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Monterey Bay Aquarium
Photo from the venue's own site
Zoo & aquarium · Admission from $65 · 1 verified saving
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Admission from $65.
About Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Monterey Bay Aquarium immerses visitors in ocean habitats from the rocky shore to the open sea. Exhibits include the Kelp Forest, where divers feed leopard sharks and wolf-eels among sunlit kelp, and the Open Sea, featuring a 90-foot window where tuna dart, sardines school, and sea turtles drift past. The Giant Pacific Octopus exhibit showcases a master of disguise that solves mazes and recognizes aquarists. The Into the Deep exhibit explores the dark abyss, while visitors encounter playful sea otters, giant sea bass, flatfish, puffins, and common murres. Programs include Kelp Forest Feeding, Living Light: Bioluminescence auditorium presentations, and Underwater Explorers surface scuba diving for ages 8–13 in the Great Tide Pool. Located at 886 Cannery Row in Monterey, the aquarium charges admission. Adult SNAP EBT cardholders receive free admission plus up to three additional guests when presenting a valid EBT card and photo ID at the Main Entrance.
Tickets and prices
You can check current prices and choose your tickets on Monterey Bay Aquarium’s own ticket page. You pay there, not here.
Admission
- AdultAdultSee the price at checkout
- YouthYouthSee the price at checkout
- SeniorSeniorSee the price at checkout
Choose your tickets on Monterey Bay Aquarium’s ticket page.
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You choose your tickets and check current prices on Monterey Bay Aquarium’s ticket page. You pay there, not here.
Prices from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s own ticket page · read on . Fees, if any, are shown at checkout. The checkout shows today’s prices.
Exhibits & experiences
A few things to discover
Basket star
Deep-sea invertebrate with branching arms that filter-feeds on small crustaceans and zooplankton drifting in ocean currents.
Big skate
Large flat fish that hides on the seafloor with camouflaged coloring and has distinctive black spots resembling eyes on its fins.
Comb jelly
Oval gelatinous animal with eight rows of comblike plates that create rainbow shimmer as it swims. Voracious predator of plankton and small creatures.
Exhibits
Bat ray
Ray with wing-like fins that swims gracefully and hunts by flapping its fins in sand to expose buried prey like clams.
Broadnose sevengill shark
Coastal shark with seven gill slits and a blunt nose that hunts other sharks, rays, and seals in temperate ocean waters.
Garibaldi
Bright orange fish with heart-shaped tail. Territorial damselfish relative that eats sponges and small animals in kelp forests and rocky reefs.
Giant green anemone
Sessile carnivorous anemone with green coloring from symbiotic algae. Uses stinging tentacles to capture crabs, mussels and small fish.
Giant Pacific octopus
Highly intelligent color-changing octopus with eight arms covered in suction cups. Largest octopus species that hunts crabs, clams and other prey.
Into the Deep
Explore the dark deep-sea environment and the diverse life that thrives in extreme conditions of pressure, cold, and darkness.
Kelp Forest
Diver's-eye view of an underwater kelp forest with sunlit kelp, sardines, leopard sharks, wolf-eels, and other fishes.
Life on the Bay
An exhibit with ocean-view decks and a Marine Mammal Gallery featuring life-size whale and dolphin models, offering opportunities to spot sea otters and humpback whales.
Monterey Bay Habitats
Exhibit featuring sharks, giant sea bass, and flatfish in a sandy seafloor habitat.
Open Sea
Large exhibit with 90-foot windows where visitors watch tuna dart, sardines school, and sea turtles drift.
Rocky Shore
Exhibit exploring the rocky shore habitat where waves crash and life moves to the rhythm of tides.
Sand dollar
Live sand dollars on display in the Monterey Bay Habitats exhibit. Visitors can observe these spiny invertebrates and learn how they move and feed on the sandy seafloor.
Show all 25
Exhibits
Sandy Shore & Aviary
Mud flats and marshes exhibit with long-legged shorebirds foraging, flounders, and bat rays on sandy seafloor.
Scalloped hammerhead shark
Scalloped hammerhead sharks on display in the Open Sea exhibit. Visitors observe these distinctive sharks with their characteristic hammer-shaped heads.
Sea nettle
Sea nettles on display in the Open Sea exhibit. Visitors watch these jellies hunt with their long tentacles and frilly mouth-arms covered in stinging cells.
Indoor
Habitats
Down to the deep
A deep-sea habitat section showing the journey from sunlit surface waters through the descent into the dark abyss with various marine creatures.
Leopard shark
Small shark with spotted pattern found in kelp forest and bay habitats. Feeds on clams, crabs and small fish.
Sea Otters
Live sea otters on display in the Sea Otters exhibit. Visitors can observe these endangered marine mammals and learn about their role in coastal ecosystems.
Activities
Open Sea Feeding
A scheduled feeding activity where visitors watch fish and other animals in the Open Sea exhibit eat.
Quiz: Which sea otter are you?
A personality quiz where visitors answer seven questions to discover which of five exhibit sea otters they resemble most.
Sea Otter Feeding
A scheduled feeding activity where visitors watch sea otters eat.
Seabirds Feeding
A scheduled feeding activity where visitors watch seabirds in the Open Sea exhibit eat.
The saving
Free admission for SNAP/CalFresh EBT cardholders
Adult SNAP EBT cardholders receive free admission plus up to three additional guests
“Any adult who receives SNAP / CalFresh can visit the Aquarium for free. Show your valid SNAP EBT card and a matching photo ID at the Main Entrance to receive free admission for the adult SNAP EBT cardholder and up to three additional guests.”
Why there’s no expiry date here. Most attractions don’t publish one, and the dates that do appear are often stale. The date here is the day this offer was last read on montereybayaquarium.org, and the link goes to the exact page, so you can check it yourself in one click.
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