Ripley’s Aquarium Guide | Tickets, Transit, Family-Friendly Route and Beating the Crowds

Updated: 2026-06-17 | Ticket prices, opening hours and daily time slots are subject to official announcements

Most of downtown Toronto’s attractions are lined up at street level—the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and the walk along the waterfront are all outdoor itineraries, which gets awkward when it rains or in winter. Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada fills exactly that gap: it sits right beneath the CN Tower, and walking over from Union Station through the PATH underground concourse means you barely get rained on. The whole venue is indoors, the kind of backup plan that lets you keep going even when the weather doesn’t cooperate. This article isn’t meant to write it up as a must-see list; rather, it aims to help people planning a Toronto trip for the first time decide whether it fits this particular trip, how much time to set aside, and how to avoid the most crowded slots.

According to Destination Toronto’s official introduction, this aquarium has over 20,000 marine animals, around 50 exhibits, and a total water volume of about 5.7 million litres. For someone who came in with no expectations, the scale is bigger than imagined, yet not the kind you can’t finish in half a day—the route is designed to be quite compact. Among the most memorable exhibits, Dangerous Lagoon is the venue’s signature and where everyone takes the most photos; it claims to be North America’s longest underwater viewing tunnel, with a moving walkway on the ground that slowly carries you, standing still, beneath sand tiger sharks and sawfish swimming overhead—if you bring kids, this stretch is usually where the screaming peaks. Rainbow Reef is the tropical-fish area of an Indo-Pacific coral reef, with very saturated colours; clownfish and angelfish are all here, suited to taking your time. Ray Bay lets you see rays up close, with scheduled diver-interaction shows on site and a touch pool too. As for the jellyfish wall and bioluminescent creatures, with the lighting cast on the jellyfish, it’s one of the venue’s best dark-room scenes to photograph.

To put it plainly, the sweet spot here is “families with children” and “travellers who need an indoor backup plan.” If you’re bringing kids from preschool to elementary age, or your itinerary has a rainy half-day stuck in it, this place almost never disappoints; couples or general adults will be fine going too—the atmosphere of the moving walkway and the jellyfish wall actually suits them quite well—just don’t expect it to be as awe-inspiring as a national park. Conversely, if you only have two or three days on this Toronto trip and were never into aquariums to begin with, its priority can be pushed back—there are plenty of choices downtown with more distinctly Toronto character.

Location, transit and how to fit it into your route

The aquarium’s address is 288 Bremner Boulevard, Toronto, ON M5V 3L9, right at the foot of the CN Tower (Google Maps). The smoothest way to get there is to take the TTC to Union Station, then walk over via the PATH underground concourse; almost the entire way you don’t have to go outdoors, which is especially noticeable in winter or on rainy days. Because it’s crammed into the same block as the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and the waterfront promenade, I’d suggest arranging them straight into a half-day downtown block: if the weather’s good, hit the outdoor attractions first and save the aquarium for midday when the sun is harshest, or for the evening; if the weather’s bad, do the reverse and duck indoors first. Driving isn’t impossible, but downtown parking isn’t cheap, and on event days (for example when there’s a game at Rogers Centre) the surroundings get even more jammed—take public transit if you can.

Ticket prices, opening hours and avoiding the crowds

The aquarium currently uses two types: the Timed Ticket and the Flex Ticket; the former requires you to pick an entry time slot first, while the latter is more flexible. Ticket prices and the opening hours for the day should follow the official ticketing page, because the aquarium occasionally closes early for private events and the daily slots may differ; the official website has a “Daily Schedule / Early Closure Schedule” you can check. The following summary is only to help you gauge a mental budget; the numbers always follow official announcements:

If you also plan to go up the CN Tower the same day, you can first compare whether the two-venue combo ticket is really cheaper than buying separately—sometimes it’s a good deal, sometimes it just looks convenient; don’t buy items you won’t use just to make up a combo. As for how long to stay, most people find 1.5 to 3 hours plenty to finish; with kids taking their time and lingering longer at the touch pool, you can leave a bit more. The most crowded time is usually around midday on weekends and holidays, when the moving-walkway stretch backs up into a line and taking photos or pushing a stroller isn’t very smooth; if you want cleaner shots, picking a weekday or an evening entry slot will be much more comfortable.

There are also a few easily overlooked little details worth noting in advance: the venue is on the dark side with quite a lot of glass glare, so for photos it’s best to turn off the flash—shooting up against the glass is actually clearer; the touch pool and diver shows have fixed time slots, so if you want to see them, check the day’s schedule at the entrance first instead of wandering around; the whole venue is indoors with fairly strong air conditioning, so in summer the temperature contrast coming in from outdoors is big—bring a light jacket; strollers are fine to bring in, but the route backs up when it’s busy, so avoiding peak times makes a big difference.

So for a first trip to Toronto, is it worth making a special point of fitting this in? If you’re bringing kids, or your itinerary needs an indoor half-day unaffected by the weather, it’s well worth it, and it’s on the way with the CN Tower and waterfront attractions, saving travel time; but if you’re only staying two or three days and aren’t into aquariums, you can treat it as a backup rather than the main course, and decide after first checking whether it’s really on the way with other downtown spots. To string it together with other downtown points into a convenient route, you can refer to our Toronto guide, or check out more Toronto local articles, and plan this trip a bit more loosely, leaving some flexibility for weather and queues.