After dim-sum today we thought it would be a good opportunity to take advantage of Oyster’s current 2-4-1 offers on a number of tourist attractions in London. According to the brochure London Aquarium is apparently one of the largest displays in Europe with over 50 living displays, 350 different species and over 2 million litres of water. I know it best for one of the scenes in Closer – hated the movie but loved playing “I know where that was filmed” during the movie (including spotting filming at my local Whiteley’s Shopping Centre!)

The Aquarium is split over there levels and 14 zones. Moving from start to finish is relatively straight-forward with no need to double-back or get confused about which zones you’ve been to or have missed out. The actual Aquarium takes probably just over an hour to explore but there are plenty of free talks on during the day starting at 11.30 am with the last talk at 4.00 pm. I would try and structure a visit around a particular talk that you want to see (such as the Shark feed at 2.30 pm) as you might get a bit bored filling in times between the talks.

We didn’t hang around for any talks but satisfied ourselves with the live displays. The fish tanks themselves are gorgeous from the small to the giant (floor to ceiling beauties!) I could have probably spent all day just gazing at these gentle creatures swimming about. If only the crowds were a bit more civilised and cool. I don’t know what it is about aquariums but for some reason it really brings out the worst in people – jostling and pushing and just being plain inconsiderate about those around. I could understand the kids being excited but when the adults started pushing me around I wasn’t impressed! The thing is that this behaviour is not even unique to this aquarium – in all countries I’ve been to its been the same from Hong Kong to the US and now to England! I was also offended on behalf of the fish from the visitors who constantly used flash photography despite signs asking them to refrain from doing so.

The aquarium isn’t all watching behind the glass, you can interact as well in the touching pool where you can touch, amongst other things, the rays. These rays felt a little different from the bat rays at Sea World San Diego – a bit more sand paper rough in the middle of their bodies and jelly like on the wings.

Overall I think entry into the aquariums is quite pricey (£13.25 for one adult) considering it doesn’t take very long to work through so if you want to go its worth checking if there are any discounts on offer and at worst buying admission online which gets you at least a 25% discount. The Aquarium was absolutely heaving today (as would be expected on a weekend) so its worth trying to go during the week when there is a chance of smaller crowds so you can at least have the chance to get closer to the fish.