National Marine Aquarium Reviews

Great place for a rainy day. The aquariums are huge

Really enjoyed visiting with my 11 year old daughter. Much better than various Sealife places I've previously visited. Could spend all day in the big tank room watching the fish and the turtle.

My son and I had the most wonderful experience today and I cannot fault the wonderful staff!

The lady who talked to us about Cooper, Mini, (bully) Sampson, Cool whip and coral.

Octopus lady (sorry that doesn t sound flattering) but so informative and kind.

The woman who told me where to go to find the closest toilet....thank you (when a 4 year old needs to go, they need to go!)

A HUGE THANK YOU to shark lady! My son adored you! He got to hold a shark jaw bone and see all the teeth and learn about the sharks in the tank.....he hasn t stopped talking about it!

Thank you....we will be back soon!

Took our grandson and what an amazing day out, lots of visuals and things to see

Restaurant available on entry. Plenty of fish to view. Overhead and underfoot aquariums and attendants on hand to explain things or answer questions

Gets very busy so we go early doors. Friendly and knowlegable staff and kids love it. Get for a rainy day

Great site, really informative and interesting place to visit over and over again. Remember to gift aid, and free returns in a 12 month period. Lots and lots of different species to see and discover. Staff were great too, very friendly and happy for you to approach and have any questions answered. Great day out, and remember it's a charity. Relax and enjoy, you could honestly lose hours watching the largest UK tank in the NMA!!!!!

Bit expensive, not big enough to spend a good amount of time there

Went for Xmas meal. Fantastic place but meal was disappointing. Heard they lost their chef not long before, people have said it was good before, I hope they find another good chef. Eating under the fishes was cool.

We were refused entry at 16:02, two minutes past last entry, in an utterly rude manner.

Staff were great dealing with the grandaughter so much to see. We will be going back.

Certainly interesting for children but very classic and nothing extraordinary ...

Good place to chill for a few hours
Interesting and entertaining

Beautiful place many types if marine life .talks and interactive great for all the family and couples or single ppl

Deepest tank in the UK and every type of fish imaginable!
My daughter loves it evertime

Nice trip , interesting , you can be like inside of the aquarium

Lovely place... be prepared to find kids around, could be a bit noisy but the aquarium views are worthy.

It's a decent aquarium, some of the tanks are wicked, but some are maybe a little lacklustre and geared towards children a little too much. It's cool to try to get kids into marine biology, but should be more to do for grown ups as well. Also, I did notice a few dead fish around the aquarium too, not ideal.

It's a great family day out, can easily spend hours. Entertaining for little kids and big ones too. Cafe prices are reasonable but beware of the gift shop ;)

Really good day out 4 hours of great fun and curiosity with the little ones.

We had a great time here. Bit pricey but you do get to come back for free so it's great if you're a regular visitor to Plymouth, or local. My favourite thing was seeing the beautiful turtles so close. There's a really amazing aquarium where the turtles and rays are soaring around a wrecked aeroplane - absolutely brilliant! The enormous aquarium walls make it seem like you're actually under the sea. Lots of different places to sit or stand and get different views into the aquariums. Don't know if there's enough here to keep a family entertained all day but it's perfect to while away a few rainy hours

Big aquarium
adult ticket price is 16.95 gbp
Great for family visit

Fantastic attraction, worth every penny, filled with lots of exhibits and knowledgeable people!

Great value for money with the year pass ,my 5 year old loves visiting

This place was pretty sad. Very tired and uninspiring. The wooden information plaques were unreadable in most situations because the text had worn off. It was not at all as clean as should be and to say it's the peak time in August there was veryvlityle going on with regard to events or talks or demonstrations. Very very disappointing. They need to take a leaf out of the amazing practice of The Deep in Hull.

Great place but not for toddlers. Not much interactivity of any kind to keep their attention for very long. Will return when my son is older though as it is really interesting for older (3+?) children and adults.

Very interesting place, interesting specimens and interestingly designed aquariums. A place worth recommending.

Absolutely amazing place. Very educational, eye opening and inspirational. I especially enjoy just sitting back and relaxing while watching the fish swim gracefully around the big tanks, like cinema screens of life.

Huge big tanks, a variety of sea life and knowledgeable staff. There are often talks at various times of the day. The entrance fee is a little expensive but lasts for the whole year, so works out as excellent value. We've been at least 10 times.

