Adults remember Burj Khalifa and the cost of the trip, children remember the amusement parks, and everyone remembers the aquarium in Dubai Mall.

I’ll tell you how to buy tickets cheaper than on the official website and what’s so special about the aquarium that everyone goes inside, even though you can see its inhabitants from outside.

Essential information:

• The aquarium in Dubai Mall is the largest in the world.
• It opened in 2008.
• It is home to more than 140 species of marine life and the largest “colony” of sand sharks.

How to get to the aquarium in Dubai Mall? Opening hours

The Dubai Aquarium is located in the Dubai Mall (a shopping center next to the Burj Khalifa). It occupies two floors and is hard to miss.

The Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro Station is a 20-minute walk away. Metro fares range from 5 to 15 dirhams, depending on the distance from your station.

Taxi fares are calculated by the meter. For example, from La Mer Beach (J1) to the mall, which is just over 6 kilometers away, the fare is 20 dirhams if there is no traffic.

Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo opening hours: weekdays from 10:00 to 22:15; weekends from 10:00 to 23:15.

How much does it cost to enter the aquarium: from 199 dirhams ($55); but there is a more advantageous offer for the aquarium + Burj Khalifa for $70.

Where to buy tickets:

• The easiest way is to buy tickets online.
• You can also buy tickets at the ticket office, but you will have to wait in a long line and get dirhams in advance.

Please note that, as with all attractions in Dubai, it is best to arrive at the aquarium right when it opens or a couple of hours before closing time to avoid wasting time in line.

What is the aquarium in Dubai Mall like? What can you see inside?

The aquarium in Dubai Mall consists of two areas:

• the aquarium itself with a 48-meter tunnel running through it
• and an underwater zoo with small aquariums and jungles.

One of the walls of this water kingdom is visible to all visitors to the shopping center. Crowds of tourists gather here, waiting for not just a well-fed fish to swim by, but something bigger — a stingray, a shark, or a person with scuba gear (who hands out food).

The transparent tunnel inside, with a 270-degree view, has made it into the record books as the largest in the world. In essence, you are at the bottom of a 10 million liter aquarium with a panoramic view. It evokes strange sensations: sharks swim above you, stingrays swim alongside you, colorful fish swim around you, giant snails cling to the walls, and you start to wonder if you are the food…

The underwater zoo consists of many smaller aquariums of various shapes: rectangular, round, oval, with all kinds of sea creatures. Everything is much closer and more diverse: turtles, jellyfish, penguins, huge parrots (yes, in an aquarium). You will be offered to feed them in a rather unusual way. How? You’ll find out when you get there 🙂 Children will find this the most interesting. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see baby sharks!

The general route through the aquarium is as follows: first, you walk through a tunnel, then go up to the second floor to the zoo. There you will find a mini-tour with a guide who will tell you more about how the largest underwater world in the largest shopping center is organized and how they artificially grow algae and other organisms for the aquarium.

Overall, it’s hard to imagine tourists being dissatisfied with the aquarium — it has a unique feel to it, and the scale of the work is truly impressive. The only thing that might cause some upset is the free view from the shopping center square — you won’t be able to drag your child (or yourself) away from here, except to go inside!

But is it really the largest?

Many websites claim that the Dubai Mall Aquarium is the largest in the world. However, if you look at aquarium rankings, you won’t find it in first place anywhere. Who is right?

Of course, the Dubai Mall Aquarium cannot claim to be the largest aquarium, and it never has. It only has 10 million liters of water, which is a modest figure by modern standards.

Facts and figures

The record belongs to the main glass panel through which visitors to the Dubai Mall look into the aquarium. It is the world’s largest monolithic sheet of acrylic glass. It is 33 meters long, 8.5 meters high, and 7.5 centimeters thick. 

It is the same org glass that we use in our summer cottages to cover greenhouses with tomatoes and cucumbers. Only this sheet of org glass is much larger and weighs 245 tons.

This acrylic sheet can withstand a gigantic mass of water. The aquarium measures 51 by 20 by 11 meters and holds 10 million liters of water.

A 48-meter-long tunnel for visitors runs through the aquarium. This is not a record either, as the aquarium in Shanghai has a 155-meter-long tunnel.

The aquarium is so tall that it occupies two floors of the Dubai Mall shopping center. The third floor houses the Underwater Zoo. The aquarium and zoo are home to 140 species of animals, numbering around 33,000 individuals.

The administration claims that there are about 300 sharks and rays in the aquarium at any one time. It is difficult to comment on this figure, as we did not count them. The aquarium is home to the largest population of common sandbar sharks. Of course, this is not the largest shark in the world, but its size is impressive—2.5 meters long and weighing 160 kilograms.

The most troubled aquarium

Even before its opening, the Dubai Mall Aquarium began to experience problems.

In 2008, as soon as the aquarium was populated, the sandbar sharks began to kill and eat reef sharks (pictured right). This behavior is atypical for predators, and oceanographers are still debating its causes.

