Did you know a new aquarium just opened in Jakarta’s NeoSoho Mall?

Because of the location, it isn’t very big (they call it a “boutique” aquarium) and doesn’t have large creatures like sharks or manta rays but it is really well designed and left us really impressed. This would be the kind of entertainment I would expect to find in Singapore… not in Jakarta!

The aquarium takes you through several areas, with different themes in each of them so it feels like seeing a lot even though the aquarium isn’t very big. We loved the touchpool, which has many sea creatures: horseshoe crabs, sea cucumbers, baby sharks… and Elliott’s favourite feature was the submarine-looking tunnel where he role played for a good 15min.

Now is the perfect time to visit as people probably don’t know about it yet (we came midweek at opening hour and had the aquarium to ourselves most of the time). We stayed about an hour, had lunch in the aquarium’s restaurant called Pingoo, where diners can eat while watching live penguins swim, and went back in for another quick tour (make sure you ask the staff to grant access to the restaurant, or you may have to buy a new ticket to go back in). If you want to eat at Pingoo on a weekend or public holiday, it’s best to go early or late as it gets very very busy (families queue to get in).

Note that Jakarta now has two aquariums, the old one is called Seaworld and is located inside Ancol, more details here.

Jakarta Aquarium

Basement level of NeoSoho Mall (From Central Jakarta, it took us about 30min to reach the aquarium and almost an hour to come back from it.)

Rp195,000 from Mon to Fri, Rp250,000 on weekends and public holidays. (Unfortunately, no year pass available.)

The aquarium also has a 5D movie showing only at 5:00pm on weekdays and 1:00, 3:00, 5:00pm on weekends. Because we came in the morning, we didn’t get to see it. Tickets to the movie can be purchased separately.