A Tokyo summer can wear you down just walking between stations, and an afternoon cloudburst can undo a whole day of plans. An aquarium is one of the easiest ways around both: you stay cool and dry for hours, and several of them connect almost directly to a train station, so you barely step outside. The city has a real range of them, from a compact spot you can duck into between trains to a big one you can pair with a half-day in the park.
This guide lines up Tokyo's main aquariums, plus Enoshima Aquarium as an easy day trip, so you can compare price, hours, access, and what's actually worth seeing before you pick one. If you want a wider list of indoor options for a wet day, I've put those together in Rainy Day in Tokyo? Your 2026 Guide to the Best Indoor Things to Do.
The 6 aquariums at a glance (5 in Tokyo + Enoshima as a day trip)
Here's the overview first. Prices are the 2026 walk-up adult rate; hours and closing days are a rough guide. All of these change from time to time, so check each aquarium's official site before you go.
Aquarium | Area / nearest station | Adult (walk-up) | Hours / closed | Highlight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sumida Aquarium (すみだ水族館) | Oshiage / inside Tokyo Skytree Town | ¥2,700 | Weekdays 10:00–20:00, weekends & holidays 9:00–21:00; year-round | Penguins, open jellyfish pool |
Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa | 2 min from Shinagawa Station | ¥2,500 | Approx. 10:00–20:00; year-round | Dolphin performance |
Sunshine Aquarium (サンシャイン水族館) | Ikebukuro / inside Sunshine City | ¥2,600–3,200 | Roughly 10:00–20:00, varies by day | "Sky penguins" overhead tank |
Tokyo Sea Life Park (葛西臨海水族園) | 5 min from Kasai-Rinkai-Koen Station | ¥700 (elementary age and under free) | 9:30–17:00; closed Wed | Doughnut-shaped tuna tank |
Shinagawa Aquarium (しながわ水族館) | 8 min from Omori-Kaigan Station (Keikyu Line) | ¥1,350 | 10:00–17:00; closed Tue | Tunnel tank, dolphin show (paused at times) |
Enoshima Aquarium (新江ノ島水族館) — Kanagawa, day trip | Katase-Enoshima Station | ¥2,800 | 9:00–17:00, seasonal | Sagami Bay big tank, jellyfish |
Sunshine Aquarium changes both its price and its hours by date, and Sumida shifts its hours on certain days too, so check each aquarium's official calendar for the day you're going.
Sumida Aquarium (Tokyo Skytree Town)
It sits on the 5th and 6th floors of Tokyo Skytree Town's Solamachi, right by Oshiage (Skytree) Station, so you reach it without stepping outside. Everything is indoors, which makes it an easy stop no matter the weather.
The two things to see are the open-topped penguin pool, with no fence between you and the water, and a shallow jellyfish pool you look down into from above. You get close to the animals, and it's an easy place to shoot photos. It's open year-round and stays open until 21:00 on weekends and holidays, with last entry an hour before closing, and you can buy tickets in advance on the official site. Give it about an hour to an hour and a half to walk through.
Walk-up tickets are ¥2,700 for adults (university students included), ¥2,000 for high schoolers, ¥1,400 for junior high and elementary students, and ¥900 for children age 3 and up; prices were last updated on February 10, 2026.
Official site: 東京スカイツリータウン®にあるすみだ水族館。ペンギン、チンアナゴ、クラゲなどを間近にご覧いただけます。完全屋内型。東京下町の観光や子連れのお出かけにも最適。
東京スカイツリータウン®にある「すみだ水族館」【公式】
Book your Sumida Aquarium tickets here
Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa (2 minutes from Shinagawa, open late)
It's about a 2-minute walk from the Takanawa exit of Shinagawa Station, on the grounds of the Shinagawa Prince Hotel. Haneda is a straight shot too, so it slots neatly into an arrival day or the hours before a flight home.
The draw is a dolphin performance set to music and light, and the fact that it stays open into the night. The walk-up adult ticket is ¥2,500, it's open year-round, and hours run 10:00–20:00 (last entry 60 minutes before closing; times shift by season). Budget an hour and a half to two hours if you're catching a show. It works well as a stop during an evening out in Tokyo, or in the gap around dinner.
Official site: Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa
Book your Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa tickets here
Sunshine Aquarium (Ikebukuro, the "sky penguins")
This one is up on top of the Sunshine City complex in Ikebukuro. The signature sight is the outdoor "Sky Penguins": a tank overhead that penguins swim through, so you look up at them against the sky.
