Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies

Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies is enjoyment for every generation. Our whole family had so much fun visiting. One of our favorite parts was riding through the Shark Lagoon via the moving glidepath. Other notable features are the tunnel that you can crawl through to get up close to the penguins and the bay where you can touch stingrays – so many interactive exhibits!

The more than 10,000 sea animals at Ripley’s are from across the globe so you really get to learn about different parts of the world. Everything was so clean and well maintained that it was impressive.

They have sitting areas to rest between the 1.3 million gallon of water, as well as on-sight food.

We spent a couple of hours at the aquarium. With an under 2-year-old in tow, we didn’t spend as much time as we would have otherwise.

Overall this is a do-not-miss in Gatlinburg!

Pro-tip: we paired this adventure with a meal at No Way Jose Cantina across the road – SO good.