National Marine Aquarium Reviews

Excellent place to visit for all ages. Highly recommended.

We love going here as a family. My son is entertained for hours watching all the fish. Ticket entry is a bit steep initially, but once you pay you get a pass for a whole year (except bank holidays). Handy for something to do in wet weather, of which we get a lot down here.

Felt a bit disappointed, pretty tired looking, fairly small and areas quite dirty. We planned to spend a few hours looking round but had walked round twice in 50 mins. Expensive for what you get

Great talks by the staff who were all really enthusiastic. We loved seeing the octopi, seahorses, sharks and other fish.

The sharks are the stars of the show. Lovely family day out.

Unfortunately for the price really tiny. Very nice.

Have been coming here since my 6 year old was tiny and he still loves it! The staff are engaging and knowledgeable and the kids love learning all about the ocean. Always a winner on a rainy day, especially if you have the annual pass :)

Excellent , kids love it , also the adults , who spend most of the time chasing their kids and losing the grandparents . One piece of advice , check the Aquarium website before visiting , sometimes it's called for private functions . Don't get caught out ! I still prefer my fish with batter & Chips , oops !

What an amazing place .. very wheelchair friendly with ramps and lifts throughout .. staff amazing .. very helpful and informative .. lots to see and do throughout the day .. we spent 3 hours there but could've spent longer .. Pilgrim Father's steps nearby and lots of other historical places to visit in Plymouth .. amazing city to visit.

Lovely place to visit, plenty of signs around giving lots of facts and information about the fish. Great new softplay area for under 8's

Great place to visit with a wealth of information to take in. Britain's biggest tank is home to some amazing fish and a replica of a crashed seaplane. A must for a rainy day.

A lovely place with many fish and animals. I love it

Been several times over the years, never been overly impressed. Lots of fake sea weed and not the greatest selection of fish. Prices high too.

Very beautiful fish and sharks but on rainy days to full

Interesting place to visit. The main attraction is the massive water tank holding all types of fish. Shark, Ray etc., they even have a turtle. Talks through out the day as well as seeing divers clean the windows.

Love going here with the family, has enough to keep the kids interested whilst also not bring too large that they get fed up and moody. Food is also top notch, for your typical small cafe.

The aquarium itself is amazing the cafe in the soft play area do very yummy cakes, only slight suggestion would be to improve the cafe area with a wider selection of hot meals but im a fussy eater so i wont lower the rating for that. I had a great day out with my daughter.

Just fantastic! Such a vast array of marine life, and the shark tank is awesome! Been so many times over the years and loved every visit, higiy recommend! Big d gift shop with loads of marine inspired gifts too!

Myself and my partner went, after hearing it was the biggest aquarium - I'm a tropical fish keeper myself, so I did dream big (I've also been to many aquariums around the country/World so had a lot to live up to). I believe the title, is due to the tank sizes they have in there, not the size of the aquarium as a whole. We didn't realise how short the walk around was, so raced through it thinking we had lots to see - not the case. We couldn't go back around, due to new restrictions, so felt a bit underwhelming. My tip for you - take your time, enjoy every little section so you don't feel disappointed. I would recommend for the rainy days, perfect for families and young children. The location the aquarium is in, is beautiful. Recommended seafood restaurant is next door too.

Small but nice. Very nice staff - who also know a lot about the individual "fish species".

Lovely aquarium, don't need a whole day to see it all. Can easily be done in 3hrs. Had a great variety of species and information on them all was clear.

Great aquarium brilliant for taking the kids too as theres a lot of activities and "immersive" experiences

Amazing place for good photos! Here are some of mine....

Really interesting few hours with the family. Lots to get the children interested in, good family day.

Good educational aquarium, well maintained and tidy.

This is a great aquarium. The two large tanks are superb. For kids in particular it s great. Everything is designed and setup to appeal well to both children and adults. The entry price is quite reasonable especially if you opt for the annual pass which is the same price. As many visits as you like in 12 months for the price of one!

The one serious letdown is the cafe. The food and drinks are at best mediocre but worst still it s ALWAYS as dirty mess. Even when it s quiet??

My recommendation would be skip the cafe at all costs.

Have visited a couple of times now and really enjoyed each visit.

Really nice place. Some spectacular large aquariums. Can spend the day in here.

Awesome place,the family loved it and we spent a few hours looking around.

