Travel and Leisure Magazine Ranks Monterey Bay Aquarium One Of 10 Best Attractions

Travel + Leisure Magazine has named Monterey Bay Aquarium on its list of top U.S. destinations for young travelers, selecting the aquarium for a spot on its “10 Places to See Before You’re 10.”

The aquarium (www.montereybayaquarium.org) earned a spot with other family-friendly locations including the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Niagara Falls, Colonial Williamsburg and Ellis Island on the magazine’s list of must-see destinations.

Four California destinations were included on the list: Monterey Bay Aquarium, Disneyland, Muir Woods in Marin County, and the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles.

The recommendations were published in Travel +Leisure’s website (www.travelandleisure.com/family) as well as in some of its September print editions.

It’s not the first such honor for the aquarium.

The Zagat Survey® U.S. Family Travel Guide has named Monterey Bay Aquarium the top-rated aquarium in the nation, and overall No. 3 top-rated attraction in the United States. And TripAdvisor.com selected the aquarium as the No. 8 overall top tourist attraction in the United States.

In April, the aquarium opened its expanded and updated Splash Zone family exhibits, building on interactive galleries that were the first-ever “children’s museum inside an aquarium.”

There are more than 200 other galleries and exhibits for children (and adults) to explore, including a million-gallon open ocean exhibit, two-story exhibit for playful sea otters, large jellyfish exhibits and ever-changing special exhibitions.

The mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is to inspire conservation of the oceans.