On February 26, 2010, a real emergency occurred. The acrylic glass cracked and water began to leak from the aquarium. Visitors to the shopping center were evacuated, and the incident was reported by media outlets around the world.

No one was injured, only a few people got their feet wet. The leak was minor, and no fish were harmed.

We hope that there will be no more incidents at the Dubai Mall Aquarium.

How to get there

The Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo is located in the center of the Dubai Mall. The easiest way to get there is by metro. Get off at the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall station on the 1st (red) line.

The metro station is far from the Dubai Mall, and you will have to walk a little. A special bridge, the Metro Link Bridge, has been built for this purpose. You don’t even have to walk on it, as there are special walkways for visitors. It’s very similar to the walkways between airport terminals.

The bridge is 828 meters long. It is a landmark in itself, as it is the longest structure of its kind in the world. After a 10-minute walk or ride on the conveyor belt, you will arrive at the Dubai Mall. From there, just follow the signs to find the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo.

The second option is by taxi. Since Dubai is a large city, it is difficult to predict the cost of the trip. It can range from 12 to 100 dirhams, depending on how far your hotel is from the Dubai Mall.

Opening hours

From 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on weekdays (Monday to Thursday).

From 10:00 a.m. to midnight on weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday).

You can enter until 10:15 p.m. on weekdays (11:15 p.m. on weekends).

How much time to plan for a visit

Walking through the tunnel takes 20 minutes. Boating takes 20-30 minutes. The zoo takes no more than an hour. There is no time limit, so you can spend the whole day here, but it is not worth planning more than two hours.

What to see – the aquarium

As we mentioned above, you can see it for free from the shopping center itself. All additional services are based on viewing the same aquarium, but from a different angle.

In the underwater tunnel, you will look at the aquarium from below. On a boat with a transparent bottom, it’s the opposite — from above. You won’t see anything new.

The fish are fed twice a day. The first feeding is at 10:30 a.m. for the stingrays, and the second is at 2:00 p.m. for the sharks. We recommend visiting the aquarium at these times.

The feeding of stingrays and sharks can be seen from the shopping center just as well as from the tunnel. It is not necessary to buy a ticket for this. If you want to skip the tunnel and save money, you won’t be able to. Any ticket to the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo includes a visit to the tunnel.

What to see – the zoo

It is called the Underwater Zoo, although not all the animals here are underwater, and some have nothing to do with water at all.

The zoo is divided into three themed areas: the open ocean, the tropical forest, and the rocky shore. This division is very arbitrary and even difficult to notice. There are 40 aquariums and enclosures in total.

The most colorful inhabitant of the zoo is a giant crocodile (pictured left). He is called “King Croc.” There are no crocodiles in the United Arab Emirates, so he was brought here from Australia.

Australian narrow-snouted crocodiles rarely reach a length of more than 3 meters in their natural habitat. This specimen is 5 meters long and weighs 750 kilograms. It fully lives up to its name, “King Croc.”

A separate mini-exhibition showcases the nocturnal animals of the UAE – fruit bats, owls, Ethiopian hedgehogs, false cobras, and Yemeni chameleons. Many of these species are no longer found in other zoos around the world. We highly recommend this exhibition.

Another mini-exhibition is called “Kraken’s Lair.” Of course, you won’t see the kraken (a giant deep-sea squid) itself. This animal is not found in any aquarium or zoo. No one has ever managed to catch it.

At this exhibition, you can see cuttlefish, squid, octopuses, nautiluses, and other invertebrate marine animals.

There is a separate enclosure for penguins, which no self-respecting zoo can do without. In the next enclosure, you can see otters — very cute and funny animals that will delight children.

There is a separate aquarium with piranhas, and many tourists see these famous fish for the first time here. Another aquarium is filled with jellyfish. They look delightful in the beautiful lighting. In the next aquarium, you can see a giant moray eel.

The fish in the photo on the left is another highlight of this zoo. It is a “spitter,” and these fish have earned their name for a reason. They hunt insects by knocking them down with a jet of water.

Catching a spitter hunting is a stroke of luck. Wait and see, maybe you’ll get lucky.

Another rare species at Dubai Underwater Zoo is the African protopterus. Outwardly, this fish does not seem remarkable. But protopterus have both gills and lungs. These fish are called double-lunged fish.

Protopterus are capable of burrowing into the sand and surviving droughts for several years. They also have highly developed brains and are trainable. This is one of the most amazing fish on our planet.

In a separate aquarium, you can see giant crabs, and many species of seahorses live nearby.

Dubai Underwater Zoo is definitely worth the money.

After your visit

There are two interesting restaurants right outside the zoo. The first is called Rainforest Cafe. Here you will find models of giraffes, crocodiles, and gorillas, jungle sounds, and overpriced hamburgers.

The second is a seafood restaurant with excellent fish dishes. We hope that these dishes are not made from the aquarium’s inhabitants.