SEA Aquarium blog: The S.E.A Aquarium in Singapore has always been the top visited places on Sentosa Island. It’s no surprise with its 1000 diverse species and almost a dozen different zones housing over 50 habitats. In fact, it always hits the list of top Sea Aquariums in the world.
On my last day of traveling Singapore, right after visiting Chinatown the previous evening, I began with Sentosa’s cable car ride to Siloso Beach and then back, to SEA Aquarium. My 8-year old brother tagged along for the SEA Aquarium at Marine Life Park.
I’d visited the SEA Aquarium in my school days while touring Singapore with my family. The tour brought back vivid memories of the blue shark tunnel. Here I was visiting once again. Here’s my SEA Aquarium Blog review.
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SEA Aquarium Blog Singapore
Speaking of the SEA Aquarium Sentosa Review, there’s no turning around – it’s definitely worth it! It’s a must-visit on Sentosa Island in Singapore. Like the Singapore Zoo or Universal Studios, be it for solo travelers, families, or just kids, you’ll inevitably enjoy the aquarium.
The SEA Aquarium is often confused with Marine Life Park at Sentosa. The Marina Life Park actually houses the SEA Aquarium attraction as well as the Adventure Watercove Park.
I didn’t find the Adventure Watercove worth the price for just a water theme park. But the SEA Aquarium, don’t miss it! Here are some things to know beforehand your visit:
Getting there
The easiest and cheapest way to get there is via the monorail from HarbourFront MRT station (NE1/CC29) to Waterfront Station, Sentosa. Get to the third floor (level 3) to get to the Sentosa monorail at Lobby L.
It costs S$4 to get to Sentosa via monorail or car. Use your EZ-link card or NETS Flash Card to get on the monorail for entry. If you don’t have one, get the monorail ticket at S$4 from the Ticketing counter.
From VivoCity Station, get off at Waterfront Station and walk 500 meters towards Marina Life Park to get to the S.E.A Aquarium.
Another way to get to the island is via the Promenade Sentosa Boardwalk (from HarbourFront Station Exit E). Keep following the direction signs and you’ll know when you find yourself walking by the auto walk alongside the waters to the island. It’s only a 10-minute walk to the island – and free!
Cable Car from Mount Faber
Another popular way to get there is with the cable car from MountFaber, HarbourFront. It’s not as cheap, but it’s definitely worth the views and experience. I got to the waterfront station with the monorail and then took the Sentosa Line Cable Car for its experience. But for some extra bucks, I could’ve taken the MountFaber line as well.
So I highly recommend the Cable Car Sky Pass, a round trip on both the cable routes – MountFaber to enter and exit Sentosa as well as the Sentosa Line to get around Sentosa.
Avoid the counter hustle and pick your cable car tickets for the best prices today:
Klook.comSEA Aquarium Blog: Admission Pricing
SEA Aquarium Singapore ticket: Bluntly, it costs S$43 per person ($32 USD/ Rs. 2630 INR) approx.
The SEA Aquarium Singapore ticket is a one-day pass where re-entry is permitted. However, these are non-transferable. Now speaking of getting discounts on the pricing, the Singapore Rediscover Voucher program is unfortunately expired in the post-pandemic period.
There are tons of sites to book your tickets from. But the pricing is more or less the same compared to the official site.
Booking tip: Get your SEA Aquarium ticket along with a multi-attraction pass on Klook. With the Wildlife Attraction Pass, you get to choose SG attractions of your preference along with SEA Aquarium like Bird Park Paradise or SG Zoo for way better rates!
Prices don’t vary much from site to site, but I recommend using Klook for all attraction bookings. It’s all-in-one platform to manage bookings in Singapore while earning points for discounts on upcoming bookings. Being a Klook partner, our readers get discounted rates. So grab your SEA Aquarium ticket deals today!
Klook.comUnfortunately, there aren’t any SEA Aquarium packages with Universal Studios or Adventure Cove. The only option is the wildlife attraction pass on Klook.
Consider getting the tickets along with a meal voucher. It’ll save you some if you’re planning to eat around Sentosa.
Wandering the S.E.A Aquarium
Not many get the map of the S.E.A Aquarium but you can check it out here. Similar to the River Wonders Zoo, there’s only one entry and exit where you walk through a single path till the end. You’re bound to walk past everything the world’s largest oceanarium has to offer.
