Park and play all day at the Tennessee Aquarium and Creative Discovery Museum!

The Tennessee Aquarium and Creative Discovery Museum lead the way in Chattanooga for engagement, learning, and fun. Situated within three blocks of each other, the attractions make it easy to “Park and Play All Day” while creating new memories with family and friends. Come to downtown Chattanooga, spend the morning at the Aquarium, grab a bite, and then head to the Creative Discovery Museum for afternoon hands-on exploration.

For the 18th year in a row, the Tennessee Aquarium has been voted Chattanooga’s Best Local Tourist Attraction, a testament to its enduring impact and broad appeal to locals and tourists alike. The Aquarium has anchored the community as an entertainment and educational staple with 13,000 animals and over 700 species to see in the River and Ocean Journey buildings.

Every visit offers something new, from touching Stingrays and Lake Sturgeon to wowing over sharks and river giants. Recent additions include a penguin chick hatched at the end of May, the arrival of Kintana – a female Red-Collared Brown Lemur – this summer, and a new exhibit home for the Giant Pacific Octopus. For more than three decades, the Tennessee Aquarium and IMAX 3D Theater have inspired a sense of curiosity, conservation, and connection with water and wildlife.

Likewise, the Creative Discovery Museum has inspired children and families to explore, innovate, create, and play for thirty years. Recognized once again as Chattanooga’s Best Place to Take Kids and Best Museum, CDM continues to set the standard for hands-on learning and family fun. Leading up to the celebration of the 30th anniversary, the Museum recently completed a full renovation of all six permanent exhibit galleries – each thoughtfully designed to inspire the next generation of scientists, artists, and engineers.

A trip to the Museum is anything but passive. Kids can dig for fossils in UnEarthed, build and launch rockets in STEM Zone, design their own masterpieces in ArtSpace, scale new heights in TreeHouse Adventure, and more! Every gallery invites curiosity and fuels discovery, making CDM not just a museum, but a dynamic experience where learning and play go hand in hand.