Despite reviews whining that the place is small, it’s terrific. Kids are so into it. It’s well designed with quality exhibits. Great place to go even without kids. Fun shop at the end. The zoo wasn’t well kept in Kyoto but the aquarium really is. I say go! Oh also it was tricky to figure out the times for the dolphin show. It’s only twice a day and one time to feed them. So plan to find out when you get there.

I really appreciated the creativity of this museum. It found ways to highlight creatures and make it feel more interactive when viewing them. The exhibits themselves felt well maintained and catered to the natural elements of the animal's environments.

Short and cute dolphins show. Interesting jellyfish collection and presentation. The sharks & fish tank is as you would expect and see in most small aquariums. I recommend visiting only if you really like aquariums and don't plan on visiting the one in Osaka.

Kyoto Aquarium is a great place for a day out with family or with friends. The price is very reasonable, and I actually ended up getting an annual pass since it was a good offer. Yes, it's smaller than Osaka Aquarium, but I think that actually works in its favour since it is a bit quieter and you can take your time. My favourite part is the jellyfish section because there are so many different types, and the colours are beautiful. It's worth a visit.

A nice aquarium with a wide range of species. The jelly fishes are amazing. The dolphin show is a bit of a sleeper, but works great for kids. A nice place to visit with your family.

A beautiful aquarium to visit and experience. It was nice to go in the evening but still had a nice crowd there. The penguins were very cute and the dolphin show was very nice. It was a great time and very enjoyable. I highly recommend you give it a go when your in Kyoto.

The Kyoto aquarium was great but a bit crowded. It’s not a very big place so you can see it all in 2 hours. Prepare for loud children. We enjoyed the displays which are clean and very colourful. I’ve never seen so many types of jellyfish!

The main attractions, the giant salamanders and penguins were impressive, but overall for the price of admission, it didn't feel like there was much. My family had gone to Osaka Aquarium a half dozen times already, and although Kyoto Aquarium's admission is slight more expensive, my family felt Osaka Aquarium had more content.

Even though the place is quite small, but we like this place. It offers a lot of variety of sea animals. The place is also high maintenance and clean. They offer lockers to put our personal belongings (especially the bigger one) and also the stroller. However, I went there twice but the dolphin attraction was closed and I think they should provide more staffs in several corners because the last time I went there there was a kid trying to destroy the aquarium’s attribute but no staffs there to warn him. Overall, it’s a must-visit place for family.

An interesting aquarium, although it’s a little small. Dolphin show was closed at the time, due to new baby dolphins. Has a variety of fish, penguins, seals and quite many jellyfish. Also dolphins.

What a lovely aquarium! Highly recommended for families. This is a standard aquarium with all the usual species, plus some focus on Japanese wildlife. The structure of the building makes the visit easy to navigate, there are plenty of accessible bathrooms and cafes to rest between one display to another. What I appreciated the most is that the day I went there there was no dolphin show because the dolphins were resting. I wasn't disappointed at all, because they explained that the dolphins had to rest. I felt it was great that they did this, because dolphins should also have days off. We could still go on the roof top to see them interact naturally. So it felt like they were taking good care of the dolphins, and all the animals in general, which makes it quite enjoyable.

Definitely worth a visit in Kyoto! We could get in without wait when we went late afternoon (5:30pm ish). They have very spacey and clean water tanks that you can see from many angles - main focus on seals and penguins and they have a dolphin stadium too for shows. But the big aquarium inside is also nice to watch. A cozy place for dates as well especially if you in the evening.

Nice aquarium. Average size. It seems that if you go between noon and 2pm you can watch a few animals feeding like dolphins, penguins amd rays.

An enjoyable little aquarium. While not anywhere near as grand as something like Kaiyukan in Osaka, the Kyoto aquarium is still a nice place. All directional signage, exhibit names, and species names are displayed in Japanese and English. There is one large multi-species tank, a penguin enclosure, a large number of jellyfish in various different tanks, a handful of small tanks, one medium set focused on local freshwater life, and a dolphin show. The show lasts 15-20 minutes and is only in Japanese.

Kyoto Aquarium was the first aquarium in Japan that I visited and I really loved the experience. It's a little bit of a ways off from the closest station, but is well worth it. You don't have to purchase admission tickets ahead of time - you can do so at the machines they have at the entrance. English is also available for tourists. The tickets that they print off also have different types of fish on them which I think is a cute touch. At the beginning of the exhibit, they showcase their star animal/mascot - the Japanese salamander. They also have a cute large plus of the salamander so you can compare how tall you are to it! The great thing about the Kyoto Aquarium is that it is not very busy. We went on a Wednesday afternoon and it wasn't busy at all. This is also the aquarium where they have the infamous relationship chart between their penguins! At the end of the aquarium, when you're exiting, there's a little Japanese garden which was beautiful. It was truly a better experience than the other busier/touristy aquariums that we went to.

