Maretarium — Attraction in Kotka-Hamina sub-region

Maretarium is definitely worth the visit for both kids and adults. This well-designed building houses nearly all the native (and imported) waterborne species in Finland and serves as an excellent, condensed way to get familiar with them all. The layout is a comfortable "flow" with a nice mix of large and small tanks, making it easy to cruise through and get a glimpse at over 60 fish species. At the cashier there's a simple but clever "checklist" of all the fish on display that makes the edicational aspects of the circuit more engaging for kids and, since this list is available in many languages, it's also extremely helpful for those of us who aren't experts with Finnish to learn the translated names as well. The staff are friendly and the gift shop and cafe are well supplied for a small sized facility. I gave only four stars because the third floor was closed when we were there last week, there were a number of misspellings in English on the tank labels, and because the only hauki (pike) in the entire place were so small that we couldn't find them (the cashier insisted they were there but we didn't see them). This may seem silly but, in Finland, I think Hauki is almost mythical in its culture, and should be a mainstay for an aquarium. Despite these minor details, I was surprised to learn so many new species I had never heard of before and also that there are really so few species overall in Finland. This is a fun and interesting place to visit. Kotka made an excellent decision building...

lovely fish and nice place to visit. lady at the front desk was nice. after you pay and before you begin the tour there’s fish costumes hanging on the wall, very cute. me and my family put on some and were giggling at them. i loved my fish costume. another worker walked down the stairs and stood next to the desk and was making very mean faces at us. she looked judgy and disgusted and i dont understand why. she also loudly began talking to the girl at the desk and pointing to my mother and sister. my little kid sister got sad and took off her fish costume because some grown adult woman was making faces at us, not very discretely and for no reason. i felt bad about my fish costume for a second, too, and i’m grown. and then decided some rude worker having a bad day or a plainly rude personality isnt gonna affect my experience. would go...

This is a poor aquarium. I only gave 3 stars because it was free entry just for today.

It could be argued that it barely makes aquarium status because it does not have enough fish.

We were told by a friend we met there who lives locally that it's normally. Empty because it's so expensive for what it is.

It's interesting that for the 4 families that our party made up all 8 kids enjoyed playing outside in the empty water pool outside.

The place is a modern building but scruffy, in a word, sad.

I would not pay to go back and a very expensive restaurant / coffee...