 1 hour. There are some stuff to see so it is a good balance between money and value.

Negative experience: I think this was the weakest aquarium I've ever been to. I definitely expected more. Many of the exhibits were shut down for maintenance and it took about 15 minutes to see everything. Even my kids were complaining when we left.

Fantastic experience: A reasonably priced place to learn about local and other exotic marine life. Total visit time is about 30-45 minutes as it is a small facility. It was interesting and worth the time.

Fantastic experience: It's a small aquarium, but nicely done. Has quite a variety of different fish and many aquariums for your entertainment. You can go through the inside outside of exhibits in about an hour, or spend quite a bit longer if you just enjoy watching the fish. Everything is ground level so easy access for anyone.

Positive experience: Our small kids had a good time at rhe aquarium. Should have read the fine print before we went...seals are gone to CA til 2023 so the exhibit is down. The octopus was also MIA. Also, the outdoor aquarium is bo longer a touxh aquarium. Used to be. You can get through this attraction pretty quick, so we always go back around with the little ones. They offer military discount as well. Parking is good during the weekday as well. We purchased tickets online as instructed but people were buying tickets at the aquarium.

Fantastic experience: Very interesting and hosts a variety of species. Staff was great and hospitable. Definitely a place you should go to in Oahu.

Positive experience: It was small but they had cool fish. It will only take you about thirty minutes to walk and see everything. The seals look like they would be the biggest attraction but they weren't not on exhibit

Fantastic experience: There isn't a lot to see but that because it is sea life that is native to Hawaii. What is there is absolutely amazing!!! Sea creatures I've never seen didn't know even existed. Exotic and amazing. Plus it was only $12 a person which is an amazing price for the area.

Positive experience: It's ok, but they are low on funding and are having trouble fixing and maintaining exhibits. I recommend going to make sure they get the money they need. Very kid friendly and awesome and knowledgeable volunteers are there.

Fantastic experience: A small but rewarding place to visit. Friendly and knowledgeable staff on hand to answer questions. See and learn about corals, fish and vegetation found in the waters of the Hawaiian islands.

Positive experience: It's a cute little place, they charge the same as the big aquarium in Chattanooga TN and it only has about 1/10 the amount of stuff to see and do. plus they still require a face mask inside which makes no sense in Hawaii.

Fantastic experience: Interesting variety of species. The sea dragon exhibit was incredible. Make sure to bring a face mask with you (or purchase a disposable one for $1 from them).

Positive experience: Very small aquarium that was educational and only took about 45 minutes to an hour to get through - they had some big fish and lots of facts about coral and the ecosystem around the island.

Positive experience: Not really impressed. The octopus and seals not there, thought I won’t claim as it was only a $5er with discount but it would be been nice to know that prior to purchasing a ticket. Small aquarium, not much in the way of a gift shop and nothing to eat or drink unless you want to call the soda machine a drink choice! Will say plenty of fish tanks and the seahorses were very nice. Good for the kids.

Fantastic experience: Great aquarium to bring your kids to. Go check out dragon fish and the 45 year old oyster. This is a relatively small aquarium, but it's still beautiful and enjoyable.

Positive experience: Super super small! And it seem alot of the fish are just repeated. But it was a good family activity to do if you have limited time or a few extra minutes to kill before a reservation or just want putting for the day. We completed to whole aquarium and gift shop in about 30mins.

Fantastic experience: Very small which allowed us to take the time to really observe the fish and identify them. So many super beautiful and unique fish packed into a few rooms. Volunteers were so sweet and taught my kids so much! My kids say this was one of their favorite parts of Hawaii and it only cost $22 for one adult, two kids, and one free three year old.

Positive experience: Being coming here with our girls for many years. Also find some interesting items in the gift shop to buy. I like how they creatively stock the gift shops. The aquarium is nice and small, as not too overwhelming.

Fantastic experience: A small aquarium, but don't let that you prevent from coming here. Lots of interesting colors from each section. Would love to find again when all of the exhibitions are opened.

Negative experience: So wasn't worth the $12 per person. Locals pay $8. Small facility. If you stick around to read everything you might have a different view.. We were out in abt 5 minutes.

