National SeaLife Centre Birmingham Review

Love it in there, have been few times. My children really love the tunnel with the giant turtles and sharks.

This was my 3rd visit to a UK sealife centre and it was the best! Packed with information and well designed. My daughter wanted to see rays and starfish and she wasn't disappointed.

It was half term week and packed which was good to see. Only criticism was the music, a soundtrack suggesting wanderment on a constant loop. How about some quiet zones or more varied music?

Friendly staff and plenty of parking space near location.
amazing experience with little one.

I went there as a free entry last Saturday as last time I went not all the penguin was fuly open in January. I absolutely love this place and seeing all creatures from the sea. I saw that massive turtle swim in the tunnel because normally he seems to be asleep and wow the turtle is massive and amazing. It was more empty going here due to Covid-19 but I'm glad it wasn't packed and you got to enjoy the aquarium more.

I did get annoyed I was forced to wear a mask eventhough I get panic attacks and I kept my 2m distance from others.

Did not find it worth the money at all. Found it to be small and done with very quickly.

Can get around quite quick, 2 hours max. However it's an interesting place to visit, the underwater tunnel being the best bit. It also has a 4D cinema and does a lot to help protect sea life.

Thought it was a bit expensive at first but after seeing everything I was not disappointed and had the feeling that I didn't pay enough. Especially loved the part where the aquarium is everywhere around you and you can see these wonderful creatures everywhere. Would've been awesome to visit this as a kid but I loved it as an adult as well. Would recommend.

Good place to visit with children. The two exhibits that generated the most excitement for the kids were the penguins and the glass tunnel where lots of sea creatures swim around you. It is a busy place on a Saturday, and pre booking advised (we didn't) to avoid buying same day tickets to then return an hour later. We got some discounted tickets, and this cheaper price felt right for what was available to see and experience. Some parts of the tour get very crowded, but they've done well to pack a lot in to a smaller (but tall) venue. We spent around 1hr and 30 mins looking around. On a quieter day, with older kids that could easily be a bit longer.

It's not sea world but its a really good place to take the kids, very interesting and informative.

Great few hours exploring sea life centre educational a joy to see all lovely sea creatures especially the penguins and sea lions.

First time visitor and I was pleased by the experience. Perfect for the individual or Family - a totally immersive experience.

My little one absolutely loves it!! We have been several times and there's always something new to see

Went on a group on deal, busy with school groups. Great for babies, like the ultimate sensory experience.

This is the best sea life centre we have been to. My kids loved it and so did me and my wife. It s a great place to spend a couple of hours.

Lots to see, but they were doing a lot of renovation work when we attended (without notifying anyone beforehand).

The best part about the sea life center is the penguins . They have a big exhibition with them all swimming around and doing there thing. There's many view points. But the rest of the sea life center is a bit naff. Maybe they shouldn't start with the penguins! But really enjoyed my visit and would reccomened to anyone who love animals or fish

Really good day out, even with a big double push chair. Enough space to navigate through the attraction. Lots to see and plenty for our five year to do on the way round. The best bit was at the end, but won't spoil it. Would definitely recommend and parking was convenient.

Run down . Very poorly lit
Overpriced for 40 minutes

Really enjoyed our family visit. Good value for money really friendly and helpful

No signs for fish names. Chaotic atmosphere, no help navigating through. Lifts, stairs and random doorways leading nowhere. Boring tanks and loud music. Nowhere to eat and rest and relax to enjoy the wonderful creatures. Merlin cuts the attractions and increases the prices each year. You're better off watching a documentary, you'll learn more.

Good time to spend in with kids to see diffrent type of sea life and have 10 min 3D show then go to lego land; However the sealife center should be improved more comparing to the tickets price

Keeps the little ones entertained on a cold and wet day. We loved the penguins in particular and look forward to seeing the otters when they arrive.

Brilliant opportunity to see large range of marine life in the middle of Birmingham. Fantastic glass tunnel with sharks and turtles, interactive displays and innovatively laid out. Caters for children very well and located near plenty of places to eat and drink. Our daughter loved the new penguin enclosure.

Very nice!!!! Spare at least 1 and half hours to visit and see the shop. You can get in until 3pm because it closes at 4pm. The best area is the one with sharks (last one). Very nice and worth buying the book for kids.

Didn't see any seahorses or octopus and cinema was closed. Its not very long.. About an hr... BUT was still fun, the penguins and otters were great and the tunnel

Only went cause I got in free with son. Wouldn't bother again. Behind the senes, not worth the money. Struggled up slopes being disabled. Pointless free pic I never found it to down load. Never again

So many animals I would probably run over the character limit trying to list them all (slight exaggeration).
Clean, tidy and friendly staff.
The winding pathways and large tanks are definitely worth going to see if you're in the area with children or like that sort of thing. There's also a 4D cinema experience but we didn't go in.
The underwater walk (glass-ceiling-tunnel) that allows you to see all of the animals swimming overhead is amazing.