I didn’t get a map on my visit either. But looking at it brings me back to all the creatures we spotted in awe. My brother was more interested in colorful marine creatures while aquariums larger than lives fascinated me. Here’s how the whole excursion went.
SEA Aquarium blog: Here’s a video of tiny shots I took along with my brother at the Aquarium!
Shipwreck Habitat: Walking beneath waters
The first zone is probably the evergreen highlight of the aquarium. Walking through the underwater tunnel with sharks around you is nothing less of an excitement. Added to it, the habitat is as the name suggests – you’ll find large chunks of shipwreck that the fish swim around.
If not excitement, it can get spooky with the large shipwreck around you! There’s a variety of fish to be found here – zebra shark, bow mouth guitarfish, and black-blotched fantail ray.
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School of Fish: Species of Instagrammable hues
SEA Aquarium blog: What I loved most about the Aquarium was how the theme begins with a dark bluey underwater tunnel and continues with the space lit mostly by the aquariums themselves.
The dark walking spaces are chilly and the aquariums lit from inside make it perfect to capture pictures of the fish. The habitats, School of Fish, and Ocean Diversity you see on the map appear similar with their circular breathtaking aquariums. This spot, also popularly known as the Coral Garden, as stated on the RWSentosa site, has NO corals. Pretty ironic, isn’t it?
But the cylindrical aquarium stretched through both floors is the highlight of the School of Fish. What I loved most about this part was how animated the whole habitat appeared as fishes revolved in the aquarium.
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With the eye-pleasing hues of the theme and fish, it reminded me of the movie, Finding Nemo. Yes, there was the clownfish here! Some species to be found here are black sea cucumber, Knobbly sea star, and Napoleon Wrasse.
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Ocean Diversity: Photogenic Jellyfish
Though there was the Open Ocean Habitat I immersed myself in, this was my favorite part – the jellyfish. The slow-moving transparent moon sea jelly with their exhibit’s alluring light. The Fried Egg Sea Jellies and long-tentacled sea nettles.
Did you know that jellyfish aren’t conscious of their own existence? They don’t have a brain and are made up of 95% water. Yet, they appear so enigmatic and have thousands of varieties. It’s quite a wonder to look at them.
Apart from the jellyfish, some other species to find in this zone are bottle nose dolphins, long-spined sea urchins, and giant crabs. Similar to the School of Fish zone, you’ll find a smaller version of the circular aquarium here.
Open Ocean Habitat: The Prime
Yes, I daresay this was the prime of my SEA Aquarium blog. The prime of all zones. It’s the biggest part of SEA Aquarium where you’ll realize you’ve come close to the end of the attraction (though there’s more!).
It’s said to contain over 18 million liters of water and is home to over 100,000 marine animals. It’s hard to comprehend, but to put it in words – when you see it, you’re witnessing one of the world’s biggest aquariums. The clear almost-a-meter-thick glass was five times my height.
The main feature here is Reef Manta Rays – the largest ray species in the world. That’s what makes the Open Ocean Habitat more fascinating – all 100,000 aquatic creatures here aren’t small fishes. These are huge species like the Leopard Whipray and Giant bony Groupers.
I and my brother sat here and walked around for a good while observing the huge rays and the whole POV from the Ocean floor itself.
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Quirky Adaptations: Species we don’t talk of
Some species like the colored poisonous frogs. Species that we don’t talk of when it comes to aquatic life for their peculiar adaptations.
These were smaller yet curious exhibits. Some main features here were the elephant fish, weedy sea dragon, wolf eel, queen angelfish, and poison arrow frog. Observe keenly here as not only are the exhibits either small or dark, the creatures are well-hidden or camouflaged.
The barely one-inch bright poison arrow frogs were my favorite. They looked cute, yet are lethal in reality.
Underwater City: Coral Reef Structures
I didn’t spend much time here but researching about it later on, I regretted it. I wished I’d some pictures for this SEA Aquarium blog. Most of this zone is of coral reefs and a few moving species.
Though coral reefs are beautiful to look at, I didn’t give them time. I’d seen varieties of colorful corals live when snorkeling on an offbeat island in Indonesia. Some corals to keep an eye on sun coral, scroll coral, brain coral, and so on.
However, what I loved seeing most here were the giant moray eel peeking out their water caves. By giant, they were humongous eels that still send chills down my spine when I think of it. Another fish breed in this zone is the blue tang surgeonfish.
