If you think of visiting London you probably don’t immediately think fish, unless they are in batter, but London does have a world-class aquarium right on the banks of the iconic River Thames. We took the kids along to The Sea Life Centre London Aquarium to test it out and create this review.
At the time of writing The Sea Life Centre Aquarium is open after the 2020 crisis. According to their website, here, tickets are available. Please check the current status for yourself and purchase your tickets directly on their website for a discount. Buy tickets here.
The London Aquarium Sea Life Centre
London Aquarium was a favourite of ours when we lived in London with small children and, when they were teens and tweens, we got a chance to go back and check out the changes that have taken place over the last seven years.
So does London Aquarium still cut it? Our London Aquarium review and blog.
The Aquarium is correctly known as Sea Life London Aquarium, part of the chain of Sea Life centres and one of the biggest aquatic collections in Europe. The Aquarium has over 500 species of fish and over 2 million litres of water, sitting, unexpectedly, beneath the historic and beautiful County Hall building. It’s next door to the awesome London Eye (review post here) and almost directly opposite The Houses of Parliament.
Big things seem to be favourite with my kids and the aquarium has plenty of those, big tanks, big rays, big sharks and big crabs. Not all of the 40+ sharks are big, but some are monsters.
The way the fish are displayed is imaginative and exciting, the kids loved walking on glass over the tanks and lying on their backs in glass bubbles to look up at the elasmobranchs.
Well thought out tank structures, a whale skeleton and submerged Easter Island Moai, were also a hit with the kids, and me, truth be told. I’m a sucker for fish.
The aquarium has a couple of small touch pools, I’ll be honest, I’ve seen better, but not everyone has seen as many global aquariums as we have ( Kuala Lumpur, SEA Aquarium Singapore, Perth, Chiang Mai, Sydney and more), any touch pool is a great touch pool with most kids.
The aquarium now houses a large family of penguins, part of the Arctic Ice Adventure collection, my boys had great fun naming them. Matt Smith and David Tennant were busy rock hopping and diving, Amy Pond was looking a bit sullen.
My personal favourite parts were the British coastal species and river fish. I’ve been in the tropics too long, it was great to see some old friends from childhood fishing days.
London’s aquarium is a great educational resource, particularly in conservation issues. They’re big fans of sharks at the centre, so are we. I’d like to see these misunderstood creatures grow a bigger fan base and for the slaughter to stop. It’s not just the finning industry, drum lines and shark nets also contribute to the sharks’ demise.
Buy discounted tickets to London SeaLife Aquarium here.
We think the London aquarium is great and it stands up well against the global competition. We’re recommending it highly for your trip to London. Back to our mail London Family Travel Blog page. Back to our main UK Travel Blog page. We’ve spent a lot of time in London, both the kids were born there and we visit every year. London is one of our very favourite global cities. Look out for more London content, revues and features on the blog.
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We were there three days ago. Got a two for the price of one entry off the side of a Kelloggs cereal box which made it affordable but full price would have stung! Great aquarium though, my two year old loved it and is constantly talking about it.
Good travel tip for London, will certainly check this out next time in London.
I certainly would not think of an aquarium visit when I go to London. Interesting activity, though.
I am just the opposite of reader Sophie Bowns, I love, love, love aquariums!! thanks for the wonderful photographs!
I have to admit to not being a huge fan of aquariums.
If I’m in London (which is only once every 3 ish years) I’d rather go to a museum, shopping or to the theatre!
Hey sounds like a cool aquarium..love visiting them to refresh school memories, the time we were exploring them. How exciting it was!
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Aquariums are fun to visit. Lovely pics. The first one is so colourful. Dropping by from UBC.
The pictures are beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
Love aquariums; (hate the Western Australian shark cull). London’s looks wonderful; definitely on our to do list for next visit. We have so far visited aquariums in Queensland, Melbourne, Sydney and Noumea – we even did a homeschool group sleepover at the Qld one – very cool! I know it’s not the best thing for wild creatures to be put in tanks, but I do feel the education potential goes a long way to assist conservation efforts and encourage people to protest against government and corporate environmental vandalism – something we see bucket loads of here in Oz. And the Qld aquarium on the Sunshine Coast plays a big part in local turtle rehabilitation – so many are injured by power boats and nets. Love this post; love following your adventures!!
Yeah, Sea Life fund loads of conservation projects globally, it’s the same company that runs Sydney Aquarium. They had a great film about seal rescue in Cornwall and were very pro shark. They’re culling sharks off Queensland too, the drum lines have been there for years, it just doesn’t get the publicity WA does.
Those colours look brilliant. I had to stop and ask myself in that “home to the sharks” photo had a giant octopus in there. Great Fun!