Oceanarium, Bournemouth

Our Penguins are really enjoying this sunshine! Come and say hi to them today!

As the heatwave continues, why not come visit us at the Oceanarium and try our Calippo slush puppy and cool off with an ice lolly?

We know we share this image every year, but it has to be done.. As they've now turned 6, here's a throwback to when our otter pups were newborns!

what a lovely start to a monday morning!

Visited the Oceanarium for the 3rd time this year today, only this time I fed the penguins. It was the most surreal and amazing experience ever and I cannot thank the staff enough for being so helpful and informative the whole way through the feeding.



George was very friendly and knowledgeable. He made me feel at ease during the experience which was great.



Thank you Bournemouth oceanarium for giving me the opportunity to be able to feed one of my favourite animals! �

My daughter had her birthday party there last week, it was brillient - very well run and George who did the tour for the kids was great - very informative without going over the top for a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds. The two guys who helped do the party food were also lovely and very helpful. We were lucky because it was so quiet in there it felt like we had the while place to ourselves! Great value for money

My 14 year old daughter has just spent a day as an Aquarist with Emily on the 14th February. She had a brilliant day - feeding otters, crocodile, fish, turtles. Holding lizards and snakes. I would seriously recommend this as a gift for any budding Marine biologists.

Me and my partner traveled 3 hours to spend a few days in Southampton and coming here made our trip worth it! Loved every minute of it, reasonable priced too. I will definitely be coming back very soon.

Me and my boyfriend went yesterday and loved it! We both thought it was well priced and the animals were adorable. The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable too. Would recommend to anyone. Nice to see people who enjoy their job.

Lots to see, easy to navigate and plenty of strategically placed seating for those who can't walk for long periods. We would've happily stayed at The Great Barrier Reef all day and watched the Loggerhead Turtles :) the only downsides were that there wasn't really enough to keep us busy for a whole day and it was hard to hear the feeding talks at times due to the Coral display video. Also, more viewing windows at the Hingeback Tortoises next to the Otters.

I pre-booked the tickets online and received a discount in doing so.. £19 for 2 adults and my 7 month old son is a good price I think.



Although it is fairly small and can feel a little cramped sometimes (compared to SeaLife Centre) I have to say my partner, son and I absolutely loved it. A lot of variety in fish and plenty of Otters and Penguins too to see.



Lots of information boards to help you understand what you’re looking at too. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We cannot wait to go back again.



We drove down from Fareham by the way! So well worth the 1 hour drive. Thanks Oceanarium. �

I love it and always want to go back I hope to go again very soon even if I go on my own x I love animals and this is a great place to go and see them x

Though it was really good.. it's cheap..its cherrful and for all the people that moan about this place " Stop moaning about prices... do you know how much it is to run a place like that and pay all the staff??? And if you can rush around in an hour or 2 then your obviously not stopping to take interest / reading about the wildlife..plus once you pay for your ticket you have all day entry..you could come and go as you please and catch all the feeding times. Think I have said enough. Well done all at Oceanarium we enjoyed it ��

It's a lovely place to go to occasionally however it is quite small. The feeds and talks are very informative and my son finds them exciting however I think the admission prices are a bit high for what we get to do there. We recently had a really lovely time there just before Christmas, bought the tickets at a discounted price online and spent a good 3 hours there with a break in between for lunch. Not somewhere we could go to often due to admission prices but we do enjoy it when we go.