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SEA Aquarium blog: More things to do
Aside from the SEA Aquarium’s entry passes, there are other things to explore here. Sentosa’s an ever-lively place after all! Some are the feeding times, candlelight shows, and even behind-the-panel 20-minute tours. The feeding shows are free but are held only at specific times of the day.
The additional attractions cost extra. Neither did I have the time nor was I aware of some of them. But for those interested, here are other things at SEA Aquarium.
NOTE: These attraction add-ons were at the time of writing (2022). When updating on August 2023, Behind the Panels is under works. SEA Aquarium, like many popular attractions in Singapore, always has something new in-store.
Visit the Sentosa’s site here to find out the latest updates and programmes before you leave.
SEA Aquarium: Behind the Panel
A popular add-on to the SEA Aquarium pass is the Behind the Panel additional tour. As the name itself suggests, it’s a 20-minutes tour of behind the scenes of how aquarists take care of all the aquatic animals in view.
Remember the gigantic manta rays and dolphins? Well, this tour features an insider view of the species’ behaviors – a more interactive tour with the animals.
Klook.comFeeding Sessions and Times to look out for
Unlike the Singapore Zoo, the Aquarium doesn’t allow visitors to feed its animals. It’s not typical fish food in typical aquariums for typical fish afterall. You’ll witness divers feeding friendly marine animals that swim along instead!
The best part is that you watch these divers through the same aquariums for free! But the show timings aren’t frequent and you can miss out some, depending on when you visit. One thing you can do is revisit the Aquarium later that day to see the particular feeding session. It’s a one-day ticket afterall!
Find the S.E.A Aquarium daily show timings on this site.
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Candlelight Shows at SEA Aquarium
This one’s a bit tough to catch hold of, especially you’re only touring Singapore like me. But the Candlelight show here is a live musical experience held at the Open Ocean Habitat. The place is lit entirely by candle lights – thus the name.
These shows are conducted by Fever and the prices of show might vary on events. Imagine watching a magical music performance – your favorite artists play… with the big blue in the backdrop!
To get a chance on one of these shows, it’s best to search for SEA Aquarium SG on Klook.com and find the Candlelight event here.
Scuba Diving at Open Ocean Habitat
Yep, you heard it! You can scuba dive along with manta rays and even sharks here! The two options for diving at SEA Aquarium are the Shark dive (diving at the Shark Seas Habitat) and Open Ocean Dive (diving with Manta Rays at Open Ocean Habitat).
These aren’t general tickets that you can avail on any site or on-spot. Book your dive 7 days prior directly from their official site. Both cost around the same price. If I had a scuba diving certificate (and the money), I’d definitely give this experience a shot!
Junior Ocean Protector Programme for Kids
This program is only for kids (7-12 years old) where it’s a wholesome package inclusive of the SEA Aquarium tickets, behind the scene add-on, and the dolphin encounter. With the program half a day long, it’s inclusive of a lunch at Bay Restaurant.
There are much more that comes along with the promotion such as badges, certificate, and a goodie bag. It costs around S$278 per child on the official site. Get your promotion ticket on Klook if you’re a regular user to avail better offers.
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Things to Keep in Mind
Let me add in the last bits of visitor information to SEA Aquarium. Here’s a summary of things to keep in mind on your SEA Aquarium visit:
- SEA Aquarium Sentosa Opening Hours: 10 am – 5 pm from Friday to Tuesday. Check the calendar here on RWSentosa.
- Where to park at SEA Aquarium: East Carpark at Sentosa Car Park and take the escalator to the SEA Aquarium. Many people do ask this as it gets confusing, so here’s a YouTube video on where to park.
- What to pack/wear: Casual wear and shoes is more than enough! A camera if you will. Feel free to get a water bottle along too – the walk can get tiring.
Tailpiece to my SEA Aquarium Blog
Finally coming to the end of this long post on my SEA Aquarium blog, I hope you found it useful. I visited this place once when I was around 10. I visited it again a decade later with my younger brother.
I know if I go back in again, I’d watch the creatures with the same enthusiasm as my first time. The SEA Aquarium is without a doubt, timeless. While writing this article, I realized I missed out on some species during my visit. I was looking after my brother too afterall.
There are tons of videos and vlogs on this place but I say it’s a must-visit in Singapore. When it opened in 2012, it was the world’s largest aquarium. It’s not anymore today, but it’s still one of the best.
Let me know all about your SEA Aquarium visit below. Happy traveling!
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