Anonymous wrote:We just visited Monterey and while there was lots to see, way too crowded for my tastes. Also admission was $65 per person. Kind of expensive IMHO.

Worth the cost. Could stay in there an entire day.

Monterary Bay by far.

My kids love aquariums, so we usually try to visit them when we are traveling. The ones that we've enjoyed in roughly our order of favorite to least are below. The only one that wasn't really worth visiting unless you happen to be passing through is Seaside Aquarium. It's small, and not very spectacular. It's essentially outdoors, like in a garage or warehouse type building. Nothign special about it. Otherwise, we've loved all of the ones we've visited and would happily go back again (we have been to several of these more than once because we have visited the areas more than once).

1. Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, CA
2. National Aquarium, Baltimore, MD (we had memberships there for 2 years, so we know this one well)
3. Monterey Aquarium (I've been there many years ago on a work trip, but the kids have not)
4. Newport Aquarium (Suburban Cincinnatti OH, Newport KY)
5. Dallas World Aquarium, Dallas, TX
6. Adventure Aquarium (Suburban Philadelphia, Camden NJ)
7. Maui Ocean Center (we were there on our honeymoon, we enjoyed, but the kids were not there)
8. Portland Aquarium (Portland, OR)
9. Seattle Aquarium. Seattle WA

For ones outside the US that we've enjoyed. We loved all three of these in different ways
1. Penguin Aquarium, Nagasaki, Japan
2. Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver BC, Canada
3. Kagashima Aquarium, Kagashima Japan

We just visited Monterey and while there was lots to see, way too crowded for my tastes. Also admission was $65 per person. Kind of expensive IMHO.