Oceanario de Lisboa

The Oceanario was built as the heart of Expo 98 and never surrendered the title of Lisbon's best-loved indoor attraction: a building moored in the river dock like a ship, holding a vast central tank of around five million litres that plays the open ocean - rays gliding past schooling tuna and sharks, with the huge sunfish as the house celebrity - while four corner habitats wrap it with the planet's coastal moods, from Antarctic penguins to Pacific kelp forests and the tropical corals of the Indian ocean gallery. The genius is the circuit: the central ocean reappears at every turn through fresh windows and depths, so the same tank tells a new story each time. Designed by Peter Chermayeff and holding some 16,000 animals of about 450 species, it draws around a million visitors a year and it anchors the Parque das Nacoes waterfront with its cable car, riverside promenade and the long Vasco da Gama bridge stretching over the Tagus.

What you'll find

• The central ocean - five million litres of sharks, rays and the sunfish.
• The four habitats - Antarctic, Pacific, Atlantic and Indian coasts.
• The window circuit - the same ocean retold at every depth.
• Parque das Nacoes - cable car and riverfront around the dock.

When to go

Year-round and weatherproof - which is exactly why rainy weekends and school holidays pack it. Weekday mornings at opening give the glass to the patient.

Practical notes

Tickets are not cheap and the gift-shop gravity is strong with children aboard. Crowds bunch at the big windows on wet days - go early or late. Two to three hours covers it well; the rest of the Expo waterfront rounds out the day.

Nearby

The Vasco da Gama bridge and tower, the riverside cable car and Oriente station's architecture.

Key facts