Many years before I even dared think that I would ever visit Vienna, I used to follow plenty of international social media pages that shared points of interest for tourists from all over the globe. One of these places was the aquarium in Vienna known as Haus des Meeres.

No doubt, when my friends and I started making plans on what we should visit during our stay in this beautiful city, I already knew Haus des Meeres was not going to be missing from our list. The funny thing is that it actually turned out to be one of the very first places we explored dedicating almost an entire day to this experience so we won't rush our visit.

Even if this aquarium (which you will soon see is a lot more than that) was one of the best places I've visited while in Vienna, I kept postponing the moment when I'd actually write about it because I left the building with no less than 200 images.

Therefore, I don't think it's needed anymore to explain how much time it took to sort these images and try to avoid creating a spammy article, but also to think about a smart way of presenting everything without repeating myself too much.

Hence why, I came to the conclusion that despite how you will find everything within the aquarium which has 12 floors, my post will be divided into more sections. I will still attach here an interactive map with what you will find on each of the 12 floors in case it's needed. Let's get started!

Fish, fish, and more fish!

When someone mentions visiting an aquarium, with no doubt most of us have plenty of species of fish in mind, thinking that, perhaps, we can see these in pretty much any aquarium out there.
So while indeed there are plenty of fish species that you can find on more floors of the building, the aquarium from Vienna comes with some species that are hard to find in other parts of Europe.
I won't lie, I don't have much knowledge in this field and it takes me a long while to think about 5 different species names, but what I know for a fact is that I always found aquariums really relaxing to watch. It's simply fascinating how you can end up spending some good minutes standing still without getting bored when staring through the window at all the species of fish which more or less can live together and do it pretty nicely.

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Haus des Meeres can be translated into English as House of the Sea, which already says that this place is not all about fish. However, there are over 600 different species of underwater animals within, the actual number of individual animals being around 10,000. And perhaps half of this number is represented by fish.

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Fish SPA (Don't do it!)

If we are still at the section about fish species, keep in mind that there is (or at least it was in 2023 when I had my trip), a big aquarium with this interesting kind of fish which would help tourists have their manicure ready in a few seconds.

I am sure this kind of activity is not new as it is popular pretty much on the whole globe, but what made it so unique was my first experience doing it, as well as my first time seeing this activity within an aquarium. So both I and a friend I was travelling with, had to try this out!

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The procedure is letting dead skin cells be quickly detached by lots of tiny fish who gently nibble your skin removing these layers of dead skin without causing any pain or discomfort. It actually feels like someone is tickling you.

What I did not know back then, is that this kind of treatment became very risky for both people doing it but also for the species of fish known as Garra rufa, which are often known as not doing this treatment because they are supposed to, but because they are severely starved so they will try to eat the human dead skin for sustenance. In fact, there are already many countries that made this activity illegal to stop exploiting the animals and to also stop creating contagious diseases that can be shared very easily between people doing this activity just because the water can’t be sufficiently disinfected and there’s no way to sanitize the animals themselves.

Did anyone ssssay... Snakes?!

It's true that snakes are not living just within water, but they are still part of the pretty much same environment thinking of the level of humidity you can find in locations that are known as home for the snakes.
And while snakes represent one of the main fears of 1 in 10 adults, I never felt this kind of emotion but rather not feeling comfortable while being around one.
I did meet snakes before during my trips (obviously not of this size) but I can't really say there was a specific attitude other than avoiding them and continuing my walk.

Either way, you won't meet this kind of snake within Haus des Meeres but very large ones that come from many parts of the globe. Some of these species might seem dangerous but they are pretty innocent considering that not all snakes are venomous. However, still within the same building you will be able to meet some of the world's most venomous snakes, including mambas and vipers, which is definitely a different emotion you will feel when being around them.

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Impressive environments

A thing that I always pay attention to, whenever I end up in places that represent 'home' for animals whether they are Zoos or Aquariums, is on the cages, aquariums, or basically all the environments created for each species because as you know, each animal has its own needs that could be so different from any other species out there.

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I was happy to get convinced that all animals are safe though by seeing these places nicely arranged with my own eyes. There are dozens of environments that closely mimic the natural habitats of the animals, while also promoting education and conservation along the process.

