While visiting Barcelona, specially if you are on a family trip with your young ones, we strongly recommend enjoying a day at a zoo or aquarium. Kids will enjoy every movement and the colorful animals they can spot at these locations. Here are the must-see locations inside Barcelona’s main zoo and aquarium so you don’t miss anything.
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The Barcelona Zoo
The Barcelona Zoological Park is a jungle in the center of the city! It is an enclosure made up of 10 different spaces where you will find all kinds of animals. It was inaugurated in 1892 after a wealthy banker donated his collection of animals to the Barcelona City Council in the Parc de la Ciutadella, on land that formed part of the facilities built for the Universal Exposition of 1888. The main objective of the Barcelona Zoo is conservation, research and education.
The Zoo was born from the private collection of the banker Lluís Martí i Codolar, who donated his animals in 1892 to Barcelona City Council. Throughout its history, the main residents of the zoo were the elephant Avi, who died in 1914, the orca Ulisses who stayed at the zoo from 1983 to 1994, and the legendary Floquet de Neu, or Snowflake in english, the only known albino gorilla, who lived in Barcelona from 1966 to 2003, the year of his death.
Today, it is made up of 10 spaces that reproduce the ideal living environment for the different species found in nature, these include:
- Land of Dragons: Featuring specimens from Asia and the Pacific, such as Komodo dragons and Muntjac deer.
- Terrarium: with one of the best collections of amphibians and reptiles in Europe.
- Aviary: it houses more than 70 species of birds from different continents, with great breeding success, especially endangered species, which allows Barcelona Zoo to send its newborns to other zoos.
- Farm: an area reserved for children where you will find goats, cows, ponies, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys and even a Catalan donkey.
- Gorilla space: a space that offers interactive elements to discover the way of life of the primates closest to humans in terms of intelligence and feelings.
- Primate Gallery and Marmoset Gallery: You can see several de Brazza’s monkeys, white-nosed monkeys, red monkeys, talapoins, siamangs, collared mangabeys, and South American marmosets, among others.
- Palmeraie: a set of thirteen aviaries where you can see a large number of species of parrots, such as cockatoos, parrots and parakeets. It is the ideal park to take a leisurely walk and carefully observe many species of birds, from different points of view and perspectives. Cockatoos, parrots, macaws, and more will impress you with their bright colors. The outside vegetation and the presence of other birds create a feeling of excitement. Upon entering the Palmeraie, you will have the impression of total immersion!
- Aquarama: the home of the sea lions of the Barcelona Zoo.
- Flight Aviary: a large dome where you can observe different species of birds that live in the swamps.
- Gardens of Diversity: space designed to accommodate the native fauna that inhabits the city of Barcelona.
In addition to these spaces, the Barcelona Zoo is also home to large mammals, such as hippos, gazelles, giraffes, cheetahs, lions, elephants, meerkats and rhinos, among others. This zoo has one of the most complete and important animal populations in Europe.
Children will have a great time with their favorite farm animals: goats, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys, etc. They will be able to see how the animals live, how they eat, what their habits are and ask all types of questions.
The Barcelona Zoo is open every day of the year. However, the hours of attention to the public vary according to the season because the rhythm of life of the animals depends on sunlight. Therefore, the zoo always opens at the same time, but its closing time varies throughout the year.
If you want to visit the Barcelona Zoo, you should know that there are different rates depending on age, with a specific rate for members of the Zoo Club. All the information on schedules, prices, ticket purchases, promotions and discounts, enrollment in the Zoo Club and organization of the visit is available on the official website of the Barcelona Zoo.
Parc de la Ciutadella
L’Aquàrium de Barcelona
The Barcelona Aquarium is the perfect place to spend a different day, especially if you are traveling with children. They will be delighted to discover the great variety of animal species and will learn while having fun.
It was inaugurated in 1995. Since then, it has become the most important Mediterranean-themed aquarium in the world. In its different aquariums and sections, around 11,000 specimens of 450 species of aquatic animals swim, float or rest on the bottom. The Aquarium is one of the five most visited tourist attractions in Barcelona.
- The Oceanarium: The star of the aquarium is the Oceanarium, unique in Europe. It is the largest aquarium in the entire facility. It contains 4 million liters of water distributed in a space 36 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep. Its waters are home to two types of sharks: the bull shark and the Milberto silky shark and other types of fish of great interest such as sunfish, rays and moray eels. A spectacular transparent tunnel is 80 meters long and allows visitors to be a few centimeters from sharks and other species underwater, giving the sensation of walking on the bottom of the sea.
- The Mediterranean Aquariums: The Mediterranean and its most characteristic species are perfectly represented in 14 aquariums. Each of them shows a different type of marine species that inhabit specific areas of the Mediterranean. You will even be able to see two recreations of protected areas of our coasts: the Ebro Delta and the Medes Islands. In the rest of the aquariums you will see species that live among Posidonia (a type of seagrass), in caves and crevices, or among red coral.
- Tropical Aquariums: 7 tropical aquariums representing the typical ecosystems of the Red Sea, the Caribbean Sea and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. You can also see poisonous fish and sharks from tropical waters.
- Themed Aquariums: The themed aquariums are small tanks that give visibility to small species. They represent marine invertebrates like sea urchins and starfishes, seahorses, tropical corals, and sea dragons, among others.
- Planet Aqua: Here you’ll find many creatures that have adapted to the most extreme conditions of the aquatic environment: icy cold, the darkness of the abysses, the heat of tropical waters. In this section you will find an area with Humboldt penguins, in another you’ll find species that resist enormous pressures, and a tropical zone with piranhas, turtles and iguanas. You can also admire how different types of rays swim in an open tank of 20,000 liters of water, and observe living fossils and phenomena such as camouflage and symbiosis. Through various interactive devices and small aquariums, you can learn a lot about the sea and its species.
- Jewels of the Sea: A permanent exhibition of the jewels of the seas and oceans: molluscs and their shells. This is a very varied and evolutionary group, which has managed to colonize many environments. Clams, oysters, octopus, squid, slugs, and snails are just a few examples.
- Explore! Children’s Area: An interactive space at L’Aquàrium de Barcelona that contains more than 50 interactive elements to touch, look at and listen to, and therefore to investigate and discover.
Port Vell, Moll d’Espanya
The Barcelona Aquarium and Barcelona Zoo are the perfect places to spend a family activity in Barcelona, where all the family and children can enjoy the great diversity of land and water animals, all the different species and learn without realizing it. Add your visit to these amazing places along with a Barcelona Segway Tour for the most fun among the urban life in the city’s streets.