A wonderful place for kids and adults to visit. My 5yo loved it. The displays are beautiful. They frequently have feeding times. Watching the sting rays, penguins and dolphins feed was fantastic. There is also a cafe on-site and large gift shop. You can walk to the location from kyoto station. It's about 10 to 15 minutes. Otherwise I recommend a taxi.

One of the few aquariuma in Japan where you can see the giant salamander Oosanshouou! Might be the only major city aquarium where you can see them. The species is unique to the Kansai area and occasionally can be spotted in the wild. The gift shop here is famous for Oosanshouou merchandise. The rest of the aquarium is modern and expansive. The penguin exhibit is also famous - especially the super detailed love/friendship map of each of the penguins in the exhibit! Featured on TV, it takes up a whole wall! Lovingly documented by the staff, it has some funny annotations to read about which penguins have dated each other, which have a crush on certain staff members, etc. Finally, there's the dolphin show. This aquarium has everything and makes a nice addition to your itinerary in Kyoto to mix it up from all the shrines and temples. Don't forget to buy a giant salamander plushie. They sell out fast!

Not the largest aquarium we've seen but nicely organized, clean and easy to see the exhibits. We enjoyed it.

There’s a long line now because of the holiday, but it’s a great place for families to hang out. There are designated areas for those bringing their strollers and there are benches and tables for those exhausted (parents, especially) from walking around or chasing after their kids. We converted our regular ticket (around 2500 yen) into an annual pass (additional 2900 yen) so that is just great value for money. To avoid waiting in long lines and spending too much on food and drinks, I just brought rice balls, coffee and hot water in thermos bottles. There are seats right near the seals and sea lions, which I took lovely videos of. We also dropped by Umekoji Park (right in front of the aquarium) to look at the plum blossoms. There are currently no dolphin shows, but just seeing them fed, trained and checked up on is enough. Penguin feeding is fun to watch and there is a huge tank with sting rays and one can just spend hours watching a staff member in a diving suit feeding the sea creatures in turns. There is a nearby restaurant that serves lots of vegetables; that may also be worth checking out the next time we visit.

Aquarium has a nice flow. So many jellyfish 🤩 The place is kids friendly and clean. It has restaurant inside.. The dolphin show only showing how the dolphin trained.

There's a large expansive parchment of land space opposite this impressive building that's perfect for family picnics, photos and hangouts with friends. The aquarium itself is of a decent size, the Salamanders, Dolphins, Seals, Penguins and Jellyfishes are particularly the most interesting attractions here. Furthermore, there's lots of adorable merchandise that could be purchased.

Good place to enjoy with family. Nice collection of fishes and all sea creatures. Come earlier so you got to see the dolphin show. I came at 4pm and last show is at 3pm. I missed it. But even without it, the place is a nice package already. It is close to Kyoto railway museum and as well the ice skating place in the park nearby. So come to one destination but has a lot to offer.

One of the best place in kyoto. I recommend to all visit once in this place

Mind blowing place for hanging out with friends and children

Small but layout of whole building was flowing very well and all water were clean. Could see the fish clearly. Loved the researched area Enjoyed the dolphin show

Of all the aquariums I’ve been to it’s the best. I’d give it 5 stars, but I disliked one thing - they have an online ticket system supposedly to help out with crowding and Corona. Their system doesn’t work. You’re still put into the middle of two different crowds with no attempt at social distancing until you’re already inside the building and only so you don’t get too close when they do a group temperature check. Universal Studios had a better system and is 10x the size. (At least they try- even if it’s not enforced, if you want to follow social distancing, it’s much easier to do so.)

The problem is wifi connection. I tried to live the dolphins show on fb but failed. Haha

I love this place. It is not a massive aquarium. But the layout is nicely organised and lighting makes visitors relax. I saw aquariums jellyfishes it was really cool and very beautifully illuminated. If you visit Kyoto, this place is definitely recommended as other side than old traditional place.

Awesome experience, smaller in comparison to other aquariums, but it's nice atmosphere around the aquarium and within it.

The moment you enter the aquarium, you'll encounter the giant salamanders native to Kamogawa. The aquarium has all the freshwater and saltwater fish found around Kyoto. You can get some ideas about how Kyoto's water is so blessed with nature, how ecological cycle functions here, etc. You can also get to see some furseals, and penguins too (I'm pretty sure they're not native to Japan). Unlike other aquariums, the facility is so clean and well maintained, wheelchairs accessible hallways, very enjoyable and at the same time educational. So highly recommended five-star for this aquarium, bring your kids here too, they'll be so happy. Even for adults you can enjoy by yourself for at least an hour and a half. And I you do have some extra time, you should also visit the Kyoto Railway Museum located in its vicinity. Must go!

