Poema del Mar in Las Palmas: what the €29 aquarium ticket gets you
Updated October 1, 2026 · 8 min read
For €29 per person you get entry to the Poema del Mar aquarium at the Muelle Sanapú in the port of Las Palmas, without queuing at the ticket desk — exactly what the aquarium itself charges for an adult ticket. With 4.8 out of 5 from 4,480 reviews, it’s the third most-reviewed offer on the island on GetYourGuide. Allow two to three hours for the visit and an hour’s drive from the south each way. The day this is worth it is a calima or rainy day; on a clear day in the south, Palmitos Park for €39 is the more obvious choice. Without a car, a day trip from the south to Las Palmas runs for €39.20.
Check availability and prices for Poema del Mar tickets
Four offers around the aquarium compared
| Offer | Where and how long | From | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poema del Mar, skip-the-line entry | Port of Las Palmas, 2–3 hour visit | €29 | 4.8 ★ (4,480) | anyone filling a calima or rainy day |
| From the South: Las Palmas and Poema del Mar (optional) | from the south, 7 hours | €39.20 | 4.6 ★ (17) | anyone coming from the south without a car |
| Palmitos Park with dolphin and bird show | near Maspalomas | €39 | 4.8 ★ (1,798) | families staying in the south |
| Snorkelling at Las Canteras beach | Las Palmas, 2.5 hours | €39 | 4.5 ★ (442) | anyone wanting to get in the water after the aquarium |
The short description promises coral reefs, mangroves and the “depths of the Blue Planet”. What it leaves out: what the aquarium itself charges, how long a visit takes, how to get there from the south, and whether the trip is worth it.
What “skip the queue” means here
The title promises exactly one thing: that you don’t stand in the queue at the ticket desk. Neither the title nor the short description says anything about a guided tour, an extra programme, or priority anywhere else.
The aquarium also sells its own tickets online, with an entry time. When you buy, you choose a time; hourly slots were on offer from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm. Whether your voucher is also tied to a time, and whether you show it straight at the entrance or need to exchange it first, is stated on the booking page. Read that before you buy, not at the door.
What entry costs at the aquarium itself
In the aquarium’s own online shop, an adult ticket costs €29, valid from age 12. Children aged 3 to 11 pay €19, and children up to 2 get in free. According to the shop, age is checked at the entrance. Anyone who lives in the Canary Islands and proves it at the entrance pays €19 or €13.50; that doesn’t apply to holidaymakers.
For a single adult, this ticket is neither more nor less expensive than at the aquarium itself. For families, the comparison is worth making. Two adults and two children of primary-school age pay €96 in the aquarium’s own shop. If the booking page has no separate child price and charges €29 per person, that comes to €116 — in which case the aquarium’s own shop is the cheaper choice. What’s charged at the ticket desk on site isn’t stated on the aquarium’s own website.
One rule is stated on the aquarium’s own pages, in its legal notice: children under 14 may only enter accompanied by an adult. What excursions like this cost a whole family over a week is covered in Gran Canaria family holiday: the cost.
Opening hours and how long a visit takes
According to the aquarium, it’s open all 365 days of the year, Monday to Sunday from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm. Two independent travel websites put the walk-round at two to three hours.
That makes for a simple calculation. Anyone taking the last time slot, at 3.30 pm, has two hours until closing, which is the lower end. Coming from the south, it’s best to set off so you’re inside by late morning, leaving time for the city afterwards.
What you see
The aquarium is divided into three zones. In the Jungle, Siamese crocodiles, goliath tigerfish and blue poison dart frogs live in recreated habitats named Mississippi, Amazon, Cenote or Baobab. The tropical zone shows a coral reef in a large glass cylinder, clownfish, mangroves, the Red Sea, plus jellyfish and seahorses.
The reason most people come is the third zone, the abyss. The large tank there is called Deep Sea, and you look in through portholes, a dome with a 360-degree view, and a curved window 36 metres long and 7 metres high, covering over 250 square metres. The aquarium calls it the largest curved aquarium window in the world. Behind it swim, among others, bull sharks, sand tiger sharks, nurse sharks, blacktip reef sharks, several species of ray, and a loggerhead turtle.
From the restaurant Néstor you look into the Deep Sea, along with the snack bar Nemo halfway round and the souvenir shop at the end. The building’s name is a nod to the Gran Canaria painter Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre and his picture cycle Poema del Atlántico, also known as Poema del Mar. The aquarium opened in 2017, a project of Tenerife’s Loro Parque group.
Inside, the rules are: no flash photography, no pets, food only in the areas set aside for it. And the aquarium reserves the right to close individual areas for technical, operational or animal-welfare reasons; according to the aquarium, there’s no refund or rebooking for that.
