New York Aquarium

This aquarium—the oldest continually operating example in the US—remains a must-see destination on Coney Island's celebrated Boardwalk. Visitors will be charmed by all manner of sea life, including seals, walruses, red-bellied piranhas, rays and an electric eel named Wattson. Long-range planners can look forward to 2016 for the opening of Ocean Wonders: Sharks!, which will feature blacktip and whitetip reef sharks, sand tiger sharks and wobbegongs, a carpet shark native to the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans. More immediate gratification can be had from viewing the daily penguin and otter feeding.