Naples Aquarium: tickets, opening hours and what to see

Italy’s first public aquarium

In March 1872 the young German zoologist Anton Dohrn founded the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, today Italy’s national institute for marine biology, ecology and biotechnology. Two years later, in 1874, the aquarium opened on the building’s ground floor: the first public aquarium in Italy and, according to the Dohrn Foundation, the oldest public aquarium still working. The philosopher Benedetto Croce called the Stazione “the great hotel of scientists”, for the researchers from all over the world who worked there.

The system was designed by the Englishman William Alford Lloyd, who had built the aquariums in London and Hamburg. The tanks are still fed with seawater through an underground channel.

The visitor side is run today by the Dohrn Foundation, which also looks after a sea-turtle rescue centre (Turtle Point) in Portici. So a visit here means seeing a piece of scientific history that is still at work, not an attraction built for tourists.

What you see in the Naples Aquarium

Don’t expect a modern aquarium park with tunnels and sharks: this is a 19th-century aquarium with its original layout intact. The tanks line the walls, light falls from above, and the hall is kept deliberately dim.

The Bay of Naples in a tank

The historic tanks recreate the habitats of the bay: posidonia seagrass meadows, coralligenous reef, caves and open water, plus a section on alien species that have reached the Mediterranean.

Moray eels, octopus and a tropical reef

The moray tank recreates the Roman fish ponds that still lie underwater at Gaiola. There is an octopus tank, which alone makes the visit for most children, and large central tanks with a tropical coral reef, presented as a possible future Mediterranean as the sea warms.

The Darwin-Dohrn Museum (DaDoM)

Your ticket includes DaDoM, housed in the Casina del Boschetto, a restored building inside the Villa Comunale. The museum covers evolution and marine ecology, starting from the letters between Charles Darwin and Anton Dohrn. You will see the Stazione’s zoological collection, the reconstructed laboratory of the curator Salvatore Lo Bianco, and artworks commissioned for the museum. It is a good addition for teenagers and adults interested in the history of science; with very young children you can go round it quickly.

The Stazione Zoologica’s frescoed hall (Hans von Marées, 1873) does not appear to be part of the visit.

Naples Aquarium tickets: prices and reductions

• Adult (12+): €10 for the Aquarium + DaDoM. The site shows it as “instead of €15”, the sum of the two separate tickets.
• Reduced €7: children aged 4 to 12, over-70s, university students with a student card, companions of disabled visitors.
• Free: under-3s, disabled visitors, journalists, marine biology students at the University of Naples Federico II.
• okNapoli 4: €32 for four Naples attractions including the Aquarium, valid 180 days.

You need ID at the entrance for any reduced or free ticket. The Aquarium is not a state museum, so the free first Sunday does not apply. For information, call the Aquarium ticket office on 081 5833 442, or DaDoM on 081 5833 642.

Opening hours, rules and the best time to go

The Aquarium is open Tuesday to Sunday, 9am–5pm, and closed on Mondays. The old summer timetable with a lunch break no longer applies. Last entry and public-holiday closures are not published, so if you are arriving late in the afternoon or on a holiday, call ahead.

• Don’t touch or tap on the glass.
• No flash and no video lights.
• No running, eating or drinking.
• No animals, except guide and assistance dogs.
• Some rooms may close temporarily during conferences or workshops.

The hall is small, so early weekday mornings are the calmest time, and it is the classic rainy-day plan. Tiqets lists the building as wheelchair accessible, but it is worth confirming with the ticket office.

Getting to the Villa Comunale

The entrance is at Viale Dohrn 49, in the middle of the Villa Comunale park in Chiaia, between Riviera di Chiaia and the Via Caracciolo seafront.

• Metro Line 2, Amedeo: about 650 m, a 10-minute walk.
• Metro Line 6: San Pasquale station is on Riviera di Chiaia, but the line runs limited hours (at weekends it stops in the early afternoon): check anm.it.
• On foot: from Castel dell’Ovo, follow Via Partenope and Via Caracciolo west along the sea.

During Civil Protection weather alerts the only entrance is from Riviera di Chiaia, at San Pasquale. The first phase of renovation works in the Villa Comunale was completed in September 2026.

Tiqets or the official ticket office?

The Tiqets ticket is the same official product: the Aquarium plus the Darwin-Dohrn Museum, sold by the Dohrn Foundation, at €10. It costs no less and adds nothing extra, and it is non-refundable and cannot be rescheduled. It only makes sense if you prefer buying in an app you already use. If you qualify for a reduced ticket or want the okNapoli 4 bundle, buy on the official site. We are an independent guide: if you book through the Tiqets or GetYourGuide links on this page we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

The Naples Aquarium on a seafront walk

The Naples Aquarium fits neatly into a morning by the sea: walk into the Villa Comunale, do the visit (a good hour with DaDoM), then carry on along the seafront to Castel dell’Ovo and the Borgo Marinari. If the moray tank caught your eye, Gaiola in Posillipo shows you the real Roman fish ponds. For a science day with children, pair it with Città della Scienza in Bagnoli. More ideas in things to do in Naples.