About this tour
Just west of downtown, where Buffalo Bayou bends past a historic fire station, the Downtown Aquarium turns a couple of hours into an underwater adventure. Half amusement park and half public aquarium, it holds more than two hundred species of aquatic animals in half a million gallons of water — and then wraps rides, a restaurant, and a train around them. This compact loop takes you from the aquarium tanks to a train that plunges through a shark tunnel, then out to the midway rides and back. Everything sits within a five-minute walk, so it's an easy outing for families with young kids or a rainy-day backup that still feels like a trip somewhere. Buy the all-day pass if you plan to ride; go à la carte if you're just here for the fish.