Fantastic experience: I came here many years ago and while it is a smaller aquarium than many others, I still find it both charming and interesting enough. I probably spent a good hour or so here walking around, definitely worth it! Just be sure to arrive early and close to opening to get one of the limited parking spots in front. It's free for 2 hours if you are visiting.

Positive experience: Beautiful aquarium, was disappointed that the seals weren't on exhibit but I understand they were making renovations to their habitat. Also was disappointed that there weren't more sharks on display, because the website said they had a Tiger Shark, but it was still worth the price of admission and the staff were friendly.

Positive experience: It's a cute little attraction. Good overview of what you will see when snorkeling here. I wouldn't put it as the top of your list though. Can be in and out under and hour for sure. Website tickets make you pick a time. The lady said the time doesn't matter at all, so don't feel like you have to make it there for your timeslot.

Fantastic experience: Very nice aquarium with tropical fish and lots of information about reef ecosystems.

Positive experience: Very nice little aquarium. A diverse amount of fish and invertebrates, most local but not necessarily something you can expect to see just by snorkeling (as well as some you can). Could use more up to date and more thorough signage, but that's kind the standard for aquariums. Some things were under maintenance when we were there, including the seals which was disappointing, but still many good things to see and the price was also good

Positive experience: A tad disappointed overall as I expected more fun stuff outside since they have a nice grassy exterior and seating areas but it was minimal. You can have your photo taken when you first arrive and the proceeds go towards marine life conservation. But basically, it's an assortment of indoor aquariums with stunning, beautiful sea life. It's mesmerizing and colorful and I loved the hypnotic jellyfish in orbital tanks. I felt bad for some of the creatures in tiny tanks especially a lovely black and white ray that seemed frustrated by a lack of space. I guess even the larger tanks would seem tiny to fish that live in the ocean. I look forward to technology showing us holographs instead of live animals. But it was a fun trip for my grandkids who ran from tank to tank squealing with delight. They also enjoyed the gift shop and were particularly thrilled with the penny flattening machine!

Fantastic experience: Love the Aquarium. Work in progress. Health of some tanks not so good. Other tanks look great. Concerning lateral line disease in the some tanks. Overall one of the fun places to visit for close up looks at corals that aren't found in the Hawaiian waters in any quantity.

Negative experience: A very small aquarium. Even if you really try to take your time at this place, you'd barely be pushing an hour. It cost $12 per adult to get in and it comes with 2 hours of parking. Considering the accessible beaches with first-come-first-served parking, on a busy beach day, I would almost recommend just sending one adult in, pay the $12 dollars, get the parking pass and go to the beach instead. It does have some okay exhibits, but it's one room of fish exhibits and after that, there's nothing else left to see. There is an area for seals, but as of December 2021, it's drained and under maintenance. Even if you really have nothing else to do in Waikiki, $12 per adult is still too expensive for roughly 30-45 minutes of looking around. That's almost the price of a movie ticket, and those last at least twice as long.

Positive experience: It isn't very large but packs a punch, we enjoyed it very much as did the kids.

Fantastic experience: Such a great Aquarium! The gift shop has so many cool gifts! The guided tour that you can download is awesome. My favorite were the jellyfish I love how they have black lights in them to make them glow and the bubble pods are a super cool way to view them. So many cool fish and the the staff was super helpful and kind.

Fantastic experience: Fun stop and the exhibits were well done. Very informative, many fish and other marine life to see. The seahorses were my favorite. Many unusual sea creatures and can't beat the price. A must see for tourists.

Fantastic experience: Beautiful fishes and other sea creatures. Bought nice souvenirs too.

Positive experience: It's a nice little aquarium that isn't too expensive to visit, but you can definitely get through all the exhibits in less than an hour. Granted some of them are closed because of COVID but this still is a fairly small aquarium worth a visit but still doesn't compare to some larger ones that I've been to

Fantastic experience: The veriaty of fish and coral is awesome. Very nice staff. They will also take your picture at the beginning so you can get a little book of pictures with your group once your ready to leave.