Nausicaá Centre National De La Mer — Attraction in Boulogne-sur-Mer

We were really looking forward to our trip to this aquarium as we had just spent two weeks driving around Europe, and our visit here was supposed to be a nice way to end our journey before getting the ferry home. Unfortunately, we were beyond disappointed. Firstly, it was busy, which we expected as it was a Saturday, but it was ridiculously crowded, and we couldn't get near enough to see anything at all. We were getting pushed and shoved everywhere, and having our daughter out of the pushchair to explore just wasn't an option. I would have thought that following COVID venues such as this would learn not to overcrowd but people forget quickly I guess. Secondly, and further to the first point, there are very few fish in this aquarium, which I think made the crowding worse because there were so many people gathered around so few exhibits. They have the big tank which is really where all the fish are. There are a few small tanks here and there with some fish in (I assume, I didn't get close enough to see any). While impressive, you'll see more in the way of people's silhouettes and phone camera flashes than you will fish. "It's such an enormous aquarium, how can there not be many fish?" you might ask. Well, the place is HIGHLY padded with video projectors playing loops of fish on the walls. I mean you could probably watch the same videos at home without getting knocked about every which way. As far as I could tell all the videos were CGI also so not even real sea creatures. As well as the videos most of the aquarium is just educational displays, which I have seen in much smaller aquariums that have 20x more tanks. Thirdly, the accessibility at this place is an absolute nightmare. I wouldn't recommend for wheelchair users. We struggled with a pushchair. It is very unclear which way you are meant to go most of the time. The lifts are archaically slow to the point I wondered if there was just a person pulling at ropes to power them. Most of them are only big enough for one family, other than a big one that is slowed down by a terrible CGI film they play - and I'm sure they wait until the video is over before they let you out of the lift. We saw people being reprimanded by the staff for taking pushchairs on the escalators, but there really was no other choice other than forming a looong queue outside the elevator. We carried our daughter's pushchair up the stairs because we gave up waiting on the lifts. There are next to no ramps, so even when there are a few a steps, someone in a wheelchair would have to wait to use the elevator. We did enjoy seeing the seals, however, the seal tunnel filled up very fast, and we thought there would be show, but it seems like it is just a stream that you watch on videos. Of the reptiles we saw the alligators but none of the others because there was really no way we were going to be able to get through the crowd to see anything. We walked past the penguins, but again there was no way we were getting through the swathes of people to see them. Overall, just a bad experience and it was such a shame for the finale of our trip to fall so flat. 30 Euros each is extortionate for what they actually have here. I think even if it hadn't have been so excessively busy we would have been disappointed at the lack of tanks and fish for 30 Euros. The shop has some nice stuff in it; unfortunately, we didn't really feel like giving any more of our money...

This was by far the worst visitor attraction experience we have ever had! Yes it was in the school holidays when busy, but the terrible experience was largely due to extremely poor organisation, lack of staff and forward thinking, that could also have lead to serious danger. From the moment we got to Boulogne, the traffic was terrible, in part due to the poor layout near the Aquarium where two lanes are filtered into one trying to get to the same parking. Once by the aquarium the queues to get in were an hour long, stretching the whole length of the gardens, despite supposedly having time slots on our pre-booked tickets. With absolutely no staff or signage outside indicating where to queue, and what was the delay, people constantly jumped the queue and pushed in, causing frustration throughout. Once finally in, the men's toilet (quite rightly) was full of women and children who had no time to queue endlessly again to use the loo. The only staff members noticeable were one cleaner and some overworked hotdog vendors. We finally entered the aquarium part as a family of 4 with young children, and went along the underground passageways packed in like sardines, as there was no control on numbers going in. We soon discovered that the oxygen levels were very low due the the extremely high volume of people in underground passageways. We began to feel queasy and lacking in breath. People more vulnerable could have easily passed out, and with no staff on hand anywhere and with such high volumes of people packed in, this could have been very dangerous. We finally got though and went to the balcony to get some fresh air. We then left not being able to face any more torture, and saw nothing of the other 3 quarters of the aquarium. At the cost of a 100 euros, we felt ripped off and angry. There is clearly a reason why so many people visit, and it could have been a happy family day out if organised properly, adequate staffing and time slots that are adhered to both for enjoyment but also for health and safety. I do not advise visiting unless in a very...

A rather frustrating day out. We visited as a family of 6, 2 adults and 4 children under 11, one of whom was in a pushchair. The pushchair access was rather disappointing, long queues for tiny lifts which were located away from the staircases. My husband ended up carrying the pushchair up/down most of the stairs, of which there are a lot. Quite a few of the staircases took you up for a 10 metre. or so stretch for a few information boards before bringing you back down again.

Navigating around the site was also challenging. I appreciate our French is very limited but of the 3 areas, one are had a very good map with numbers and French/English translations, the other two areas were lacking and hard to navigate around. It also wasn't clear whilst going round how to navigate back. It was busy on the day we visited and therefore very hot inside (about 22 degree outside temp), almost suffocatingly so.

We were also disappointed with the number of marine animals there. It bills it as the the largest aquarium in Europe, having been to other similar places, I would say it is an aquarium that has the largest tank in Europe, but probably not the largest in itself.

We had travelled to France by le Shuttle and as per their website asked for the 15% discount off the entry price (when you produce your boarding pass). We had to ask several times for the discount to be applied and had to add up the value of our tickets and show the discount being applied as they were trying to charge full price. Even then, we only managed to secure a 10% discount and we also had to fight to be given a free audio device as per le shuttle's offer.

On the plus side, the facts given about the marine life and conservation areas were given in both French and English and were easy to read. The children also seemed oblivious to our frustrations with the stairs and lack of navigation and enjoyed the day out. Altogether a bit...