Beautiful little aquarium, hadn't seen quite a few things despite going to lots of them in the states A little warm in summer but still nice cool areas Very cute exhibits and impressive jellyfish area!

Such a beautiful aquarium and such well thought-out design! The sting rays are huge and the jellyfish exhibit was truly magnificent.

Small but worth visiting. Featuring the creatures living in the Kyoto area. The fresh water exhibits and jelly fish displays are very unique.

We visited on a very hot weekend in August, so it stands to reason it was very crowded as everyone was trying to escape the heat. It was difficult to see some of the attractions because of the crowds, and the numbers of animals on display was fairly small, so it felt somewhat overpriced for what you actually experienced. That said, the jellyfish were the favorites in our group.

One of the worst aquariums I've been to in Japan. There's truly nothing special about it. There's a salamander exhibit, seals, miscellaneous fish and sharks, dolphins (2 shows per day), and a ton of jellyfish. Way too expensive for the limited number of tanks. Atoa in Kobe is much better, cheaper, and overall much more of an experience than this aquarium...

I enjoy hole day in Kyoto aquarium. There have so many Collection of jellyfish and doing the research day waist variation.

Nice Aquarium, it's really well made & lovely done but iam not really happy about the delphine show & seals. They seem a bit exhausted & swim the same line every day. Would be great if they had more space but it's not really changeable.

You cannot see dolphin attraction in Osaka Kaiyuukan, but you can see in here.

Love the encounter with adorable seals and fur seals 🦭 so cute to see their feeding time and how well the staff there are looking after them. Despite it is an aquarium, I somehow felt they appreciate to have humans as their audience and proud showing off their tricks. It makes my heart smile 😊 Jelly fish brings a magical world, relaxing to see them floating around. Light effects add more mystery. Interesting to see the whole evolvement from one day old baby jelly fish to adult ones. Salamanders! I didn’t expect Kyoto’s Kamogawa would have salamanders. Love to watch them swimming with their cute short arms, occasionally coming up to the surface and breathing in some air ☺️ Mama dolphin recently delivered a baby and currently on maternity leave. Yet you could see her and her baby in one of the pools a bit far from the audience seats. It’s not a big aquarium, cozy enough to spend some quality time with those sea babies, leaving happily and content. Mata ne, Goma chan 🦭

Kyoto aquarium isn’t large but its exhibits are impressive. It took 1.5-2hours to look around them including dolphin show.

A very beautiful place. It has a wonderful calmness, and the colors of the fish are wonderful, as if they were a painted painting, and there are almost all forms of lamps. The lamps were very impressive. I highly recommend visiting it.

Nice escape from the rain. A small but well done aquarium. Nice for a quick break and something different. The giant salamander are super cute and the jellyfish collection is nice. It’s great that they have a dolphin show but I don’t like cetaceans in captivity.

Very nice aquarium. Wonderful also the exhibition and breeding facility for jellyfish. Very clean enclosures and also very child friendly. The whole facility is handicapped accessible. With or without children definitely worth a trip.

Don't let its small size fool you, it has some unique permanent expos, like an amazing Jellyfish nursery with (if you get the right time) staff handling them, showing every stage of their growth, and all kinds you can imagine in multiple environments. The main tank itself is understandably small but still worth it, and they even have a Dolphin show some days of the week. Check out the pictures!

So nice! 💕 Very informative and foreigner friendly, a lot of English information. All the animals look very happy, the place is very clean and well organized. COVID measures seem good enough. :) So sad that I couldn't catch the dolphin show.💔 The souvenirs are a must! Very cute

This is a small aquarium that mainly exhibits creatures from rivers and lakes. The exhibition of jellyfish is substantial. The entrance fee is 2200 yen, which is a little expensive.

i absolutely LOVED this aquarium! it was so beautiful and mesmerising. they showcased a lot of different species and animals (e.g seals), i won't mention more so you can go see the animals for yourself ~ i seriously enjoyed it so much! if you come at around 12:00 (or 13:00 i think) and 15:00, you might get to see the dolphin show as well! they also have a free paper jellyfish making activity :>

The best collection of various jellyfish species I've seen! The penguin corner is also great, you can even see some of them nesting eggs!

Beautiful aquarium, although it’s smaller compare to others such as Nagoya and Okinawa aquariums. The time we visited, Jan 14,2023 Dolphin show was closed due to birth of new baby dolphins.

Very fun and exciting to see all the creatures! They will charge you an adult fee if you don't have your student id on you! The staff is really nice and you have the option of decorating your own bag about half way through near the jellyfish. It's about an hour and a half trip all the way through