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Quick Information

ADDRESS

#Av. de Los Consignatarios, s/n, 35008, Las Palmas, Spain

TICKETS

From $32.99

Plan your visit

Did you know?

The name “Poema del Mar” is a tribute to Canarian painter Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre and his work “Poema del Atlántico,” according to Hello Canary Islands.

Poema del Mar opened to the public in late 2017, making it a comparatively new large aquarium in Europe with modern tank engineering and visitor-flow design.

The aquarium stands at Muelle Sanapú in Puerto de La Luz on reclaimed dockside land that was later redeveloped as a leisure and cultural zone.

Is Poema del Mar Aquarium worth visiting?

The first surprise at Poema del Mar is how cinematic it feels. You move from humid greenery and freshwater tanks into bright coral displays, then into a dark, blue-lit hall where sharks drift past at eye level. It feels less like hopping between tanks and more like watching the scale of the sea unfold room by room.

It was built to move beyond the old aquarium model with three immersive worlds — Jungle, Reef, and Deep Ocean. That structure gives the visit momentum, so even first-timers always feel they’re heading toward a bigger reveal.

The payoff is the final viewing wall, when the room goes quiet, and you realize you’re watching the ocean from inside it rather than through a series of windows.

Skip it if you dislike indoor, low-lit attractions or want a very quick stop between beach plans.

What’s inside Poema del Mar?

Jungle entrance at Poema del Mar
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Jungle entrance

You begin in a foliage-heavy freshwater zone with river fish, turtles, reptiles, and planted tanks. The route slopes gradually downward, so the visit feels staged rather than scattered, with each room building anticipation for the larger marine displays.

Chameleon tree

One of the cleverest small details sits in the Jungle area: a tree dotted with panther chameleons that many visitors nearly miss at first glance. It rewards slow looking, especially if you enjoy quieter exhibits between headline tanks.

Tropical reef cylinder

The central reef tank rises through multiple levels, wrapped by a ramp that lets you watch clownfish, surgeonfish, moray eels, and coral life from changing angles. This is where families often pause longest before moving on.

Nemo Kids and touch-friendly zones

This stretch is especially good for children, with a crawl-through viewpoint and interactive areas that break up the bigger aquarium halls. If you’re visiting with kids, budget extra time here instead of treating it as a quick pass-through.

Deep Ocean

The finale is the giant viewing window, where sharks, rays, and large schools of fish move across a single curved wall of water. This is the busiest part of the aquarium, and most visitors naturally linger here.

How to explore Poema del Mar Aquarium

How much time to spend?

Budget 2–3 hours for a full visit, or about 90 minutes if you want the main zones without lingering. Families usually stay longer because the children’s crawl-through area, benches, and large viewing panels naturally slow the pace.

Best visit order

Start in Jungle and follow the aquarium’s natural flow through Tropical and into Deep Ocean. Don’t rush the smaller exhibits early on; the route is designed to scale up gradually. Save your longest stop for the final panoramic tank, where most visitors settle in for photos and shark watching.

Must-see highlights

Must-see: the Jungle descent, the chameleon tree, the cylindrical coral reef tank, Nemo Kids, and the Deep Ocean viewing wall.

Optional: the smaller species displays and interpretive panels between zones, which add 20–30 minutes and reward visitors who like to read as they go.

Guided or self-paced?

Self-paced works well here because the route is intuitive and the visual payoff is obvious even without a guide. Guided context is most useful if you want more on conservation and species behavior.

Worth adding nearby

Poema del Mar sits by the harbor, so it pairs easily with a walk along Las Canteras Beach or a waterfront meal in Las Palmas. Add 1–2 hours if you want to turn the aquarium into a relaxed half-day rather than a standalone stop.

​Plan your visit to the aquarium >>

Brief history of Poema del Mar Aquarium

  • 2017: Poema del Mar opens in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria as the Loro Parque group’s first aquarium on Gran Canaria, built around immersive habitats rather than a traditional tank-by-tank layout.
  • 2018: Its first full operating year establishes it as a major new draw in the port district, helped by its location near the cruise terminal and Las Canteras.
  • Late 2010s: The Deep Ocean hall and its giant curved viewing window become the aquarium’s defining image and a regional talking point.
  • 2021: Poema del Mar gains international attention for breeding weedy sea dragons, an important conservation milestone for a European aquarium.
  • Today: It operates year-round as an education-led marine attraction organized around Jungle, Reef, and Deep Ocean environments.

Architecture and vision of Poema del Mar Aquarium

Poema del Mar is designed less like a conventional aquarium and more like a sequence of environments. You don’t wander between isolated tanks; you descend through changing light, temperature, and scale, moving from dense Jungle planting to a brighter reef zone and finally into a dark Deep Ocean chamber. That progression is the design trick that makes the building work.

The most dramatic piece is the giant curved acrylic viewing wall in the final hall. You feel its effect before you think about its engineering: the room opens, the blue deepens, and the barrier between you and the tank nearly disappears. Earlier, the cylindrical reef tank uses height and movement to keep you circling upward, which is why the middle section feels so active.

Who built it?

Poema del Mar was commissioned by the Loro Parque group as its first aquarium on Gran Canaria, with Christoph Kiessling championing a ‘new generation’ concept built around immersion, education, and visual spectacle. No single architect is foregrounded in public-facing material; the brand vision is the story.

Poema del Mar’s conservation role

Poema del Mar lands best when you treat it as more than a photo stop. The aquarium is part of the Loro Parque group’s broader conservation effort and uses its exhibits to connect spectacle with species protection, breeding, and marine education. That gives the visit more weight than a standard indoor attraction. In the quieter corners, you notice how much of the experience is built around explaining habitats and biodiversity, not just displaying animals. For families especially, that balance between entertainment and education is one of the aquarium’s strongest qualities.

Frequently asked questions about Poema del Mar

Yes. Tickets are issued for a selected entry window, so it’s best to arrive on time rather than treating them as open-dated admission.