I went last Saturday on a lovely hot day after some beach cocktails! We always make sure we visit any aquarium and zoo we find and we had the best time! Hading been here before when I was a child it was very nostalgic, we really enjoyed the otter inclosure and seeing the sea turtles was lovely 🤗

The only reason I didn’t vote 5⭐️ Was because the air conditioning (if there was even any) was not up to standard. Obviously we understand some inclosures have to be kept heated because of the animals kept there but the whole building was ridiculously hot 😅

Had a lovely few hours here yesterday, our 3 yr old thoroughly enjoyed himself, he made us walk around twice lol. We used our Tesco clubcard vouchers for a family of 3 so a very nice cheap day out. We will be returning very soon 😊

Stopped in the cafe first. Had to wait almost an hour for our food, wasn't even packed out. When asked where our order was, told it was on it's way. Clearly wasn't, as had to wait at least another 10 minutes. Obviously forget. The staff member delivering the food slammed in down on the table. Luke warm jacket potato. Not impressed.

My 5yr old daughter and 2yr old son enjoyed it, however it is not overly large and it was PACKED! Making it hard ti spend time looking at anything

We were in and out in just over an hour!

I think £21 for 1adult and 1 child (2yr old free) was quite expensive for what is there.

Saying that they enjoyed it

It was good for what it is however it’s not very big, it only took 1 hour to walk round the whole place and it cost 27.00 for 2 people. The most enjoyable part was the turtle �

The price is to much for what you get. I would say that let's it down. Although the two turtles are really good. Would like to see more staff out and about to ask questions as you walk round, the only staff we saw where at the start/end.

Small overpriced. some areas closed for maintenance and workmen discussing maintanance which detracted from experience.2 areas ie children's play area had no cafe facilities that were open.feeding time with the otters took 5 mins and what the girl said was written on the enclosure couldn't get near as framed and crowded.lacklustre uninterested staff when I asked for feedback sheet was told if not on a table round the corner must have run out no offer to look find another not interested.very underwhelming .

Worst aquarium we’ve ever been to. Wondered why tickets were so cheap and now I know - fish in horrible condition, every Royal Tang we saw looked like it was on the brink of death, turtle sat on the floor and didn’t move at all, etc.



The whole place felt dated and run down and I’ve never seen so many ill fish in an aquarium in my life. Don’t bother giving your money to people who clearly don’t care at all about the welfare of their animals, do yourself a favour and give this place a miss.

Our collective view is that it is very dated and the fish looked poorly. We are in fact going to ring the RSPCA. Very sad to see it so run down and the prices are certainly not cheap! It needs a total refurb and the fish need looking after

Visited the Oceanarium for the 3rd time this year today, only this time I fed the penguins. It was the most surreal and amazing experience ever and I cannot thank the staff enough for being so helpful and informative the whole way through the feeding.



George was very friendly and knowledgeable. He made me feel at ease during the experience which was great.



Thank you Bournemouth oceanarium for giving me the opportunity to be able to feed one of my favourite animals! �

My daughter had her birthday party there last week, it was brillient - very well run and George who did the tour for the kids was great - very informative without going over the top for a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds. The two guys who helped do the party food were also lovely and very helpful. We were lucky because it was so quiet in there it felt like we had the while place to ourselves! Great value for money

My 14 year old daughter has just spent a day as an Aquarist with Emily on the 14th February. She had a brilliant day - feeding otters, crocodile, fish, turtles. Holding lizards and snakes. I would seriously recommend this as a gift for any budding Marine biologists.

Me and my partner traveled 3 hours to spend a few days in Southampton and coming here made our trip worth it! Loved every minute of it, reasonable priced too. I will definitely be coming back very soon.

Me and my boyfriend went yesterday and loved it! We both thought it was well priced and the animals were adorable. The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable too. Would recommend to anyone. Nice to see people who enjoy their job.

Lots to see, easy to navigate and plenty of strategically placed seating for those who can't walk for long periods. We would've happily stayed at The Great Barrier Reef all day and watched the Loggerhead Turtles :) the only downsides were that there wasn't really enough to keep us busy for a whole day and it was hard to hear the feeding talks at times due to the Coral display video. Also, more viewing windows at the Hingeback Tortoises next to the Otters.

I pre-booked the tickets online and received a discount in doing so.. £19 for 2 adults and my 7 month old son is a good price I think.