Unfortunately, bad parents can ruin this experience as it is not uncommon to find unsupervised children barging past you or forcing your children out of the way to get to an exhibit themselves (or children who are supervised but who's parents just don't seem to care).

There is a children's play area towards the end that can be a welcome break for parents to sit and relax on the fake ice while their children have a bit more of a play.

There is also the standard gift shop for people to buy keepsakes and toys for the children.

It was a great trip out, saw lots of marine animals including a lot of penguins including seeing them get fed and the new seals that are now there. There are a lot of different types of fish and things that swim and the staff seem to know a lot. It was nice to see that all the animals seemed happy!

Great place for the family & kids. But book time slot in advance to save hanging around. Gets busy in summer holidays.

Lovely visit, penguins are cute, staff are very welcoming and caring

Little girl loved it. Tours and shows on the way round and a good day out.

After reading previous reviews on here, I wasn't expecting much from our visit. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The whole thing was set out beautifully, there was lots to see, the kids loved finding the stamps and hank, the staff were friendly and welcoming, there was plenty of interesting facts and interactive things for the kids to do. It was busy but we arrived earlyish so didn't really feel it was overcrowded. Well worth a visit. We will definitely be coming again.

Good to pass an hour with the kids. It's a bit smaller than expected.

Very busy, far to many people in for the size of the place. Not very impressed with the attraction. Best bit was the penguins. Soft play was dirty, lots of rubbish on floor, and food. Very disappointed as I was looking forward to a great day with the grandchildren.

Great day out kids loved the experience would go back

Not to much animals inside...
With everything perfect!

Wonderful time.
Fantastic family fun
Loved it

Would have enjoyed our visit to Birmingham's Sea Life Centre, however, there must have been around ten schools there at the same time and this really hindered us from being able to get the most out of the aquarium. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of school trips but there were just too many schools there at one time! The children were everywhere, which made it very difficult for us to get through the narrow walkways & prevented us seeing what is in the tanks.
What we did get to see, once the children had left, was very enjoyable; particularly the penguins, rays, starfish, otters & shark tunnel.

So we went there with my girlfriend on her birthday and that was an amazing experience!
Overall atmposphere is just incredible, music fits very well, artificial lights made visiting magical!
Some of the animals I've never seen before and some of them are really cute!
Price is comparatively cheap for the amount of animals you might see!
10/10 would go again

I would say it's a nice day out, however it only lasts around two hours. It's a nice central location, the exhibits are good, but nothing special. Kids will really love it, especially the shark tunnel.
Would recommend using a voucher; the prices are incredibly high otherwise for what you're getting.

A good Aquarium, in the the centre of Birmingham. It roughly takes around an 1hr to 1.5hrs to go round. They now have a pair of Sea Otters, which are amazing to watch and the Underwater tunnel is very cool. On the downside, there is an More

Nice place. My son loves sea animals, so it was a nice experience. A bit crowdy, but that's normal in these places.

Really enjoyed this place. The kids really enjoyed it and the sea life was amazing, especially the giant sea turtle. It has a really good tank with a tunnel going through it which can get really crowded, just wait for everyone to go through to really enjoy it. They have a gift shop available towards the end before you exit. Disabled access everywhere. Makes a really nice three hours out for a bit after which you can take a stroll outside and enjoy the canal side for a bit which has a few stores like Lego available.

I loved this, nice easy parking at the Q-Park literally next door. Just wait til you see the last aquarium! you could spend all day there - marvelous.

Very busy and very hot. 4d cinema wasn't anything special but mostly aimed at little ones. Make sure you either bring food/drinks or eat before visiting as not cafe or food outlet on site

Love this place ... lots of interesting exhibits on several floors. Can get bery busy in the holidays so it is a good idea to book on-line to avoid some of the queues. Nice resteraunt but again does get busy and noisy at times.. but does look out over the canals .. which is good. Lots of other eating places nearby and not to far to the city centre. Park at the NIA multistory ..only 5 minutes walk

Fun afternoon out, lots of information and plenty to see.

Average day out, rather crowded an little cramped and information videoes were very quiet so couldn't hear them properly

On the small side but good. Avoid school hols it gets packed!

Theres currently maintenance so you miss a chunk of it but they do offer a free return as compensation.

No canteen or even sandwiches for sale...just endless choc and sweets machines.

