North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores

Nice aquarium to visit when it’s raining! I liked the touch pool it was really fun. You could probably spend 30-1 hr here. It was around $12 per adult entry.

I liked the trout feeding, it was fun to watch them get fed as you could see what was happening under the water.

The otters were the best part. Super cute and kept swimming laps which was adorable.

Great fun on the behind-the-scenes tour. We learned a bit about caring for the fish, reptiles and birds, fed the fish in the big tank, and saw the sharks get fed (sharks on Tuesdays, Fridays so plan accordingly). Highly recommended!

Love this aquarium! I've been here so many times, but it remains such a beautiful, educational and entertaining place to visit. I never get tired of it. I always enjoy some of the same exhibits and every so often there are new things to see as well. The bald eagles have been a treat this year. I also love seeing my all-time favorite, the jellyfish. This is a clean facility with a wonderful staff. Great for families or individuals. There are various educational opportunities throughout the year as well as activities directed towards children. The gift shop is nice with a variety of things for everyone of all ages. Just outside the exit, there is a Dairy Queen window with all of the delicious ice cream favorites as well as some of the classics such as hot dogs, etc. It is a joy and a privilege to live so close and to be able to visit so often. I highly recommend! 💙🐠🦈

Great big sand-castle out front each summer. Really elaborate.
Gift shop is BACK! Was cleaned out during pandemic, but as of 2023 it's full of all the goodies again. Some cool finds even for adults.
We didn't actually go in this year, as we've done it several times in the past. We just wanted to see if the gift shop was stocked. You can enter the gift shop without paying admission.
They also have a DQ available for outdoor service (not inside admission).

Relaxing layout leads you through the exhibits for a lovely day seeing how life is in the water. I realized afterwards I walked right past the exit to the outdoor area with the Tree-mendous play zone. Take note of the map so you don't miss anything.

Reservations required seasonally. It does get busy.

Went Monday Labor Day holiday. Fun and informative visit. Not too crowded. Bought tickets online, but I don’t think it was necessary, tickets were also sold at the door. Military discount with proper ID.

The children enjoyed themselves and didn’t want to leave. Another very intimate experience, they enjoyed the marine life, exploring the marsh on a scavenger hunt, the natural playground, and the sharks were the star of the show. Definitely worth a visit. Also, the staff is awesome!

Wonderful clean aquarium. Calm and beautiful. Lots of different displays and animals. Great family day out.

While visiting the North Carolina coast, our family recommended stopping in at the NC Aquarium at Pine Knolls. What a great Aquarium. Admission was reasonable and, though we visited on a Friday, it wasn't terribly crowded. Our granddaughter really enjoyed seeing otters, sharks, lion fish, owls, snakes, an alligator and playing on the slides out on the nature walk. I really enjoyed the visit as well. Highly recommended.

Wonderful! Went early on Friday and felt like we had the place to ourselves. So many fun things to see!
(Did not expect to see Santa pop up in the tank!)

My wife, son and I have been coming for many years. It is always wonderful. We have the year pass that let's us bring one extra person for free. We go to the NC zoo with the pass for free also.

This is a great day trip for everyone in the family. The aquarium is extremely accommodating and accessible, they also allow you quick entry to the facility. I recommend pre-ordering tickets so that you can just check in at the front area. There is ample parking and it is easy to find using a GPS. It took a little over an hour to get through all exhibits at a nice pace where you can savor viewing all of the aquatic and reptilian life. There's even some bonus exhibits that feature some feathered friends!

There is also an outdoor area that allows you to go on a very scenic hike, and there is a spot for kids to play in a park setting playground. Everything was extremely clean and the bathrooms were easy to find as well. They also have a dairy Queen on site for a quick snack.

Nice transition from Mountain to Piedmont to Coastal Plain to Tidal Waters and eventually Ocean Gallery. Never realized how important saltwater estuaries are to the ecology and environment. We all personally should be aware of how pollution (ie plastics) and development (destruction of local ecology) can affect the land, coast and waterways we live.

This is a nice aquarium. Well maintained and lots of great information. I believe they also have the largest tank in North Carolina. If it’s rainy you will have to get a little wet to make it across the boardwalk to the snake house, but there were only about 5 snakes out there, so it’s probably not worth it to everyone. The touch tank was awesome! We were able to scoop up different kinds of creatures and we all really enjoyed that! I recommend purchasing time tickets ahead of your visit, and going when they open if possible to avoid crowds. We arrived at 9, there was plenty of parking and it was easy to move around inside— not many people at all. By 10:15/10:30 it was absolutely packed and we were so glad we had already seen everything. An hour and a half was enough on a rainy day, but if it were nice we probably would have spent another half hour on the boardwalk and at the playground.

Nice aquarium to spend some time with the family, we loved the big tank with the sharks. I recommend buying the tickets in advance but you can also buy them at the entrance. Recommended for all ages

Adorable Aquarium to bring the family, lots of fish to see plus turtles, sharks, and jellyfish. There are also adorable little barn owls and outside there are two bald Eagles which are amazing to see up close. There's a cute gift shop and the staff are friendly. Nice way to spend the day.

Another fantastic NC aquarium! Like Manteo, the exhibits were well-done and the facility was clean. Staff was knowledgeable and helpful, enthusiastically talking about their areas of expertise. Awesome otter exhibit and a great outdoor section, too. Busy - pre-purchase of tickets is recommended. We arrived at 0930 and when we left around noon, there was NO parking.

Absolutely amazing experience! Please go ahead and take the backstage tour, and hopefully you’ll get Dani as we did today. I can’t praise her and every other member of staff highly enough! Truly one of the best experiences we had here, and we tried a lot of things. Shoutout to Liz for such an amazing crew, such a first-rate aquarium, and for making our trip!

Amazing cute aquarium. It was small but it was just perfect enough. Took my family and I, one hour to go around the entire aquarium which is just perfect enough. Gotta say, this is a place that I definitely would come back to see some more fishes and different types of species that live in the water! I would recommend coming here on a nice day if you can!

Honestly I was not expecting anything from the aquarium. There were not a lot of reviews or pictures of it.
I was completely wrong.
I really loved it! It is amazing! You have to visit it if you're near here, totally worth the trip.