National SeaLife Centre Birmingham Review

A great place to go with the kids and teach them about sea life and how they can help save some of the more endangered species, for future generations... Also, very beautiful aquariums, my photos do not do them justice....

Really enjoy it with my kids. It looked small from the outside but it kept us entertained for 3 hours. We took a picnic and the staff were helpful saying we can eat anywhere there is a bench. The water tunnel and windows were amazing. Great buzz from the reaction of our kids and other people.

I always thought it was longer than what I experienced but I enjoyed everything that was on offer. Great location as there's a Spar and Ed's nearby.

Great place to visit with family, my children love seeing all the different fishes, penguins, seahorse and turtle. We spend couple of hours. The 4D cinema show. Lots to see and the underwater tunnel so enjoyfull.

Quiet pricy if you don't have an offer, some good things to see, about a couple of hours there to do, would advise on getting a pass

Not great. You could literally walk it in 15mins. We read alot of the text that was informative but all in all much better places to spend your money

Excellent experience, took our daughter for her 4th birthday for the day and she totally loved it. I like the fact that once you've purchased your ticket you could pop out and return, ideal if you wanted something to eat outside.

Good experience for kids, though they make you exit via the giftshop

I always found this place boring but as a mom of a toddler, I can see it through her eyes and find it magical - the tunnel is amazing and theres so much for little people to do! I loved the seals, shame they have returned to their homes in scarborough (I can't recall if this is where they were on loan from).

A good couple of hours but a bit small and expensive for what it is. We went to Cadbury World beforehand and it was much better value for money.

Fabulous place! Really cosy and undergeound. Great staff members. A really good day out. The tanks are all so clean amd the marine life really well looked after.

Very good attraction, part of it was closed for improvement so we were given free return passes.

Nice little aquarium with a little bit of fun at the start, staff are all super friendly and helpful and all seem to really enjoy what they do. Can get very crowded at times especially when there is a tour going. Look out for the questions for the treasure and play in the sand pit

Fantastic!! We got there when it first opened and it was well worth it apart from 2 other people we were the only ones there for an hour so got to enjoy everything with no hassle. Only down side side was it took about 50 mins to go round the whole place but we did wait an extra ten to see the 4d clip. All in all would definitely go again

I and 2 children (10 & 14) went for the 11.30 slot and it was very busy .. it did take under 1 hour to get through this place - but I bought tickets on line so did not pay top price .. thought the little penguins looked very miserable & under stimulated. Tunnel with turtles was a great experience & very exciting :-)

Had some really interesting species I've not seen at other Sea Life centres. Enjoyed our visit.

Great place for kids to be educated about our oceans and how to save them

Worth the visit if you have a buy one get one free voucher. Doesn t take a huge amount of time to walk around so I wouldn t make a whole day of it. I thought the penguin enclosure was a little sad. Not much has changed over the years just the 4D experience which is great for children!

A visit can last from 30 mins to an hour. They are currently do some improvements so part of the centre is shut (Feb 2019). However they are giving a free return ticket.

Bit to busy to see much, plus went to Bristol aquarium two days before and it was a nicer venue

Penguins, seals, jellyfish, tropical fish, this place has it all. Excellent.

Ok but other sealife centers around the country are better.

verry cramped and small. not as spectacular as other sea life displays exp Plymouth

Another October half term trip while we were visiting Birmingham.
Spent around three hours here and the really great thing is you can get a pass out so you can return any time that day. Door admission is expensive so look out for offers.
There is a lot to see and has been carefully designed making you think that it's bigger than it is.
The highlights for us was the Ocean tunnel were you are surrounded by sharks, turtles and lots of other amazing fish, the 4D cinema and touch pool.

Kids love this place we will go back again for sure.

My kid really enjoyed it and was enough to see, but very short and can be done in an hour. Not worth the money at all. Just take them out to the pet store.

Good place for a nice family time. And much less crowded than London. Enjoy it at your own pace.

Received excellent customer service from Amy on Instagram when I had issues booking my tickets.

The Sea Life centre was a bit smaller than I expected and was bit busy but I went on the last weekend of half term. They gave us goodie bags for the kids and there was an opportunity to pet a starfish and sea urchin. The tunnel experience was amazing but again a bit smaller than I originally thought. Worth a visit. My kids loved the penguins

Lots to see and ideal for young children or interested individuals. No car park but some close by. Expensive and so is the gift shop.

