Chimelong Ocean Kingdom Whale Shark Exhibit Aquarium (珠海长隆海洋王国), located inside the immense "Chimelong International Ocean Resort" theme park in Hengqin (China), is the largest and best aquarium in the world. It features none less than five whale sharks as well as an abundance of other species like manta rays, corals, and sharks.

Chimelong Ocean Kingdom has set the Guinness World Records for having the world's biggest underwater viewing dome and the world's largest aquarium tank. A giant sixty-three meters blue whale shark statue towers over the world's largest aquarium, making it also a remarkable sight from the outside. The award for the world's largest tank was given to this aquarium because the record volume of 22.7 million liter includes strictly the main tank (while the 24-million-liter capacity of the Georgia Aquarium consists of the main tank, rear holding tank, filters, and pipes).

The stunning aquarium can be reached from Macau by bus or taxi in about 30 minutes or from Hong Kong in ca. 2 hours.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 350 CNY (ca.  46 EUR)
    • Official Webpage

The Georgia Aquarium, located in Atlanta (USA), is the largest aquarium in the western part of the world.

Outside of Asia, this aquarium is the only institution housing whale sharks. In addition to the last ones, the Aquarium's notable specimens include beluga whales, bottlenose dolphins, and manta rays.

The animals are displayed in five galleries: Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager, Cold Water Quest, River Scout, and Dolphin Tales. Each gallery corresponds to a specific environment. The large donation of US$250 million by American businessman Bernard "Bernie" Marcus rendered possible the launch of the Aquarium, which opened in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, in 2005.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 35.95 USD + tax (ca.  32 EUR + tax);
    • Official Webpage

The S.E.A. Aquarium (South East Asia Aquarium) on Setos Island, Singapore, contains the world's largest collection of manta rays, including the unique giant oceanic manta ray in captivity. It was the world's largest aquarium by total water volume until 2014 when it was surpassed by the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom.

Comprising forty-nine different habitats, the aquarium takes guests on an underwater voyage beginning from Southeast Asia and continues through the Arabian Gulf and the Open Ocean. The centerpiece of the Aquarium is the Open Ocean tank with more than 18,000,000 l (4,000,000 imp gal; 4,800,000 US gal) and 50,000 animals.

The Shark Seas habitat holds over two hundred of these predators including endangered species such as the scalloped hammerhead shark and the aggressive silvertip shark.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 34 SGD (ca.  22 EUR)
    • Official Webpage

The Churaumi Aquarium (沖縄美ら海水族館) is part of the Ocean Expo Park located in Motobu, on the island of Okinawa. It is widely considered Japan's best aquarium. It was the largest aquarium in the world until the construction of the Georgia Aquarium in 2005.

The main tank (Kuroshio) houses whale sharks (2 at the moment) and manta rays alongside a large array of other fish species.

Following the Kuroshio Tank, there are a few other interesting tanks and displays, including an area dedicated to tiger sharks and bull sharks.

One other especially impressive area is the one with marine life in the extremely deep waters of Okinawa, which includes displays of various bioluminescent fish.

• Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 1,850 JPY (ca.  15 EUR)
• Official Webpage (English)

The Cube Oceanarium (浩海立方) opened in 2015 and is located in the Chinese metropolis Chengdu inside the world’s largest freestanding building, the New Century Global Center (新世纪环球中心). It is the latest entry in our top ten list of the best aquariums in the world.

It is more precisely situated inside the Seaside City Shopping Mall and houses over 33,000 ocean creatures including the biggest jellyfish in the world. The main tank hosts two rather small whale sharks and numerous other fish species.

The Cube Oceanarium holds for the moment two Guinness World Records: one for the world's largest acrylic window and the other for the world's largest aquarium window (39.65 m wide and 8.3 m tall).

It displays warm and cold waters exhibits, from the Pacific across the tropical seas along the Amazon to the Northern Arctic and the main tank that holds over ten million liters and over ten thousand marine organisms from all over the world.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 130 CNY (ca.  18 EUR)

Designed by the famous American architect Peter Chermayeff, the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (海遊館), appears very stylish from the outside.

It hosts one whale shark and a wide variety of other species, including otters, sea lions, penguins, dolphins, rays, and jellyfish. 

Completed in 1990, it is one of the oldest aquariums on our list. Typical for this time, the size of the viewing panel is not nearly as big as in more recent aquariums. 

Visitors enter on the eighth floor and spiral their way down around a large central tank. Several of the tanks span multiple floors making it possible to observe the animals from different perspectives.

The Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan can be reached by a five-minute walk from Osakako Station on the Osaka Municipal Subway Chūō Line and is next to the Tempozan Ferris Wheel.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 2,300 JPY (ca.  18 EUR)
    • Official Webpage (English)

The National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium (NMMBA) (國立海洋生物博物館) is located inside an immense outdoor water park on the southern coast of Taiwan near Kenting (Checheng, Pingtung County).

The museum possesses three main exhibits: Waters of Taiwan, Coral Kingdom Pavilion, and World Waters Pavilion.

The Coral Kingdom Pavilion is housing an 81-meter (266 ft.) underwater moving track, one of the largest underwater tunnels in Asia.

The main ocean tank inside the Waters of Taiwan exhibition holds 5.7 million liters of seawater, has a 16.5 m × 4.85 m acrylic viewing window, and features one whale shark.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 450 TWD (ca.  13 EUR)
    • Official Webpage

The Dubai Aquarium (حوض دبي للأسماك - أكواريوم) is situated inside the Dubai Mall (دبي مول), the largest shopping mall in the world based on total area and sixth largest by gross leasable area.

The gigantic viewing panel itself is certainly the top attraction. It contains over 300 sharks and rays, including the largest collection of Sand Tiger sharks in the world, but other popular denizens consist of sumo-sized groupers and massive schools of pelagic fish.

Due to a special 'lunar-cyclic' lighting system the ambiance of the tank changes depending on the time of day.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 100 AED (ca.  24 EUR)
    • Official Webpage (English): www.thedubaiaquarium.com/en/

Hanwha Aqua Planet Jeju (아쿠아플라넷 제주) is situated on Jeju Island, 90 km off the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula.

Though their logo still contains a whale shark, the aquarium doesn’t feature those species anymore because in 2012 one of two whale sharks died just 40 days after it was brought to the aquarium. The surviving whale shark was released after consultation with Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial officials, agencies, and marine biologists.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 39,800 KRW (ca.  31 EUR)
    • Official Webpage (English): https://www.aquaplanet.co.kr/jeju/

The Oceanogràfic is situated in Valencia, Spain, inside the futuristic Cultural Complex named The City of Arts and Sciences.

Designed by the famous Spanish architect Félix Candela, it is composed of nine elegant underwater towers that house samples of the most important ecosystems. Due to its avant-garde architecture, one will admire not only sea life but also the fanciful buildings themselves.

During their route through the various installations, visitors can get to know at first hand the behavior and way of life of more than five hundred distinct species like dolphins, belugas, walruses, sea lions, seals, penguins, turtles, rays, sawfish, jellyfish, and especially rare oceanic sunfish.

With seven million liters of water, the tank in the 'Oceans' environment is by far the biggest of the Oceanogràfic. Through a 35-meter underwater tunnel, one can observe species such as the sand shark, the cow shark, and various species of rays amongst others.

Inside the environment called ‘Temperate and Tropical Seas,’ you are invited to make a passage from the temperate regions of the Pacific and Atlantic to the warm waters of the Indian and Caribbean via aquaria with a total of 700’000 liter of water, connected by an impressive 70-meter underwater tunnel.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 29 EUR
    • Official Webpage (English)

The John G. Shedd Aquarium, the oldest in our list of the best aquariums in the world (it opened in 1930), shows its age compared to its successors. It was the first inland aquarium with a permanent saltwater fish collection.

The aquarium misses many essential modern features but still displays a very impressive number of species. 

Moreover, it contains none less than 1500 species including arapaima, marine mammals, birds, snakes, amphibians, and insects. 

In 1991, the John G. Shedd Aquarium opened the Oceanarium (known since 2010 as the Abbott Oceanarium), a large addition that features marine mammals, including Pacific white-sided dolphins, belugas, sea otters, and sea lions, as well as penguins.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 39.95 USD (ca. 36 Euro)
    • Official Webpage (English):  https://www.sheddaquarium.org/

The Shanghai Ocean Aquarium (上海海洋水族馆) is located in the Pudong New District of Shanghai, next to the famous Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

Its major features are four subsea tunnels with an overall length of 155 meters.

The central building is divided into different exhibition zones: China, South America, Australia, Africa, Southeast Asia, as well as the Cold-Water Zone, the Polar Zone, Sea and Shore, Deep Ocean Zone, and Special Exhibitions.

Shanghai Ocean Aquarium covering 20,500 square meters (about 263,910 square feet) consists of two pyramid-shaped buildings.

The exhibits include more than three hundred types and 15,000 water creatures and rare fish, such as poison dart frogs, jellyfishes, moonfish, leafy sea dragons, emperor penguins, and in the Amazon Area several huge (more than 2 m) Arapaima, which are some of the largest freshwater fishes in the world.

• • • Entrance Fee (for 1 Adult): 160 CNY (ca.  21 EUR)
    • Official Webpage (English)