We go regularly with our kids, using the annual Sea Life Pass. Our daughter has grown up going here for her first 8 years. We have seen the constant development and improvements. My only suggestion would be to bring back the relaxing music, the otter demonstrations, and to label the fish tanks better. Staff have always been friendly, knowledgable and often academics. Try to visit early before the crowds, and preferably when there aren't schools visiting (although stating still and waiting for them to go past usually solves this).

Was good fun, we took advantage of the buy 1 get 1 offer on the chocolate packets so saved some $$$ on entry. Was holiday period so was busy, make sure you plan ahead as doesn't look like you can generally pay and then walk straight through, we had to wait 30 minutes for entry but no real drama as we went for a coffee then returned.

Good Selection of animals and plenty of information and everything at Kids height so nice and easy.

Loved the place ,stayed in the tunnel watching the Turtles, and all the other fish .
The Seahouses are AMAZING.

Good place to go to see sealife, no matter the weather.

It s a nice place to go with family if you have kids they can see a lots of fishes. They have a program where you can see a 4D movie. At the end of the tour they have a shop and you can buy a souvenir or something. Was a nice experience.

It was ok but wasn't as big as expected after looking on the website. It's expensive for just an hour of your day when expected to be a day out . No cafe or option to go around again. Once you reach the end your pushed into the gift shop and out the door.

Very disappointed.....After visiting the sea life at london.... This sea life seems very small and overpriced...
Hardly anything on display.

great experience! I went when santa was visiting and got a lovely professional photo of my daughter with her cousins (and santa of course). staff were really friendly and there's plenty to see.

Went with my daughter for her first birthday, lovely day out and she really enjoyed it too! Easy access from parking and great facilities!

Daughter loved it, enjoyable even with restrictions.

Interesting, nice, suitable for adults and for kids as well

God morninged!
It's rememberd my mated Mietek friend. She was there 300 years old hours. He toldth myself there was god fish and meatbolss. I thing i kan go here to meeted some peoples. Thank for listened i take care about sheself. Have a ggod dey ant stay forever Inflant. Gogle tanks to replided mine. For me opinioned with dis zoo. Have a ggod dey ant stay forever babie. I'm gone to for visiting that zoo. I ting that's my fawourited places have a never and ever be.

Brilliant for kids. Didnt like the new layout as we were squeezing past people in the first part

Excellent attraction - wonderful conservation efforts too. Take the behind the scenes tour, it's great!

We didn't have fun. It looks like the sea creatures were bored. Most of them were stucked at one corner. Only one octopus which was also hiding in a corner. Also parking very expensive. thanks

A good variety of sealife. A little bit overpriced for what is there though, takes less than an hour to go round

This places is simply fantastic if you want to feed penguins. I fed them here as a birthday treat and the keepers were very friendly, helpful and informative. The penguins too were very inquisitive and loved eating fish, but this wasn't really a surprise as I always suspected that fish was their favourite food.

The rest of the centre doesn't take too long to get around so unless you get an offer it's not always the best value for money day out. But make sure you spend some time looking at the penguins when you first get in, they really are the most magnificent and sensitive creatures ever. Personally, I'd just spend all day with the penguins, but for people that like fish (live ones, not those that are fed to the penguins) you'll no doubt have a good time too.

Love this place and the guy talking about sea stars was so informative and friendly.

Fantastic school trip, lots of underwater knowledge learnt.

Fish in small tank, Fish in big tank, Fish in medium sized tank. Messages of conservation drowned out by howl of generators which consume a rain forest every hour. Watch out for glimpse of gentrified soulless town centre half way around.

Friendly and informative Staff, would come back again

What aload of rubbish not like sealife centers iv been to in the past, lets start with the poor penguins its absolutely appalling how there having to live there was no ice on the floor at all and the room there in is tiny the animals look depressed nearly bought me to tears how there having yo live there life . Ponds were pretty stranded same fish in every one of them, every corner we turned someone asked us if we wanted a picture taken where they put a pic of one of the sealife creachers behind you so not standing infront of the real ones so just a rip off we were asked 5 times, could not get around the gift shop as its small and to may people in there think instead of pestaring people for rip off photos have someone control how many people go in the gift shop at once this was my sons first time going so were very disapointed with the whole experience

The sea life centre experience was very average, I wouldn t say it was worth the ticket price only takes less than an hour to work around. The best parts are the penguins at the beginning and the turtle tunnel. Lots of small fish but could do with more larger species, more sharks etc and only saw one turtle. Parking is near but quite expensive.

Great day out, my daughter loved it but its not cheap, the behind the scenes tour is very expensive for what it includes.

Lovely day out and enjoyable for family's and kids.