Aramaru Aquarium

A hippo changes the scale of the aquarium

The hippopotamus hall spans the second and third floors. A shoebill, sea lions, seals, otters and large Amazon fish are also inside the aquarium building; Bornean orangutans are now in the separately ticketed outdoor zoo. The aquarium ticket therefore still covers a broad animal mix beyond marine tanks

The aquarium opened in 2021 with roughly 4,300 tonnes of tanks. Its animal list was broad from the start, but the large mammals and birds give the building an identity beyond a conventional sequence of reef, shark and tropical-fish tanks

Hasik, the resident hippo, has his own ecology talk. The shoebill, sea lions, seals and otters also anchor keeper sessions, while the Amazon area includes a pirarucu feeding experience. A deep-water feeding program focuses on sand tiger sharks and blotched fantail rays

Natural light is part of the building, not decoration

The exhibit floors were designed so animals can receive natural light. That choice matters most in a collection that crosses so many habitat types: a shoebill enclosure, a hippo hall, reptiles and marine tanks all occupy the same vertical complex

The building uses several floors rather than one long horizontal circuit. Large animals can therefore appear above or below the route, and the same species may be interpreted from different levels. Elevators connect the public floors, which also makes the vertical plan workable for wheelchairs and strollers

The outdoor zoo uses a separate ticket and holds a different animal set, including Bornean orangutans, sulcata tortoises, fennec and Arctic foxes, Japanese macaques, hyenas, jackals and porcupines. The orangutan activity takes place at the zoo’s orangutan playground, outside the main aquarium route

The daily program follows animals, not rooms

Keeper-led sessions create a second layer over the permanent displays. Inside the aquarium, shoebill ecology, otter feeding, sea-lion and seal sessions, hippo interpretation, pirarucu feeding, reptile talks and shark feeding all appear in the regular program. The orangutan activity belongs to the outdoor zoo

That makes timing more important than at an aquarium built mainly around static tanks. A family interested in a particular animal can use the program board to shape the order of the visit, while visitors who prefer a continuous walk can ignore the schedule and still follow the building normally

The aquarium’s role has also broadened institutionally. It opened as part of Sacheon’s expanding Choyangdo tourism cluster and later registered as a specialist science museum, adding an educational function to the family attraction

Before you go

The aquarium and the outdoor zoo use separate admission, so a combined animal-focused day needs two tickets. The aquarium itself typically takes around 90 minutes according to its visitor guidance, before adding the zoo, cable car or other Choyangdo attractions

Keeper-program times can change, so the most useful planning decision is which animals matter most to the group; the current daily board then determines whether to follow the exhibits in floor order or move around a scheduled talk or feeding