Explore Lisbon
Designed by Peter Chermayeff and resembling a set from a James Bond film, the Oceanário de Lisboa is one of Europe’s best and largest oceanariums, containing around 8,000 fish and marine animals. Its main feature is the enormous central tank, the size of four Olympic-sized swimming pools, which you can look into from different levels to get close-up views of the sharks and rays. Perhaps even more impressive are the re-creations of various ocean ecosystems, such as the Antarctic tank containing frolicking penguins, and the Pacific tank, where otters bob about and play in the rock pools. These areas are separated from the main tank by invisible acrylic sheets, which give the impression that all the marine creatures are swimming together in the same space. On the darkened lower level, smaller tanks contain shoals of brightly coloured tropical fish and other warm-water creatures. Find a window free of the school parties and the whole experience becomes the closest you’ll get to deep-sea diving without getting wet.
