Things to Do With Kids in Monterey, CA: Monterey Bay Aquarium

This is the first post of our blog series “Things to do with Kids in Monterey CA”

When thinking about destinations to travel with kids in California I bet Disneyland is probably the first thing that comes to your mind. But the Golden State have so many other places that are ideal for kids!

Monterey is one of them, and on this blog post series called “Things to Do With Kids in Monterey, CA” we will share with you information, ideas and tips that we hope will be useful if you have little kids.  This includes family-friendly attractions and restaurants.

I’ve wanted to visit Monterey ever since I met one of my best friends, actually the first true friendship I’ve had since I relocated to California. 

This blog post series is dedicated to you, my dear Sue.

Thanks for your love and support.  Your friendship means the world to me.

Sue is so proud of her hometown and her face always brightens up when she talks about Monterey. So, I decided that my husband’s birthday was the perfect excuse to make it a family road trip.

We spent three days, from Saturday until Monday. It was the weekend before Spring Break. By the time we were leaving bunches of people were arriving so it was a good decision to head there early and beat the crowd.

The first attraction we visited was the well-renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you make a family trip to Monterey, California do yourselves a favor, spend a day here. It’s a must! It is so fun and pretty!  It’s also a very good opportunity to give your kids a lesson on climate change and conservation of our planet!

Here we share our favorite exhibitions and some tips to make the planning process of your visit a little bit easier.

Monterey Bay Aquarium is located at 866 Cannery Row and it’s open daily from 10am to 5pm.

It has a dining area where you can buy food, and although you are not supposed to consume outside food at the Aquarium or decks they didn’t really check my bag. There are also plenty of options for dining outside on Cannery Row. (I recommend Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. & Louie Linguini’s).

Regular admission to the aquarium is $49.95 but they have special pricing for children, students and senior citizens. There is also a good military discount when you buy the tickets directly on base. We got ours at Travis AFB Tickets & Travel office for $36 (adults) and $21 (girls).

Bring your camera but avoid using flash. No tripods are permitted. No pets are allowed, only service animals are accepted.

If you are celebrating your birthday, anniversary or honeymoon stop by the information center! It was my husband’s birthday but we forgot about this. Don’t make the same mistake!

One more tip if you don’t want to miss out on anything cool: text “Experience” to 56512 and you will receive alerts when there’s something going on like octopus being fed or the dolphins making their way to the back deck.

We preferred to go by ourselves at our own pace -especially with the girls- but if you like guided tours those are available for an additional price. Just note that these are limited to ages six and up with the exception of the Family Tour.

This Aquarium is divided into four main areas. On the first floor you will find “The Ocean’s Edge” and “The Open Sea”. On the second floor, there’s the “Splash Zone” and the second level of “The Open Sea”.

This aquarium has a lot to offer, you could easily spend the whole day exploring. But if I have to choose, I’d say these are our favorite exhibits:

Kelp Forest

The Kelp Forest is the tallest aquarium exhibit in the world and it consists of a 28-foot deep tank where we saw sardines, leopard sharks, colorful fish and a whole lot of other sea creatures.

Monterey Bay Habitats

It was exciting to see different kinds of crabs and sharks as well as a fish-eating anemone and a bat star. While visiting this area we met David, the kindest and most knowledgeable volunteer who engaged my daughters in conversation and taught them about the different animals we were observing. He even offered to take a family picture for us! Shout out to David and THANK YOU for making our experience even more special.

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Sandy Shore and Aviary

We enjoy viewing different birds and loved the little ducks dancing in the water. In addition, it was super cool to be able to touch a bat ray at one of the touching pools!

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Penguins & Splash Zone

Hands down my kids’ favorite! Here the girls enjoyed some of the over 45 interactive exhibits in both English & Spanish (bonus points!). In addition to the African penguins, we saw a hermit crab, anemone fishes and swell sharks among other really cool animals. They also had a lot of fun in the play area.

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The Open Sea

One of the most impressive exhibits! I was especially captured by the different jellies in this area. The turtles, stingrays and the sardines were super cool too.

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If this has inspired you to visit this wonderful place with your kids, here are a couple of more tips:

• Take the kids to the “touch pools!” My girls were able to feed some animals and also experiment with the different textures that are found at the sea. Volunteers are extremely helpful and kind with the kids in this area.
• While on the first floor, sit beneath the cascade of water (Wave Crash gallery tunnel) located at Rocky Shore. My girls loved it!

Drop a comment and let us know what would you be more excited about visiting Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you’ve already been there, what is your favorite part? I’m dying to know!

For more things to do in Monterey check our posts on Dennis the Menace Playground and Point Lobos State Reserve.

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