Seville Aquarium

In 1519, five ships under Ferdinand Magellan sailed down the Guadalquivir from Seville on an expedition to find a western route to the Spice Islands. Three years later a single ship, the Victoria, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, limped back up the river with a handful of survivors, having completed the first circumnavigation of the globe. The Acuario de Sevilla, opened in the 2010s on the Muelle de las Delicias, close to where the expedition departed, is built around that story. Its thirty-three tanks are arranged as a journey along the route of Magellan and Elcano, beginning with the Guadalquivir and the Atlantic waters of Spain, crossing to South America, with a freshwater section devoted to the rivers and forests of the Amazon, then out into the Pacific, through the Indo-Pacific coral seas, which are among the most colourful zones, and the Indian Ocean, before the return home. Along the way you meet fish, rays, turtles, jellyfish, seahorses and much more, and the visit builds to the great oceanic tank, home to several species of shark, which you can watch from viewing windows as they glide past. Panels in Spanish and English explain the species and the history of the voyage, so the aquarium works as a gentle history lesson as well as a nature visit. It is a modest aquarium by the standards of the largest in Europe, and travellers who have visited the great aquariums of Lisbon or Valencia may find it small, but it is well designed, easy to see in a couple of hours, and, crucially in Seville, cool and shaded, which makes it one of the best options for families on a hot afternoon or a rainy day.

Planning the visit: most people spend an hour and a half to two and a half hours, longer with young children who want to linger at the touch-friendly and shark areas. Hours are longer in summer and at weekends, with the ticket office and route closing an hour before the doors shut; check the exact times for your date. Weekend late mornings are the busiest, so arrive at opening or come on a weekday afternoon. The aquarium sometimes offers discounted tickets at quieter times, and the linked Tiqets page sells standard entry tickets that let you walk in without queuing at the desk. Manual wheelchairs can be borrowed at the ticket office, and the route is accessible.

Who it suits: families with children of all ages, especially in the hottest months, when an air-conditioned visit in the early afternoon is a relief; and anyone interested in the Magellan story, which began a few hundred metres away. It is less essential for adults without children, who might prefer the city's monuments, but it makes a pleasant hour on a rainy day. The shop and small café are useful for a break. Children who enjoy the aquarium's Magellan theme can follow the story further at the Archivo de Indias, where documents from the age of discovery are kept, or aboard a river cruise past the quays where the fleets once loaded.

Getting there: the aquarium is on the riverside south of the centre, at the Muelle de las Delicias near the Puente de las Delicias. From the Puerta de Jerez metro stop it is about fifteen minutes on foot, along the edge of the María Luisa park, and several city buses stop nearby on the Avenida de la Palmera. There is no dedicated car park. Combine it with the Plaza de España, where children love the rowing boats on the canal, and the María Luisa park, with its ducks, doves and shady paths, for an easy family day; or with Isla Mágica during its season for a second children's day.