Poema del Mar Aquarium

Local name: Poema del Mar

Port-side aquarium of 35 ecosystems, ending at a 36-metre curved window onto sharks and rays

Poema del Mar is a public aquarium in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, built within the grounds of the Port of Las Palmas and owned by the Loro Parque Group. It was inaugurated in December 2017 and opened to the public in January 2018. The 12,500 m² building draws on designs by the painter Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre, whose work Poema del Atlántico gave it its name. Its 35 ecosystems hold 7.5 million litres of water across three zones: Jungle, Reef and Deep Sea.

Park

Entrance: Paid entry; tickets can be bought on the day or online in advance, and advance online tickets cost less.
Accessibility: Wheelchair-accessible entrance, toilets and seating; accessible parking nearby.
Parking: No visitor car park; free and paid street parking nearby, with wheelchair-accessible spaces.
Difficulty: None: from the street or the Woermann stop you walk straight in, and the visit is an indoor walk at your own pace.
Transport: Bus to the Woermann stop, about 150 m away.
Advance booking: Not required, as same-day entry works, but booking online ahead is cheaper.
Hours: Daily 9:30–17:30.
Address: Av. de Los Consignatarios, s/n, 35008 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain

What makes it special

The route saves its biggest moment for the end. In Deep Sea, a single curved acrylic window 36 metres long and seven metres high, as tall as a two-storey house, opens onto a tank where sharks, stingrays and large fish drift past. It is the largest curved exhibition window in the world, and there is a café where you can sit with a coffee and watch the sharks go by.

Getting there takes you through the other two zones. Jungle recreates landscapes from the five continents. Reef is a walk around a huge cylindrical tank of corals and fish. The route starts at the top of the building and works its way round, with information in many languages and room to go at your own pace.

Away from the glass, the aquarium takes in injured sea turtles and returns them to the sea once they recover.

Good to know

Allow a few hours: seeing everything can take around four, so a late-afternoon start means rushing the best part at the end.
There is a bar and a restaurant inside, with food reasonably priced for an attraction; lunch halfway round splits the visit well.
Some sections get crowded at busy times.
The whole visit is indoors, and information panels come in many languages.

Getting there

The aquarium stands within the grounds of the Port of Las Palmas (Puerto de La Luz y de Las Palmas). The nearest bus stop, Woermann, is about 150 m away in a straight line, so the bus leaves only a short walk to the entrance.

There is no car park for visitors. By car, you are looking for a space on the street, where both free and paid bays exist, and accessible spaces are available. A tourist information office sits about 350 m away if you need a city map for the rest of the day.

Best time to visit

Best: a weekday morning, right at opening, or any grey or wet day, since everything is under a roof.

Avoid: arriving late in the afternoon, and weekends if crowds bother you.

A full round can take around four hours and the Deep Sea window comes last, so a late start leaves the highlight squeezed against closing time, while weekends bring local families on top of holidaymakers.

Things to do nearby

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Sun & daylight

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