Adult admission runs ¥2,600–3,200 at the door, depending on the date. On weekends, holidays, and other busy days they may cap admission, and timed-entry advance tickets are available. If you want to be sure of getting in during a peak period, book before you head over. Plan on an hour and a half to two hours. Because both the price and the hours change by date, check the official calendar for the latest.
Book your Sunshine Aquarium tickets here
Tokyo Sea Life Park (cheap, spacious, good with kids)
Tokyo Sea Life Park is about a 5-minute walk from Kasai-Rinkai-Koen Station, set inside a large seaside park. Its best-known sight is a huge doughnut-shaped tank with a school of tuna circling through it.
The price is what stands out. General admission is ¥700, junior high students ¥250, and elementary age and under are free (junior high students who live or study in Tokyo are also free). It's open 9:30–17:00, with ticket sales until 16:00, and closed on Wednesdays (or the next day if that's a holiday) and over New Year. The park itself is big, so you can fit a walk or a break around your visit, which makes it an easy pace to keep with small kids. Count on about half a day if you include the park.
Official site: 「東京ズーネット」は都立動物園・水族園（上野動物園、多摩動物公園、葛西臨海水族園、井の頭自然文化園、大島公園動物園）の公式サイトです。
葛西臨海水族園 | 葛西臨海水族園
Find things to do near Tokyo Sea Life Park
Shinagawa Aquarium (a tunnel tank and a dolphin show)
About 8 minutes on foot from Omori-Kaigan Station (大森海岸駅) on the Keikyu Line — or 15 from JR Omori Station — Shinagawa Aquarium is known for a tunnel tank with fish swimming overhead and for its dolphin show. Don't mix it up with Maxell Aqua Park by Shinagawa Station (also covered above); this is a separate place in Shinagawa Ward. The walk-up adult ticket is ¥1,350, which is reasonable for a central Tokyo aquarium. Hours are 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed Tuesdays, except during the spring, summer, and New Year holiday periods. Give it about an hour and a half.
If you're going for the show, check ahead. Because of repair work on the show pool, the dolphin and sea lion shows are suspended from July 1 to 17, 2026. The aquarium is also planning a renovation, so the show schedule may change going forward. Check the official site for the day's timetable and the latest status before you go.
Find things to do near Shinagawa Aquarium
A day trip: Enoshima Aquarium
If you can go a little farther, Enoshima Aquarium (新江ノ島水族館, or "Enosui") in Kanagawa is worth a look. It has a big tank recreating Sagami Bay, a jellyfish display, and dolphin and sea lion shows, and it pairs easily with a day around Enoshima itself. The walk-up adult rate is ¥2,800, raised in March 2025.
In summer it stays open late on some days. In 2026 that's July 19, August 9–15, and September 19–22, when hours run 8:00–19:00 (last entry 18:00). It's a nice chance to see the bay once the heat drops. Note that on some of the extended-hours days, entry moves to a timed-reservation system, so check the official site before you head out.
Official site: 湘南・江の島にある新江ノ島水族館（“えのすい”）の展示・アクセス・割引情報、毎日更新の「えのすいトリーター日誌」などを掲載。家族でのお出かけやデート、観光に。
新江ノ島水族館
Book your Enoshima Aquarium tickets here
How to choose
If you're torn, here's a quick way to narrow it down.
What matters most | Best fit |
|---|---|
Central location, station-connected | Sumida Aquarium, Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa |
A dolphin show | Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa, Shinagawa Aquarium (paused at times) |
Open late | Sumida Aquarium (to 21:00 on weekends & holidays), Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa (to around 20:00 daily), Sunshine Aquarium (to around 20:00 on some days) |
Low price / with kids | Tokyo Sea Life Park, Shinagawa Aquarium |
A photogenic signature exhibit | Sunshine Aquarium (sky penguins), Sumida Aquarium (jellyfish) |
A full day / pairing with sightseeing | Enoshima Aquarium (with Enoshima) |
Before you go
A few things worth keeping in mind across the board.
First, every one of these is an air-conditioned indoor building. They shrug off the summer heat and a sudden shower, which makes them easy to slot into a day when the forecast is unclear.
Watch the cutoff for entry, too. At most of them, last entry is 30 minutes to an hour before closing. If you're going in the late afternoon, work backward from that.
Prices and hours can shift by date and season. Sunshine Aquarium in particular changes its adult price by the day, and Tokyo Sea Life Park and Shinagawa Aquarium each have a weekly closing day. On a busy summer weekend, buying a timed-entry ticket in advance makes getting in smoother.
This article was translated from the original Japanese with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team. The Japanese version is authoritative.