Cramped. Clostraphobic no space barging shoving.. . Every worst night nightmare for anxiety I will not return.

Brilliant day out for all the family and they always have some kind of hunt going on to keep the kids entertained.

Really nice place if you ever get the chance to go to Birmingham. The ticket is a bit expensive and should be cheaper than that. In the time being a basic ticket costs 20 pounds.

Been here a few times over the years since it opened. The layout remains the same but the animals change so its worth a pop back in if you haven't been for a while.
The 4D cinema show inside was good and worth checking out but the effects may scare some younger children.
Value for money wise I'd say avoid just turning up and paying on the door. There are always offers so search online to see what you can find. We had 2 for 1.
Overall is a really nice place to visit but can get busy so avoid peak times if you don't like a crowd.

Was nice experience but shame not much more interaction could have been more better but with how things are at mo it is what it is. But was nice for the kids more thanything else

Fascinating place, well curated. Interesting for all ages. Check for discounts with dayoutwithkids etc before you go. You can save a lot.

My granddaughter is still talking about her trip to the centre. Well organised and well laid out, a great way to spend a few hours.

The National Sea Life Centre is one of the best places in Birmingham. I've taken the little ones there twice in the past few months and they love it. My year old comes out obsessed with Fish and I have a month of Finding Nemo on repeat to look forward to but it's worth it. Very relaxed and fun, and obviously you can learn a bit too!

Good attraction and lots of sea life to see. Would definitely go again. Just a little pricey for the photos though

Expensive for what it is. We were round in it a couple of hours and we went quite slowly. I think the person that writes the signs ought to make use of spellcheck on their software, just one example shown with two errors ! but many of the signs had errors, kept us amused.

No longer have otters but the do have seals. Seal enclosure isn't very big.

Had a great time just a shame it was so busy as we didn't get chance to spend long looking at things. Would go during the week next time

It's a great day out! The tickets feel pricey but you get to go in and out as many times as you please for that day!
Theres so many types of sea creatures to see. And the 4D cinema is great fun for the kids and is included in the price.
All in all, a nice place to visit.

We have been a few times now over the last 7 years. We enjoy ourselves as do the children. It is pricey for what it is, so if you are able to get hold of money off vouchers then certainly make the most of them which is what we did this time. Busy in the half term which is to be expected, but meant that my littlest one was struggling to see some of the fish as she s too little to reach up, no bother though as I can just take her once the schools are back. My biggest child loves going- it s one of his favourite places and we especially love the shark tunnel!

Great fun for kids. The staff are friendly and helpful and it is pushchair accessible throughout. My daughter especially loved the seals and penguins. It is better early in the morning because it is quieter and you can get a better look in the tanks.

My experiences of sea life centres is pretty bad however took the kids to this venue & was very pleasantly surprised at how good it was!
It's very close to the South Car Park (an extremely grim car park to say the least!!!)
The staff were friendly & there was lots to see, the kids absolutely loved it & we'll visit again.

Nice place to play with kids, but not easy to find car park

This was a great day out. Took the family and they loved all the animals. Good thing is you can leave and return in the same day so you can go for lunch and come back in. You can take as long as you want to walk around with no pressure to hurry up.

In my opinion it was expensive 17 pounds if you buy it in advance and it's not really big ( been to the one in Portugal which is one of the biggest ones in Europe and it was way cheaper). If you ignore the price it's nice, they mostly have just fish with a few penguins and 2 otters. I would suggest to go when children are in school because it's way too crowded

My kid loved it and wants to go back so there's good review. I got it as a two pack deal with Legoland discovery which made it a great value.

It was nice to walk through the glass tunnel seeing all the fish and sharks

Not too bad. Was expecting it to be bigger. Overall a nice visit

It was amazing, wasnt that busy so got plenty of snaps thank you sea life centre keep up the good work

Great place to visit for a well thought out introduction into the underwater world. The penguins are brilliant, especially as you can see them from all angles as you progress round the centre. Definitely worth a visit.

Not much there and to expensive no need to charge that amount

Lovely day out. Our son was very tired first time round but the unlimited same day return allowed us to give him a nap and come back. It's a great idea and saved our day!

Great few hours to spend with the family, loved the penguins they're so cheeky

Fabulous day out. Great staff and Santa! What more could parents of an animal loving 2 year old ask for?!

