Sea Life London is a popular attraction in London, based in the old GLC building near Westminster Bridge – right in front of the London Eye. The nearest underground station is Westminster; you then need to cross Westminster Bridge. The aquarium is located close to several other key attractions, including The London Dungeons, Shrek Adventure, and the London Eye. If you are visiting London for a few days it is worth getting aquarium tickets as part of a package with other attractions, as it is more cost effective.
Queues!
On the beautifully warm day we visited (Sunday), what should have been a lovely walk across Westminster Bridge was marred by people congestion. It’s not normally a problem but in this instance, there were 10 separate groups of people surrounding men doing card tricks – blocking the pathway. With street gambling being illegal in the UK, they were probably moved along shortly after we saw them!
When we finally got to the aquarium, we were directed to the Fast Track ticket office. This is meant to be a quicker way to get tickets, and you pay £10 extra per person. However, it is still a long wait as the queue was long. Then, once you have your tickets and a time to go in, you join another queue! And then, after having your bag searched, you are in!
Sharks Teeth
Toby and TJ with their Jawsome Sharks quiz
The children had a quiz to fill in as they went around. Essentially, they had to look for plastic sharks’ teeth in selected tanks and identify the teeth with the shark on the quiz. So, tooth A is from e.g., a Tiger shark, tooth B is from e.g., a Mako shark etc.
One of the completed Jawsome Sharks quiz forms
They took it very seriously, and when they handed it in at the end, they were rewarded with … a sticker … ☹ I think Toby and TJ got two stickers each as their disappointment was obvious! It wasn’t much of a reward for their efforts.
The Aquarium
The aquarium itself is excellent, with so much to see. When you first enter, you walk over a glass floor, looking down into the large shark tank …
Standing on the glass floor above the main shark tank
You then take the diving capsule lift down to the aquarium …
Lifts down to the aquarium
There were some weird and wonderful fish in many, many tanks …
A large shallow tank full of large (and flat) fish …
Large open shallow pool
There’s the (very popular) shark tunnel …
The tunnel through the main shark tank
… the jellyfish
Jellyfish
And we mustn’t forget the rather scary large sharks in the tank!
The largest shark in the big shark tank
Rainforest Adventure!
There was a large rainforest exhibit that included a large tank of piranhas as well as interesting facts about them …
Learning about piranhas
Here we saw some rather large bugs …
Huge millipedes in the Rainforest Adventure
… and some snappy little monsters!
Toby and Millie-Mae had their friend TJ with them who was particularly taken by the cockroach exhibit in the rainforest room. There were some huge catfish which fascinated me. They are so big!
(For some reason there was also a sewer exhibit detailing the building of London’s modern sewer network by Bazelgette.)
The children liked the exhibits where you have a helmet that goes into the display case allowing them to get face to face with spiders, ants, seahorses etc in a jungle celebrity fashion! As you can see …
Millie-Mae inside a fish tank
Millie-Mae not quite happy inside a tank of creepy crawlies!
Toby and TJ hoping the Gentoo penguins will come to say hello
They did, of course, see the penguins on the opposite side of the enclosure.
Penguins!
Play-Doh Half Term
As part of a half-term promotion, there was an event sponsored by Play-Doh. At Sea Life London there was a room where the children could make animal models out of Play-Doh. They did not get any Play-Doh to take away. However, some of the models produced by the children had been displayed and they were really good.
Some Play-Doh models
It was a very busy activity area when we visited.
The Gift Shop
At the end of the visit you can buy some rather expensive 3D photographs to remind you of your day. I had taken lots of my own as we went around. The gift shop was fairly standard with lots of colourful aquatic plushies. These tended to be rather expensive, though some of the pens and pencils were more reasonably priced.
The Gift Shop!
TJ bought a rubber snake, Millie-Mae bought a notebook and pen and Toby purchased a pencil sharpener/rubber to replace the broken old one in his school pencil case.
Overall
Sea Life London is well worth a visit, especially with children as they can see a lot of animals and get a good educational experience. However, at busy times – like when we went – it can get a little difficult to see everything with everyone jockeying for position (and all the prams and pushchairs!)
This was a good visit, but we didn’t time it right. Earlier or later in the day would have been much better.
I love visiting the Sea Life Centres all over the country, each one has something different to offer
My kids would love this place a lot. Looks like fun.
We love the sea life but not been to the London one . Looks great 🙂
I can’t even believe I still haven’t been to London’s Sea Life yet – it looks so fab. Sounds like you had a lovely time over the half term.
We loved SeaLife London when we visited. But I wasn’t too happy crossing that glass floor as I’m petrified of sharks. But it’s a great place to take kids and I’d love to go back.
I went to this Sea Life Centre years ago, I remember it being good then. The only issue is that it can get very busy around the London Eye especially in the school holidays. It’s definitely a place I would go back to. it’s very educational
I need to go to Sea Life London, my sister would absolutely love it! The glass floor over the shark tank looks really cool (if not a little bit scary!) and I know we would both spend a fortune in the gift shop!
I’ve never been to the Sea Life Centre in London before, but I’ve been to other ones and we’ve really enjoyed them 🙂
Louise x
Looks like you had a fab time at the sealife centre for sure. Love all the animals xx
What fun. We are hoping to visit in October. It looks really good. I love the photo of them in the dome looking for penguins. That’s one big scary shark
Ahhh those penguins are so adorable and the snappy little monsters are rather impressive too! London’s not too far for us so will have to go visit as this Sealife looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Sea life centres are amazing and I forget how much there is to see. Like you I can imagine you can’t cover everything in a day especially with curious little ones
Oh we love the sea life centre here too! We’ve been to so many over the years!
We love visiting the Sealife Centre, last time we went the penguins weren’t there. The one in London is so cool with that huge tank with the sharks and turtles in.
I went here last year during a trip to London and loved it! The penguins were my favourite!
We went last October half term and they had a Halloween quiz, my girls loved it. Such a great place to visit.
Sealife in London looks excellent – I know plenty of people who’ve enjoyed it. I’ve not been to an aquarium for years but your post has reminded me how educational and informative they are.
That looks like such a fun day out! I love the idea of the quizzes, even if the reward wasn’t quite enough – and the rainforest part looks great!
I must try and remember to go there again soon, we visited a couple of years ago and although it does get crowded we really enjoyed it, nice to look around London afterwards too.
Wow this place looks incredible. There’s so much to do and see there! Looks like a brilliant place to take the whole family
It looks great there. I need to take my kids asap. I love the tunnels as it’s great to see the fish swimming over you.
We LOVE Sea Life London! There is so much to see there. The newer creepy crawly exhibit is fascinating. Did you get into any of the tanks where you can stick your head through into the spiders den?
I’ve always wanted to visit, I love aquariums. I need to take a trip up to London.
I have found the same with the aquarium and now pre book and only visit first thing. But it is a great one for the kids. Mine always love the penguins.
Wow it looks like you had a great half term! We love the sealife centre here too!
I do love the sea life centre but not been for ages. Need to plan a trip to take the kids x
I love the sea life centre but not been for ages. Need to plan a trip to take the kids x
This looks really good and so much to do!