National Aquarium Denmark
Den Blå Planet

Den Blå Planet
We made a quick stop here while driving to Sweden, and honestly I was impressed right away. The quality of both visitor areas and tanks is extremely high. It really feels like a national aquarium. On top of that, the number of rare species is impressive.

Aquariums change lineups all the time, so here’s a short guide based on what was on display during my visit in 2024.

Section 1: Northern lakes and seas

This section is to the right after the entrance.

The first room has several smaller and larger tanks along the left wall, focused mainly on northern hemisphere species. Themes here include Danish lake, Danish stream, Alaskan kelp forest, and the Nordic coasts. In the middle are several touch pools.

Some of the more interesting species in this room included quillback rockfish (sebastes maliger), black-banded sunfish (enneacanthus chaetodon), kelp greenling (hexagrammos decagrammus), and ocellated wolf-eel (anarrhichthys ocellatus).

At the end of the room you can either turn left or go outside. The outdoor area does not have much in terms of exhibits, but this is where you have the best chance to see the Alaskan sea otters (enhydra lutris kenyoni). There is also a small wild pond and a nice view over the sea and the Øresund bridge.

Back inside, following the path leads to the Faroese bird cliff. This is a strong exhibit, combining fish like saithe (pollachius virens), nursehound (scyliorhinus stellaris), and gilt-head bream (sparus aurata) with surface-living birds such as Pacific kittiwake (rissa tridactyla pollicaris), red-legged kittiwake (rissa brevirostris), and Atlantic puffin (fratercula arctica). I did not see the puffins during my visit. There is also underwater viewing of the otter exhibit here, though their main enclosure is outdoors.

The last tanks in this section feature species such as north pacific octopus (enteroctopus dofleini), john dory (zeus faber), and Atlantic wolfish (anarhichas lupus).

Section 2: Tropical lakes and rivers

This section connects directly to section 3.

It starts with large tanks holding many cichlids plus species like common African tigerfish (hydrocynus vittatus), snake catfish (clarias theodorae), and leleup’s karp (labeobarbus leleupanus). Along the wall are smaller aquariums with rarer species such as orinoco dolphin catfish (ageneiosus magoi), red-lipped badi river cichlid (wallaceochromis rubrolabiatus), and vari’s electric eel (electrophorus varii).

At the end is the rainforest walk-through hall. You can either follow the main path with pools containing fish, turtles, and more, or take a small wooden boardwalk through the vegetation, which is the best way to spot lizards, frogs, and insects.

Some of the reptiles here included chameleon forest dragon (gonocephalus chamaeleontinus), sulawesi water skink (tropidophorus baconi), plus several anoles and geckos. Free-flying birds included violet turaco (tauraco violaceus), lesser antillean bullfinch (loxigilla noctis), and blue-faced parrotfinch (erythrura trichroa). Other species in the hall included linnaeus’s two-toed sloth (choloepus didactylus), red-footed tortoise (chelonoidis carbonarius), and various frogs and insects.

Downstairs you can view the same pools from below, including arapaima (arapaima gigas), multiple piranha species, several arowanas, and more.

After exiting the rainforest, there’s a room with aquariums on all walls. Here I saw species like orinoco thicklip catfish (rhinodoras gallagheri), electric catfish (malapterurus electricus), north african catfish (clarias gariepinus), over 40 pleco species, plus veiled chameleon (chamaeleo calyptratus) and turtles.

From here you enter section 3.

Section 3: The ocean

The first thing you meet is the large ocean tank with a visitor tunnel. This tank holds species such as scalloped hammerhead shark (sphyrna lewini), bowmouth guitarfish (rhina ancylostoma), javanese cownose ray (rhinoptera javanica), potato grouper (epinephelus tukula), loggerhead sea turtle (caretta caretta), and target fish (terapon jarbua), among many others.

Next is a corridor with smaller tanks on the left and a large tropical touch pool on the right. Here you can see javanese cownose rays, epaulette shark (hemiscyllium ocellatum), high-hat (pareques acuminatus), and raccoon butterflyfish (chaetodon lunula). Smaller tanks featured common stonefish (synanceia verrucosa), longsnout seahorse (hippocampus reidi), janss’s pipefish (doryrhamphus janssi), starry dragonet (synchiropus stellatus), and canary wrasse (halichoeres chrysus).

After this comes a large coral reef tank, alongside an exhibition on paleozoic marine life. In the reef tank I saw species like orange-band surgeonfish (acanthurus olivaceus), blue-cheeked butterflyfish (chaetodon semilarvatus), elongate surgeonfish (acanthurus mata), sleek unicornfish (naso hexacanthus), and many more.

One thing worth highlighting is the signage. Digital signs are in Danish, Swedish, and English, always with scientific names. Their app is also excellent. You can look up every tank and see which species are inside, and it seems closely synced with the exhibit signage.

Overall, this is an extremely strong aquarium with high exhibit quality and a serious species lineup. Even on a short visit, it stood out as one of the best aquariums in Europe.