9 things you probably don't know about San Sebastián's Aquarium

Tucked into the rocky tip of Monte Urgull, where the Urumea river meets the bay, the Aquarium of Donostia – San Sebastián is one of the Basque Country's best-kept secrets. Most visitors walk straight past it on their way to La Concha beach. A mistake.

1. You'll walk through nearly 2 million litres of ocean The Great Oceanarium wraps around you through a 360-degree glass tunnel suspended in the middle of the water — tropical fish gliding overhead, a one-eyed ocean sunfish staring back at you, and species so disoriented they swim permanently upside down without knowing it. Over 5,000 living creatures share this space with you.

Oceanarium. Photo: Aquarium San Sebastián – Donostia via Facebook


2. The stars have names — and a reputation Meet Txuri and Kontxita, two bull sharks who rule the Oceanarium. Bull sharks rank among the most dangerous species on the planet. A fun (if unsettling) fact: their embryos sometimes devour each other in the womb before birth. Txuri and Kontxita, thankfully, have learned to coexist.

Bull shark. Photo: Aquarium Donostia – San Sebastián via Facebook


3. The first thing you'll see is an 11-metre whale skeleton It hangs from the ceiling at the entrance — a North Atlantic right whale caught in the Bay of Biscay in 1870 by local harpooners. Even the village of its capture is disputed: Zarautz and Getaria still argue over who deserves the glory.

North Atlantic right whale skeleton. Photo: Aquarium Donostia – San Sebastián via Facebook


4. You can touch a sea cucumber — and it will fight back The touch pool lets you handle live sea urchins, starfish and octopuses. The sea cucumbers, however, respond to human contact by shooting a jet of water at you. Consider yourself warned.

Starfish have eyes at the tip of their arms. Photo: Aquarium Donostia – San Sebastián via Facebook


5. It's the most visited attraction in San Sebastián And the second most visited museum in the entire Basque Country, after the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Busy, yes — but worth every minute.

6. It opened in 1928, making it the oldest aquarium in Spain At its inauguration, the guest list included King Alfonso XIII, Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, and Prince Albert I of Monaco — a passionate oceanographer known as the Navigator Prince and one of the driving forces behind the aquarium's creation.

7. Royalty returned 80 years later When the aquarium reopened after renovation in 2009, history repeated itself: King Juan Carlos I and Princess Caroline of Monaco — grandchild and great-granddaughter of the original royal guests — attended the ceremony.

Aquarium of Donostia – San Sebastián. Photo: Facebook


8. TripAdvisor ranks it among Europe's 25 best aquariums Its most frequent visitors, beyond locals, come from France, Madrid and Catalonia. If you're travelling from elsewhere in Europe, you're ahead of the curve.

Aquarium of San Sebastián. Photo: Aquarium via Facebook


9. You can sleep here. Or dive with the sharks. Children can spend the night surrounded by fish in a supervised sleepover experience. Adults can go one step further: the aquarium offers guided dives inside the Oceanarium, swimming alongside sharks and other, more peaceable, residents of the deep.


The Aquarium of San Sebastián sits at the foot of Monte Urgull, a five-minute walk from the old town. Give it at least two hours — you'll want them.

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