This post will cover all the details you need to get discounts, tickets for the Aquarium of the Bay, Exhibits, and activities at the Aquarium.

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TICKETS

There are roughly a few different ticket options for the Aquarium of the Bay, which include General admission, and membership options.

General Admission Prices

Membership option

Purchase tickets here

Note: There are roughly around ten different options for membership. If you plan to visit this place more than once then, membership will be the best option.

DISCOUNTS

In this section, we will cover the best ways to save money on tickets to the Aquarium of the Bay including Tourist passes, discount offers, and many more.

Tourist Attraction Discount Passes

If you are planning to visit, many top attractions in San Francisco a tourist pass will allow you to save a lot of money on several attractions and activities.

Depends on which pass you choose, the pass could save you anywhere from 59% or more on general admission. Here are the various pass options that include admission to the Aquarium of the Bay.

Go San Francisco Pass

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 This all-inclusive pass allows you to visit as many attractions as you can fit in the number of days during your trip to San Francisco. In addition, this pass is a good choice for maximum savings when sightseeing in San Francisco.

   Explorer Pass

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The Explorer pass is perfect for travelers who want to visit a select few attractions of their choice. This pass is available for purchase as a 2, 3, 4, or 5 attraction pass.

You can read the full review of the San Francisco Explorer Pass here.

Build your own Pass

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The build your own pass is best if you know what places you want to visit. You have the option to add at least 2 attractions of your choice and a 20% discount is applied.

San Francisco City Pass

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If you are a tourist in San Francisco, with this discount pass you will save 45% on the four top San Francisco attractions, which include the California Academy of Sciences, Aquarium of the Bay, Exploratorium, and many more. This is the most popular attraction pass for first-timers in San Francisco.

You can read the full review of the San Francisco CityPASS here.

San Francisco Sightseeing Pass

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The San Francisco sightseeing pass is best for a traveler who wants to explore using a free hop-on hop-off bus tour this makes it easy to get around the city. This pass is available for purchase as a 1,2,3,4 or 5-day pass. Besides that, you are entitled to receive additional discounts and special offers on dining, shopping, and other activities.

San Francisco Mega Pass

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The San Francisco mega pass is best for a traveler who wants to build your own Itinerary of attractions and activities to explore. This pass is available for purchase as a 3,4or 5-attraction pass.

Additional Discounts:

Military Discount

The aquarium is proud to honor the men and women of the Military.

You can purchase discount tickets from the following facilities: Beale Air Force Base, Travis Air force Base.

This discount is available to active duty and veterans.

Locals Discount

If you live in one of the nine San Francisco bay area counties, you qualify for the Locals discounts tickets.

The following rates are available for qualified local’s visitors

$25.25 for Adults / $16.30 for children / $20.25for seniors /$20.25 for Students.

You’ll need to show your driver’s license or other proof of ID when you go. Discount will apply to all family members.

AAA Discount

If you are AAA Member, you qualify for a discount of up to 17 % off Adult Tickets and 27% off child and Senior tickets. In addition, discounts are applied when purchasing admission from the AAA member ticket site

ABOUT THE AQUARIUM OF THE BAY

Aquarium of the Bay is the best waterfront in San Francisco. Here there are live exhibits about the world of sea life. The shows allow the visitors to explore and enjoy the thrill of the marine life of San Francisco. Being a part of bay.org means sharing the mission of protecting, restoring, and inspiring conservation of the marine wildlife in the sea.

Water is at the depth of this aquarium as the center holds nearly 300 feet of acrylic tunnels. These tunnels are found suspended with 700,000 gallons of Bay water that support the lives of up to 20,000 animals. The animals vary from 8-foot seven-gill sharks, extending to octopuses and jellies, not forgetting many other sea creatures worth exploring.

EXHIBITS AND ACTIVITIES

In this section, we will detail some of the best exhibits and activities at the Aquarium of the Bay

The Aquarium is majorly divided into three habitat areas: Discover the Bay, Under the Bay and Touch the Bay.

Discover the Bay

The first stop in the Aquarium of the Bay is the “Discover the Bay” habitat section. It features the different ecosystems, which support various species of sea life.  This section holds different eight habitats of animals comprising of up to a 1000 aquatic animals. The major attractions in this exhibit are as follows:

Beauties of the Bay: the most colorful aquatic animals of San Francisco just like the Orange Garibaldi also named as California State Marine Fish, rockfish, and Green Moray Eels. Seeing to it that everyone likes colors, this is a place worth visiting while at the Aquarium.

Swirling school of anchovies: Most of you have probably seen it in movies like Finding Nemo, or even Finding Dory; where they show how lovely the school of fishes looks under the sea. However, having an actual visit, to the “Swirling school of anchovies,” will allow you to see it with your own eyes; the moving school of anchovies.

• Bay babies: It is always fun to watch a fingerling swim or a newly born creature learning to walk. In this exhibit, you get to see fingerlings of a Juvenile perch, Skates or other species of fish enjoy their first swim.

Under the Bay

This habitat section will allow you to get the experience of being under the water and exploring the sea life. There are two tunnels; one holds the variety of Jellies, and the other gives a deeper view of the sea. The major attractions in this exhibit are as follows:

• Jellies: You will find the jellies in the central “Under the Bay” area. To enhance the experience of visitors, the lighting is excellently placed to ensure you get the feel of the seawaters.  Moon Jellies are found displayed in a 725-gallon cylinder tank, and a wall-mounted, 740-gallon tank holds the Pacific Sea Nettles.

• Near Shore: Here you shall find a range of swirling schools of anchovies, a bright orange Garibaldi, and a rainbow of Rockfish. But the best attraction is the Giant Pacific Octopuses. Because of the depth and width of this tunnel, you might be able to see some of the sea animals breeding as these bays provide an environment to many of the species for nursing.

• Deep Water: The best bit comes in the end. Love sharks then this is for you. You could closely see Spiny dogfish, Leopard sharks, Soupfin sharks, and Sevengill in this exhibit.

Touch the Bay

Ever wondered the feeling you get if you could touch the sea animals? Then wonder no more, with the help of an interactive PG&E Bay Lab you can feel the animals with your fingertips. This exhibit includes the following sections:

• Skates, sharks, and Bat Rays Touchpool: Leopard Sharks, Juvenile Bat Rays, Swell Sharks, Big Skates, and some more are ready to give an appearance to their visitors, and you can touch them.

• San Francisco Bay Estuaries Exhibit: This exhibit focuses on providing the experience of marsh and mudflats which are diminishing in the environment. Hence in the process of conservation, they have built two exhibits where one can touch a leopard shark jaw, oyster fossil, and other artifacts.

• Bay Lab: As the name suggests, it is a lab where most of the experiments and studies about life in water are carried and displayed for the public to view and understand their ecosystem.

Aquarium of the Bay: Know Before You Go

Address & Location

Aquarium of the Bay, Pier39, 2 Beach St, San Francisco, CA 94133.

Hours

Open every day except December25 Here are the open times

Spring: Mar1-May28 –Mon-Thurs 10am-7pm, Fri-Sun 10am- 8pm

Summer: May29-Sept6 –Daily 9am-8pm

Fall: Sept7-Oct31-Mon-Thurs10am-7pm, Fri-Sun10am-8pm

Winter: Nov1-Feb28- Mon-Thurs: 10am-6pm, Fri-Sun: 10am -6pm

Parking

Although the Aquarium of the bay doesn’t offer parking, you can park at PIER35 or across from the main entrance at the PIER 39 garage. Also, many PIER39 can offer to park.