Took around an hour and 1/2 to get around (included reading majority of the info panels). Suitable for all ages and wheel chair / pram access was impressive allowing access for all. It was a lot smaller than I imagined but still a very pleasant experience. Staff were all friendly and we'll inforned. There are great photo opportunities but no real places to eat lunch but lovely steps outside bear canal with some nice eateries bear by. The only thing which was irritating was people(!)... Simply standing in the way in groups and not allowing space to move by - it became quite trying at times.

Great place to go with the kids. They had some work going on in the Jellyfish area so they have given us a free pass for our next visit.

What an amazing experience. My little girl loved it. I would have liked if the ocean tunnel was longer. The cinema was nice, with all the effects.
Overall it was amazing. Well worth the price.

Perfect place, its not a typical aquarium! I loved the penguins! I think everyone visiting or staying in the city must visit, especially children!

Kids loved it. A pity the cinema experience was an infantile cartoon rather than a breathtaking educational experience. An early sealife centre, its showing its age and looking a little tired. Loved the gift shop display including a book on the evils of plastic when almost everything was made of plastic.... Friendly staff. No cafe. Admissions to the centre stop if crowded.

It was nice. When I heard it was soso, I didn't expect pinguens or a giant turtle, really huge turtle. Suprised me.

Try to avoid visiting here during school holidays as it was very crowded especially if you want to get the best viewing experience.
If you have booked a slot you have to wait till it's time and no earlier otherwise you will have to queue outside. Staff are friendly and helpful.

For the price and taking a family of 5, cannot recommend due to issues with Parking, lack of variety as in its just a walk around in loops, time it took was under an hour even though advertised as 1.5 to 2 hours. Some of the facility was closed due to covid but still not worth it, even at a discount. Maybe its better when fully open? But at the moment its not worth the trip

Very well spread out and social distancing was there but it could of been a bit better they checked your temperature as you walked through the door but overall very good place to to go and the animals are very cute and lots of information on them

It's a great place for families, school trips or people who love nature and sealife. There are penguins, fish and all sorts of sea creatures to watch. Also there's 4D cinema with a short film mostly suitable for kids. There is also a gift More

It's better than london's, I always love to go there wide my kid

Nightmare!
Went on a Saturday ....but should have guessed this would be packed with screaming kids, inconsiderate parents with pushchairs...& no real chance to see anything.
More reminiscent of a theme park during the school holidays!?
Think they should offer 'kid free' days when normal folk can visit.
Certainly won't be on my list of places to visit again!

Great place, my grandaughter loved the experience, very interesting. It was a Saturday afternoon and was quite crowded. We were worried in parts when it was overwhelmed with people.Some parts were like bottle necks. Older children in ball pit were throwing things until I asked them to stop because of younger children .Should there be supervision? I will take grandaughter back on a less busy day. It was lovely to see so many sea animals and fish

Possibly the best Sea-Life centre in the UK. Good theming, a large collection of fish and the 4D cinema was a nice addition too.

The first time I have ever been to the sealife center. I enjoyed it but was very disappointed that the octopus didn't come out to see me. I think he or she was probably bored with so many people gawping at it. I don't blame it.
All the fish are looked after well but I think even fish deserve to live a natural life in freedom.
I loved the jellyfish, and the rays and sharks but they did need more space and did look a little sad.
I'm glad I visited.
Friendly welcoming staff.

A great place for a family visit. Always find reasonable offers for discounted tickets plus can get a combo ticket to go with Legoland at a great saving. Kids and adults stay entertained, time flies by quickly .

Had a lovely day. My son who has special needs really enjoyed it. But was a bit disappointed at the rudeness of some of the staff. We went to the photo kiosk at the end of the day and decided to let my son play in the soft play area. When it was time to go as my son walked out of the play area he fell over onto his face, his mouth was bleeding a bit. 2 staff on the photo kiosk and a lady that was sitting opposite the kiosk dressed as a witch see it happen but ignored the situation and carried on talking and laughing. I cannot believe how rude they were. This is why I have given 2 stars otherwise it would of been a 5

Full of interesting fishes. And that eel? That's a moray!

Enjoyed the experience here, went on a Saturday and wasn't overcrowded. Shark and Stingray tunnel is definitely worth a look.