Wait! Where's the animal?!

Not for a few times we ran into places where we spent a good amount of time trying to find where the animal actually is.
Because as we all know, even if an aquarium seems empty, it really is not. And you might pretty much be looked at while thinking this way, lol.
While this thing happened in more parts of Haus des Meeres during our trip, the most common situation was met around the reptiles, especially on those that had the chameleon feature on their skin.
This feature is usually determined by the light that gets on the skin of the animal, but can also happen in moments when reptiles are trying to intimidate or even hide from their predators.

A good thing though, is that Haus des Meeres is home to some really rare species of reptiles, remembering about the Rhinoceros Iguana which is critically endangered and where this aquarium is amongst the very few places in Europe that exhibit this species highlighting its commitment to conservation.

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More than "just another Aquarium"

More than walking to a place where you get to see thousands of animals that you won't meet every day, there are also the endless possibilities of learning something new from doing the bare minimum, such as reading the little plates that are attached to each aquarium mentioning an interesting thing about that animal along with his name.

Thus, Haus des Meeres has a strong connection to education, aiming to raise awareness about marine and terrestrial biodiversity, environmental conservation, and the ecological significance of the species it's being home to.

Some of these educational programs are guided tours that happen exclusively for children and students, workshops and lectures, little exhibitions along the building but also interactive displays that often stir curiosity within the young ones.

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A jungle in the middle of the urban life

Another cool and unique feature that I got to see for the first time during my trips in such locations, was to walk into a tropical area that mimics very well how a jungle looks like.

Along with all the humidity levels and interesting plants that obviously people are not very familiar with, the thing that caught my attention the most was that in this part of the aquarium I barely spotted any cages, speaking of a suspended floor while having an alligator resting on the ground and monkeys and birds flying and walking all around.

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Nevertheless, even if this part of the aquarium was built in 2000, it quickly became one of the most favourite parts for tourists who are now able to see more species living next to their predators, but also, possibly, get caressed by a little hand of a monkey when you least expect it!

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Anything but fish!

Although Haus des Meeres represents the House of the Sea, I think we can all agree now that it's a lot more than that, not speaking only about fish or what you can see underwater.
It's true that the Aquarium represents pretty much this kind of habitat, but as you could see so far, there are some exceptions which, from my point of view, are more than welcome. In this way, people can take a break from all the water and species of plants and recreate within monkeys, birds, and some more dangerous animals.
Either way, all these species have something in common, which is water - even if it comes in its most common shape or as a big level of humidity that creates tropical environments.

So, before having this post come to an end as it is already a lot longer than I expected, I thought I'd attach a few more pictures for you, with animals that I couldn't see fit in any of the previous sections of this post but still deserved to be in the spotlight even for just a few seconds.

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Haus des Meeres is located in Esterhazy Park in the centre of Mariahilf district, one block south of the busy Mariahilfer Straße and it is open daily from 9 AM to 8 PM. In order to reach it, you can use either Subway U3 (Neubaugasse station) or one of the busses 13A, 14A, 57A until Haus des Meeres station.

Other places I've seen during my stay in Vienna:

• The Austrian Parliament Building
• Capuchin Church (Katholische Kapuzinerkirche "Hl. Maria von den Engeln")
• The tour of the Christmas Markets from Vienna, Austria
• Stadtpark
• Shop Windows of Vienna, Austria
• Hundertwasser House (Hundertwasserhaus)
• The Imperial Crypt
• Column of Pest (The Plague Column, Vienna, Austria)
• St. Charles's Church (Karlskirche)
• Schonbrunn Palace
• The Donauturm (Danube Tower)
• Café Gloriette, Schloss Schoenbrunn (Wien, Austria)
• Wurstelprater Vergnügungspark Amusement Park
• Schönbrunn Zoo (The World´s Oldest Zoo)
• St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom Cathedral)
• The Never-Ending Fight Against Pollution at Haus des Meeres (Vienna, Austria)
• Haus des Meeres (Aquarium in Vienna, Austria)

more coming soon...

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 750+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.}

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[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 48.19752 lat 16.35300 long One of the best places to visit in Vienna no matter the season or time of the year d3scr))