Great place for the children! Good food & reasonably priced. Good parking nearby and pretty easy to get to.

If you are visiting, always mention the yearly pass, as this allows you to visit again within 12 months so the price you pay wont seem so much.
Worth a visit as there is alot to see and learn.

Love this place. Visit it often with my granddaughter who never gets bored of it.
Food is good in the restaurant and reasonably priced.

Really nice aquiarium. Calm and strait forward. The animalas are nice and the installations clean. You have a huge variety of sealife and will be perfect for the family during weekend trips. If you are downtown it will be arround 15 to 20 minutes walk.

Really excellent visit. Staff really knowledgeable and enthusiastic which was so lovely to see.

Great place for a day out loads to see and do.

Got a huge expectation but it is not as good compare to the aquariums I have been. Small place.

Masks a must, kids were exempt The one way system worked well. Sanitizer if you need. Busier than expected. Just a little too lackluster for me. Lacked information on most fish at the side of exhibits , as seen in other zoos and aquariums. Staff on aquarium floor were sparse but informative. Talks and feeds not really signposted or advertised enough.

Loads of interesting fish and sea animals, and friendly, helpful staff

Very informative with lots of info on the world in the sea. Great interactive things to do with the kids. Should maybe have more signposts from the carpark. The shop has loads of stuff and not too pricey.

Good well laid out aquarium. Liked the sharks and turtle.

Great day out- very informative and the overhead tank is awesome.

We had a brilliant time here, only went as our son loves sharks. Reasonably priced although I was expecting it to be a bit bigger, will go back one day.

Lovely aquarium with loads of lovely animals in it a truly enjoyable experience you won't regret going there at all

High Priced for very little. I am highly disappointed with the visit.

Smaller than expected. Good fun for kids. Friendly staff. Entry quite expensive

Relaxing way to enjoy your holiday kid friendly great staff very helpful food and drink very clean

Really great place to take kids. The large two story tanks are impressive. All tanks are very clean and all fish looked very healthy. Could do with a slight smarten up here and there.

Good exhibits, though it is rather small,if you live local its okay for the money

Not a whole lot to write about, I mean, it has fish. It's whole purpose as an aquarium is fulfilled! If you time it right, you can watch them get fed which is pretty brutal at the shark tank which is obviously awesome. A great day out for family, friends and dates and you get to see largesharks and hear children of all ages scream "Nemo!" at the clown fish. You also get a years free entry just in case you want to stare at the fish again in a 12 month period. What more could you want?

Brilliant as always only negative point is kids smearing the glass but not the aquariums fault.

Brilliant - can easily spend a wet day here. Knowledgeable and friendly staff

Great place to spend a few hours with the kids in plymouth.. It is one of the biggest aquariums in the worldview if not the biggest.. There are too many information to learn inside and to many intresting things to see and learn about. They have the annual ticket for families which can make thigh visit every now and then very easy.

Always something different to discover thanks to the talks by staff.

Excellent displays of marine life in deep tanks covering all oceans and reefs worldwide. Well worth a visit.

Absolutely brilliant day out with the family. Even the kids aged 11 and 14 loved it too. The underwater tunnel was fascinating.

It may be the largest aquarium in the UK, but it's still not very big, and would only take an hour or so to get around. It's also quite expensive. Couple that with their Draconian gift-aid free return policy (you actually have to provide photographs of individual family members. In many ways, it's easier to apply for a passport!), and you leave feeling very short changed. Unless you're really into marine life, I would avoid.

Fantastic day out with great tanks great facilities and brilliant if you can use the year pass which is the same price of admission as if you were non locals which is a shame as I do think they should lower the price for non locals who can't take advantage of this offer or maybe at least give a late entry charge.
They also have a lovely soft play with an additional charge but not too expensive especially if you can come back for free throughout the year. Plenty of variety of fish and a lovely layout of the tanks.

It is a great aquarium but very pricey. I was disappointed to have to pay so much for the soft play area and the cost of drinks etc. The Barbican car park that serves the aquarium and on to the Barbican is very shabby. Not great for the Mayflower celebration.

A nice aquarium. Good for kids 5+years. Lots to see.

Great aquarium, quite pricey but worth it if you get the annual pass and go back more than once.