Save The Bay's Hamilton Family Aquarium — Attraction in Newport

This is really a great gem and was worth the drive from Providence, particularly for young kids. My kids are 4yrs and 16mo. Both were able to engage with the exhibits and in particular loved spending time in the tunnel under the large center tank.

It was the first time my daughter (16mo) had seen a fish. She walked up to the tank and was amazed, and then when I said “are you looking at the fish?” she looked back at them and (I presume) connected the real fish to the fish in her books, and proceeded to freak out in excitement… stomping and shaking and pointing and hollering!

Now it’s not a huge aquarium, so I do think for older kids it might be underwhelming if that’s what they were expecting. But I found it very interesting to see all of the local species of fish, which was different from a typical aquarium experience.

That said, for younger kids it was perfect because it’s small and they can run around exploring to their hearts desire. They’re not going to get into any trouble and it’s mostly one big room so you can see all of them. All of the tanks are built to be viewed by little kids, so there was no need to constantly lift them up to see.

It was a very special experience and we...

UNDERSTAND!!! This is by far one of our favorite aquariums. HOWEVER, and this is a massive point of understanding, this is a hands on learning aquarium. If your intent is to stroll around and look at different aquatic life, this is going to disappoint you.

This is a small, hands on experience for children and adults to better understand the marine life here in Narragansett Bay. There are 4 or 5 touch pools with different aquatic life, "I spy" activity sheets for kids ranging from k-8. One of the things that makes this such a great experience is the staff. We are avid museum, zoo, and aquarium people. We've been to over a dozen aquariums in the states. The staff here care, and they want to answer and inform. They appreciate your questions. You can see their passion come through in the way they talk. My 7 year old was very fascinated by a fish and was then shown (from a locked cabinet) skeletal remains of that and similar animals.

We interacted with many staff while there, but a BIG thank you to Gabby and Ben for being so gracious with the time, knowledge,...

This place is a total treasure!!!! I can't recommend it enough! I went on a Saturday and there were lots of staff/volunteers at each exhibit and their knowledge was quite impressive! It is SO FREAKING COOL to learn about all the animals that are literally living in the Narragansett bay! And the majority of the crittersat the aquarium are there for a few months and then returned to the bay. The 'Save the Bay' folks have an impressive mission and history of protecting and improving the Bay. The aquarium is well worth the admission cost, which is pretty low! Also well worth while is the Harbor Seal Tour! The tour guides answered every question and told us so much about the seals, birds, and life and history...