Every year, somebody publishes a “best aquariums in America” list, and every year the Georgia Aquarium turns up on it. Not always at the top spot, and not always the same list, but rarely off it entirely, and it’s been that way since the building opened downtown in 2005.
That kind of consistency is harder to fake than a single good year, and it’s a big part of why Atlantans keep going back long after the novelty of a giant fish tank has worn off.
The lists it keeps landing on
In 2025, Newsweek’s Readers’ Choice awards named Georgia Aquarium one of the country’s best aquariums, one of several national outlets to put it in that bracket rather than crowning a single winner. The same year, it was a nominee in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Aquarium, a contest it had already been nominated for back in 2022.
Local coverage of the nomination round in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution treated it as expected news rather than a surprise, which tells you something about how used the city is to seeing the aquarium’s name on these lists.
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None of that makes it the undisputed number one. Readers’ choice polls like these rotate their winners, Tennessee Aquarium and Springfield’s Wonders of Wildlife have both topped similar lists in other years, and Georgia Aquarium doesn’t claim otherwise.
What it has managed is something rarer than one big win: it’s accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums, and certified Humane by American Humane, three separate bodies whose standards don’t move just because a magazine poll opens for voting.
Why locals still go back
Georgia Aquarium’s appeal partly comes down to scale. The building holds more than 11 million gallons of water across galleries like Ocean Voyager, Cold Water Quest, Tropical Diver and Sharks! Predators of the Deep.
That variety gives repeat visitors plenty to see, whether they’re coming back for the whale sharks or exploring something completely different. Cold Water Quest alone features penguins, sea otters and beluga whales, while the tropical galleries offer a completely different environment.
Membership also makes returning easier. Georgia Aquarium offers annual memberships with year-round free admission, discounted parking and 10% off at the gift shop and café. For households visiting more than a few times a year, that turns the aquarium from a one-off outing into a regular plan. And because it’s open 365 days a year, there’s no off-season when that membership goes unused.
Since opening in 2005, the aquarium says it has welcomed more than 42 million guests, while newer galleries like Sharks! and Explorers Cove give returning visitors another reason to stop by. It doesn’t need to win every “best aquarium” poll to stay relevant: It just needs to keep offering enough variety and new experiences that readers keep voting for it and Atlantans keep coming back.