Although it is fairly small and can feel a little cramped sometimes (compared to SeaLife Centre) I have to say my partner, son and I absolutely loved it. A lot of variety in fish and plenty of Otters and Penguins too to see.



Lots of information boards to help you understand what you’re looking at too. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We cannot wait to go back again.



We drove down from Fareham by the way! So well worth the 1 hour drive. Thanks Oceanarium. �

I love it and always want to go back I hope to go again very soon even if I go on my own x I love animals and this is a great place to go and see them x

Though it was really good.. it's cheap..its cherrful and for all the people that moan about this place " Stop moaning about prices... do you know how much it is to run a place like that and pay all the staff??? And if you can rush around in an hour or 2 then your obviously not stopping to take interest / reading about the wildlife..plus once you pay for your ticket you have all day entry..you could come and go as you please and catch all the feeding times. Think I have said enough. Well done all at Oceanarium we enjoyed it ��

It's a lovely place to go to occasionally however it is quite small. The feeds and talks are very informative and my son finds them exciting however I think the admission prices are a bit high for what we get to do there. We recently had a really lovely time there just before Christmas, bought the tickets at a discounted price online and spent a good 3 hours there with a break in between for lunch. Not somewhere we could go to often due to admission prices but we do enjoy it when we go.

I went last Saturday on a lovely hot day after some beach cocktails! We always make sure we visit any aquarium and zoo we find and we had the best time! Hading been here before when I was a child it was very nostalgic, we really enjoyed the otter inclosure and seeing the sea turtles was lovely 🤗

The only reason I didn’t vote 5⭐️ Was because the air conditioning (if there was even any) was not up to standard. Obviously we understand some inclosures have to be kept heated because of the animals kept there but the whole building was ridiculously hot 😅

Had a lovely few hours here yesterday, our 3 yr old thoroughly enjoyed himself, he made us walk around twice lol. We used our Tesco clubcard vouchers for a family of 3 so a very nice cheap day out. We will be returning very soon 😊

Stopped in the cafe first. Had to wait almost an hour for our food, wasn't even packed out. When asked where our order was, told it was on it's way. Clearly wasn't, as had to wait at least another 10 minutes. Obviously forget. The staff member delivering the food slammed in down on the table. Luke warm jacket potato. Not impressed.

My 5yr old daughter and 2yr old son enjoyed it, however it is not overly large and it was PACKED! Making it hard ti spend time looking at anything

We were in and out in just over an hour!

I think £21 for 1adult and 1 child (2yr old free) was quite expensive for what is there.

Saying that they enjoyed it

It was good for what it is however it’s not very big, it only took 1 hour to walk round the whole place and it cost 27.00 for 2 people. The most enjoyable part was the turtle �

The price is to much for what you get. I would say that let's it down. Although the two turtles are really good. Would like to see more staff out and about to ask questions as you walk round, the only staff we saw where at the start/end.

Small overpriced. some areas closed for maintenance and workmen discussing maintanance which detracted from experience.2 areas ie children's play area had no cafe facilities that were open.feeding time with the otters took 5 mins and what the girl said was written on the enclosure couldn't get near as framed and crowded.lacklustre uninterested staff when I asked for feedback sheet was told if not on a table round the corner must have run out no offer to look find another not interested.very underwhelming .

Worst aquarium we’ve ever been to. Wondered why tickets were so cheap and now I know - fish in horrible condition, every Royal Tang we saw looked like it was on the brink of death, turtle sat on the floor and didn’t move at all, etc.



The whole place felt dated and run down and I’ve never seen so many ill fish in an aquarium in my life. Don’t bother giving your money to people who clearly don’t care at all about the welfare of their animals, do yourself a favour and give this place a miss.

Our collective view is that it is very dated and the fish looked poorly. We are in fact going to ring the RSPCA. Very sad to see it so run down and the prices are certainly not cheap! It needs a total refurb and the fish need looking after