Getting there from the south
By car, it’s around an hour from Maspalomas along the GC-1 motorway on the east coast. From the airport, roughly halfway along, the aquarium states 25.7 kilometres and about 25 minutes.
By bus, Global’s lines 30 from Faro de Maspalomas and 91 from Puerto de Mogán run to the Santa Catalina bus station in Las Palmas. From the Santa Catalina stop it’s about an eight-minute walk to the main entrance, according to the aquarium. Journey time and frequency are in Global’s current timetable.
Parking has changed. The aquarium has no car park of its own. Under a decision by the port authority, the municipal car park right next to the building was due to close from 11 May 2025 and make way for a park; as an alternative, the port authority named a free car park near the Onda Atlántica footbridge. It’s best to check the current situation before you set off.
Without a car there’s one guided option from the south: the Las Palmas and Poema del Mar (optional) excursion for €39.20, seven hours, 4.6 stars from 17 reviews. The title says “optional”: whether aquarium entry is included in the base price or booked as an add-on is clarified on the booking page. More excursions from the south are covered under Things to do in Gran Canaria.
Check dates and prices for the Las Palmas excursion
Pushchairs, wheelchairs and babies
The aquarium’s pages say nothing about wheelchairs, pushchairs or lifts. Anyone who depends on these should ask the aquarium beforehand and get the answer confirmed. Children up to the age of 2 get in free; what else matters at that age is covered in Gran Canaria with a baby.
Poema del Mar or Palmitos Park
Both have 4.8 stars, and both are animal parks. Palmitos Park costs €39 with a dolphin and bird show, is a zoological and botanical park, and, according to the operator, lies ten kilometres from the Maspalomas lighthouse. Poema del Mar costs €29, is housed in a building, and is an hour from the south.
Anyone staying in the south has Palmitos Park nearby. Poema del Mar is the plan for a day when nothing works outdoors: during calima, when Saharan dust makes the air hazy and oppressively hot, or on one of the rare rainy days. Conversely, it’s not a good plan for a clear, sunny day in the south. That’s better spent outside.
Check availability and prices for Palmitos Park
Who it isn’t for
For anyone who rejects keeping animals in tanks and enclosures on principle. The aquarium holds sharks, rays, turtles and crocodiles, and Palmitos Park with its dolphin show is no alternative on that question. Anyone who’d rather see marine animals in the wild can head out from the south for whale and dolphin watching, from €30. Honestly: dolphins are wild, and no trip guarantees a sighting. The submarine in Puerto de Mogán shows fish without a glass tank, but even there not everything is as untouched as it looks. What else is on offer on the water is covered under Boat trips and submarine.
And for anyone spending only a few days in the south. Two hours’ driving there and back for two to three hours at the aquarium is a whole day, and for small children the drive is the most boring part of it.
What you can combine it with in Las Palmas
From the Muelle Sanapú, the Onda Atlántica footbridge crosses the coast road and links the aquarium to the Mercado del Puerto and Playa de Las Canteras. Anyone wanting to get in the water themselves after the aquarium can find a snorkelling trip at Las Canteras there for €39 and 2.5 hours.
The old town of Vegueta, with Santa Ana Cathedral and the Casa de Colón, lies at the other end of the city. Guided walking tours of the old town start from €29, and tapas tours through Vegueta cost €47 to €55. What else Las Palmas and the rest of the island have to offer is covered in What to see in Gran Canaria, and what works with children at what age in Gran Canaria with kids.
Our recommendation
For most people: the skip-the-queue ticket-office entry for €29. The same price as at the aquarium itself, 4.8 out of 5 from 4,480 reviews, and you skip the queue at the ticket desk. Take a time slot in the late morning, so after the two to three hours there’s still time for the Mercado del Puerto and Las Canteras.
Check availability and prices for Poema del Mar tickets
For families: do the sums first. Two adults and two primary-school-age children pay €96 in the aquarium’s own shop; at the adult rate per person it would be €116. If the booking page doesn’t have a separate child price, buy at the aquarium.
Anyone staying in the south with only one day for an excursion: Palmitos Park for €39. Ten kilometres instead of an hour’s drive, the same 4.8 stars, a dolphin and bird show — and you skip the two-hour round trip entirely.
Without a car, from the south: the day trip to Las Palmas with Poema del Mar as an option for €39.20. Honestly: 17 reviews is a thin basis, and whether aquarium entry is included needs checking on the booking page before you buy.
The aquarium isn’t for you if you reject animals in tanks, if you’re only in the south for a few days — two hours’ driving for two hours inside — or if the sun’s out. Then an indoor visit is the wrong day for it.
