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ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center
Rating Details »
Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
1 College St
Burlington, VT 05401
(877) 324-6386
1 College St
Burlington, VT 05401
(877) 324-6386
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
9 reviews for ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center
This is a WONDERFUL aquarium for the size! We were impressed! It offered quite an education on Lake Champlain! Sugar Bear left the aquarium and began a quest for Champ (or at least, a Champ shirt). Champ, for those not familiar, is the Lake Champlain monster.
The restaurant in the aquarium was also educational. There was so much information about recycling, eating seasonally, and composting! There were also 4 trash cans: one for compost, one for plastic and paper, one for metal, and one for basic trash. VERY COOL! I love that Vermont is on the forefront of the Green Movement!
Terrific aquarium! We'll be back on our next visit!
This is a pet shop aquarium on steriods. It is not big, but large enough to fill about three hours of your day with fun. It is a good place to take a little kid on a rainy day. They have story hours, a water-play table and special exhibits.
I would love to see them expand.
Not exactly what we were looking for more of a learning center for kids, and parents. Not for couples looking to check out a real aquarium, although there are some cool exhibits. Take some Kids!
The throwback in me thinks aquarium and thinks PENGUINS and maybe a SHARK TANK and yet the purist in me appreciates that this waterfront aquarium is more of a hands-on marine bio lab. I was really impressed that there truly was so much for my little tot to appreciate. They had a gated Discovery Zone for the wee young thangs that made our visit worthwhile. Plus, plenty of opportunities for your kid to dip their hands in big basins of public water and make you so glad we are all immune to polio these days. The museum was exceptionally clean and on a Friday morning at 10a, it was populated but not packed. I thought the pricetag was still a tad expensive (student discount is only a dollar less...cahmahhhhn!) but it is certainly a place I am glad we visited in our weekend stay in B-town.
If you come here expecting a for-real aquarium, you're going to be disappointed.
Echo is much more of a "learning center," with small tanks you'd be more apt to find in your 9th grade biology classroom. There are also other exhibits that highlight the natural sciences, but many of these weren't operational as I was here for a private evening event.
The architecture of the space is most impressive: with an open floorplan, most of the exhibits are on the 2nd floor. Also to be found on the 2nd floor is a very large patio with a breath-taking view of Lake Champlain. We spent several hours sipping on local brews, watching the sun set, and keeping our eyes peeled for Champ, the local lake monster. Although this is not part of the typical programming offered by Echo, I still believe I'd send friends to return: to see both the camouflaging frog collection and the incredible scenery.
People thought this was:
- Useful (3)
- Funny (1)
- Cool (5)
I loved this aquarium, all the more because of the specialization in fresh-water fish. Lake Champlain forms New England's "western shore". The exhibits are presented very enticingly, a lot of planning and expertise went into the development of this concept -- from the overall architecture to the individual displays.
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
- Cool (1)
My kids and I have been to a bunch of these types of place around the country. This is one of the smaller science centers of this nature, but in some respects I almost think it is better to be small as it did not seem to overwhelm my kids -- oh, and they got to pet a turtle! :-)
Apparently you can go through this place at a reasonable pace and see most, if not all of it, in about an hour. The price of admission was reasonable, and the kids enjoyed it.
Of course they also have a gift to be found at the end of the tour -- again, although small, my kids still found what to take home with them.
I like it because it is right there on my favorite lake in the country.
I'm reviewing the echo purely as a wedding venue and not as a museum.
There are ups and downs to using this space as a wedding venue. The ups far outweigh the downs, but the downs are worth noting.
The ups are - it's super cool and very unique. It's very, very kid friendly-- they have attendants on some of the open-topped, touch-me tanks. The downstairs dancefloor lit only by the column of bubble can be really neat. If you incorporate the aquarium-ness into the theme of your wedding, the space makes it so much less necessary for you to decorate.
The downs are - the space is oddly cut up, the lighting is not terribly flexible (and has seemed very bright both times I've worked there), and if you don't incorporate the aquarium-ness of the space into your wedding theme it comes out awkwardly.
People thought this was:
- Cool (1)
If you've been to many great aquariums across the U.S., you won't find anything spectacular about the Echo Leahy Center. Though it has two floors, the building is small and can be completed in half a day. There aren't many live species to view and don't expect animal shows or things like that. Despite these, our family truly enjoyed visiting this aquarium because it was UNIQUE and EDUCATIONAL. We liked how it was centered around caring and protecting the environment. We liked how it features a lot about the life in and around Lake Champlain, including how different elements like man and weather change it. What they lack in live exhibits, they make up for with a BARRAGE OF INFORMATION. And, we just loved how they have so many interesting HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES for both kids and grown-ups. They have different sections which stimulate a visitor's interest because they make learning fun (ex: effects of erosion explained by means of a pinball machine; weather reporting by means of green-screen technology). The aquarium is CLEAN and its exhibits and manipulatives are well taken care of. What I also liked about this aquarium is how TODDLER-FRIENDLY it is. They had endless things for toddlers to do. There was a simulation of a river wherein kids could play with boats and watch how it flowed with the current; there was a room with lots of educational toys (and when we were there, volunteers would offer to paint faces); there was a touch-tank filled with sea stars, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs, etc., with the help of a volunteer, of course; there was a simulation of a fossil dig wherein kids could pretend to be paleontologists, and dig with real tools and goggles. The VOLUNTEERS are also great. We definitely recommend this for a family day destination.