The aquarium is excellent though the cafe is noisy and could be improved.

An all day attraction with a option to return all year for free with pass .has a good clean and reasonable price cafe will be back

Brilliant place to learn about the sea and its creatures.

Very expensive but a nice couple of hours. You do get to go back for free for the rest of the year so that balances things a little. There were only two talks on when we were there so not as good as it has been in the past.

Best aquarium i have visited.. excellent educational day out ..for young and old.

Amazing time here, very informative staff they are happy to share their knowledge. Thank you

Top afternoons entertainment and very well laid out

Love it! Now you can get a year pass for the price of a day ticket! Really good to just pop in every now and then!

Great attraction, especially if a rainy day and so near to the barbican for a potter.

What an amazing underwater space within a building with sharks swimming under, over and around you. Who wouldn't want to visit a coral reef, see a shark developing in an egg case and be inspired to breed future generations of moon jellyfish and see male seahorses looking after their young :)

Vareja but more. And pushing the dolphin.But the whole set is nice.

Lovely place, but quite small and parking is sadly a fair walk away.

The aquarium was very enjoyable, the children found if fascinating and educational

Wonderful experience for our one year old, and we were equally delighted.

Underwhelming. The place is tired and much smaller than I was expecting. You get round in about 90 mins and not the 3 hours they recommend. We have 2 small children and we stopped a lot to look. Hugely over priced for what it is. Some rooms are great for info and others are non existent unless a staff member about. Ray room is a scrum to look up and down through small windows.

A bit embarrassing that this is out National Marine Aquarium .

Nice especially for the many activities dedicated to children and the peculiarity of the "enveloping" pools

Pretty kewl. Cafe is is a overpriced dirty hell hole though

A great day out. We enjoyed looking at all of the different tanks and listening to the informative talks.

I was truly blown away by the information we were offered today, which offered me so much more depth of perspective on the incredible work undertaken by the NMA, than I had previously conceived from other visits.

Hearing of the exceptional ray breeding programme success during the shark talk and knowing that groundbreaking work is being achieved with the rays there is so inspiring and exciting.

The staff conversed with us all with such infectious enthusiasm and delight.
Their evidently ingrained knowledge and passion for marine life ignited the spark that changes an interesting visit into an illuminating experience.

Very reasonably priced annual membership.

Always enjoy visiting here and this time certainly didn't disappoint

A fantastic selection of exhibits, from those focusing on the local area to much more exotic creatures, well displayed and maintained. The huge aquariums are a real selling point, it's marvelously relaxing to simply sit and watch them

Brilliant place, expensive to get in, but not expensive if you are revisiting. Children love it and they've done a fantastic job building it.

Pretty disappointed, was expecting it to be a lot bigger, there's no way this is the biggest aquarium in the UK, I've been to bigger and better, they might have more species but not the biggest tanks.
Overall thought it was over priced and a bit of a let down.

went today unfortunately when school kids there. didnt enjoy it atall even if kids was not there its overpriced for what it is takes about a hour to look around and then it's over even with the free return not worth it

Wow, wasn't expecting much having visited some nice ones in Florida. A great attraction I could spend his sitting in front of the big tank.

Amazing. Loved every aspect of the aquarium especially the British coast aquarium. Good for all ages. Would recommend.

It's not really the largest!!! We did the whole aquarium in 30mins. Such a waste of time. 5 sharks big tank 1 octopus , 1 turtle and many little Nemos and Dory. Thats about it really.

Very good much better than London aquarium. Cafe shuts at 3pm slightly annoying. Very good gift shop where they actually have their own brand on gifts something that English attractions are very poor on. This is a charity conservation aquarium so plenty for parents to learn as well as children.. I. E. Don't eat fresh tuna.

Great to visit with friends or family!
Fun and relaxing and a quick walk away from the city centre.

Large tanks, huge variety of fish plus sharks, jellyfish, rays and more, British sealife, lots of interactive information for children and great talks given throughout the day.

A bit dear for a quick visit but worth it if you've got three hours to spend examining all the exhibits and displays.

Love taking the kids here, and If you get your tickets validated within a month, then you can go back as many times as you want in 12 months

A great day out with some wonderfully large tanks and amazing animals.

We went for the evening dining event and it was fantastic, all the precautions in place for social distancing. The view from out table was beautiful and the food was delicious. A great date night!

Best aquarium we have ever visited. Will def go back again.