Emaar Aquarium Istanbul: what is inside, ages and feeding times

What Emaar Aquarium is

Emaar Aquarium and Underwater Zoo is an indoor attraction inside Emaar Square Mall in Üsküdar, on the Asian side of Istanbul.[12] The name is accurate: fish tanks are only part of it, and the operator's group site lists raccoons, vervet monkeys, meerkats, iguanas, chameleons, snakes, scorpions, tarantulas and flying squirrels among the land animals.[12]

The operator presents the place as a home for animals that were harmed or were struggling to survive in the wild.[1] That is the operator's own framing, and XTOUR has not verified how the animals were acquired.

Because everything is under a roof, the aquarium is a practical choice for a wet day or a very hot one, and the entrance to the Emaar SkyView terrace is in the same mall. The two are separate attractions with separate tickets. The Emaar SkyView guide covers the terrace, its entrance on another level of the mall and the fuller transport directions.

The themed areas, one by one

The operator's site lists ten themed areas: Rocky Shores, Ocean Tunnel, Dream Island, Forests, Monkey Kingdom, Raccoon House, Waterfall and Rivers, Penguin Island, Crocodile Kingdom and Kumtopia.[1] These are the ones the operator describes in most detail:

• The Ocean Tunnel is a glass tunnel through the main tank, where the operator says sharks glide past and rays cross overhead, and it names several shark species, rays, gilthead bream and groupers among the residents.[5] Panels along the tunnel explain how sharks navigate and cover threats such as plastic pollution and overfishing.[5]
• Penguin Island is a climate-controlled enclosure where visitors watch penguins dive and swim together, with panels on feeding, breeding and the effect of melting ice.[6]
• Crocodile Kingdom houses adult crocodiles and, according to the operator, a female named Silk with young that hatched at the aquarium.[7]
• Dream Island is aimed at children, with a central tank of clownfish, seahorses and small rays, and touch pools.[8]
• Kumtopia is a pair of sand tables under a sensor and projector: when a child piles sand into a hill the projection turns it into a mountain, and a dug hollow fills with projected water.[9] There are six themes to choose from, including ocean, dinosaurs, safari and polar.[9]

A sensible way to use that list with children is to let each child pick one area to look for and to time the visit around one feed, instead of trying to see every tank.

Feeding times the operator lists

The operator publishes a feeding timetable. The table below is what its page showed when checked on 20 September 2026; it can change, so look at the operator's feeding page on the morning of your visit.[10]

Ages, tickets and rules that do not match

The operator's age rules and the Skygate listing's age rules disagree, and the operator's own two statements on the child band disagree too.

• Operator, babies: it admits children aged 0 to 36 months free when they come with an adult who holds a full ticket, and staff ask for identification showing the child's age at the entrance.[4] Bring the baby's passport.
• Operator, child band: its price table defines a child as 3 to 12 and an adult as 13 to 64,[1] while its terms of use say child tickets apply to visitors up to the age of 14.[3]
• Operator, accompaniment: the same terms require visitors under 14 to be accompanied by at least one adult aged 18 or over.[3]
• Skygate: the listing states that children under three are free, prices children aged 3 to 12 separately from visitors aged 13 and over, and says children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult aged 18 or over.[14]

So the operator contradicts itself on where the child ticket ends, and the listing's accompaniment age is a year lower than the operator's. XTOUR has not verified which child band is applied at the desk. For a 13-year-old, expect the adult band and treat anything better as a bonus; for accompaniment, follow the operator's under-14 rule.

The operator's price table is marked for local visitors only, and XTOUR did not retrieve the operator's prices for foreign visitors.[1] The same table includes a combined Aquarium and SkyView ticket, also marked for local visitors.[1]

Scuba diving in the tanks is a separate paid experience. The operator sets a minimum age of 14, asks for a legal guardian's consent for divers aged 14 to 18, requires no swimming ability or experience, supplies the equipment and tells divers to bring swimwear, slippers and a towel.[11] Its page listed five sessions a day between 12:00 and 18:00 with at most three people in a group, and marked the advertised package as not for tourists, so a foreign visitor should ask the operator what applies before counting on a dive.[11]

Visiting with a baby or with limited mobility

The operator says the aquarium can be toured comfortably with a stroller, and describes the interior as cool, with dim blue light that it says calms babies.[4] That is a promotional page, not a description of the route. XTOUR has not verified lifts, steps between levels, toilets, baby-changing or a wheelchair route, because the operator pages checked say nothing about them, and the aquarium's floor inside the mall is not published either.

One specific access fact is published: the operator says the two Kumtopia sand tables were designed to be reachable from a wheelchair.[9]

For children who are easily unsettled, note what the operator itself describes: low light throughout, moving light reflections and sound effects in the Ocean Tunnel, and live snakes, scorpions and tarantulas on display.[5]

Getting to Emaar Square Mall

The aquarium's own contact page gives the address as Libadiye Caddesi No:88, Üsküdar, while the group's site and the SkyView site print No:82 for the same mall.[12][2] Search for "Emaar Square Mall" by name, which is what the operator's driving directions tell visitors to do.[13]

The operator's public transport route is the M4 metro to Ünalan station and a walk to the mall; from the European side it suggests Marmaray to Ayrılık Çeşmesi and a change to the M4.[13] The operator gives no journey times for these routes.

What the Skygate listing says

The Skygate listing has one option, "Emaar Aquarium and Underwater Zoo - Admission", described as entry to the aquarium and underwater zoo.[14] The option does not name scuba diving, Emaar SkyView or SkyWalk, so none of them should be assumed.[14]

That aquarium option is non-refundable, and the ticket is valid only on the visit date chosen.[14] The listing's dates use the Europe/Istanbul time zone.[14] The address on the listing is Libadiye Caddesi No:82 in Üsküdar, which agrees with the operator's group site.[14]

The listing displays no opening hours.[14] When checked in September 2026, the operator's site said the aquarium opens every day from 10:00 to 22:00 with last entry at 21:15.[1] Confirm the current hours with the operator before you travel. For wider planning with children in the country, see Turkey with kids.