Atlantic Sea-Park — Attraction in Ålesund

Atlanterhavsparken or the Atlantic Sea Park in Ålesund was lots of fun. A big recommendation is to get there when they open so you can see the penguins have breakfast and then the otters have breakfast. The entire facility is family friendly. Obviously children should be supervised but everything seemed very safe. Upon entering the building the ticket counter is clearly pointed out. There are coat racks and lockers. This will be useful if it’s cold and or rainy since you won’t need that jacket inside. From there you can use a free map to decide where to go or just have a wander about. There many creatures from the sea here along with information on them all. The staff are wonderful and will be happy to answer questions. While watching the penguin feeding the very knowledgeable woman giving is all information about the penguins mentioned the harbor seals they have. She recommended going upstairs to the small theatre they have to watch the short documentary on the seals at Atlantic Sea Park. It was informative and shows just how much the staff love what they do.

Atlanterhavsparken does have a cafe. Many options to choose from including “hot dogs”. They also had a local cake with a kind of whipped cream filling, try it.

Overall this place is wonderful. They do good in world that needs to see more good. So I recommend visiting and seeing some of the animals most people don’t experience. The staff/people there just make it...

Normally we wouldn’t visit an aquarium since we are against wild animal captivity but since we come from southern countries and this could be our once in a life time chance to see penguins etc we thought to give it a go. Overall it’s a beautifully set aquarium with a great variety of marine life, a lot of interactive activities, accessibility and a nice cafeteria where you can grab a a coffee and snack before continuing your trip. HOWEVER during our visit we were appalled by the complete lack of surveillance there was on visitors while on the premises. There was a very large number of kids running and screaming everywhere, knocking on the tanks and no staff there to overlook and correct this behavior. While we understand this is a child-friendly park, such behavior is very distracting to the rest of the visitors and most importantly very harmful to the animals. It’s a shame that while having to endure the stress of captivity they also have to endure the complete lack of control there is on the young kids. If they really want it to be the educational and child friendly park they claim it to be, teaching respect to the wildlife should be an essential part of the whole experience. Under these circumstances we wouldn’t...

A Great Aquarium

We were taken to the Aquarium as part of a tour from the cruise ship. It was a lovely sunny day and there is plenty to see outside as well as inside. They have otters, seals and penguins (lovely!) and the keeper did a great talk about the otters in English.

In fact all the staff spoke very good English. There are some great views outside as well. Plenty for children to do both inside and outside so a good place to visit as a family. Inside there are various sized glass tanks and a viewing tunnel where you can see the fish etc. There is also a large open top tank where you can look over and watch the various sea life. Lots of interactive activities for both children and adults.

There is a great cafe too which had lovely cakes and food! Again the staff here spoke very good English. There is a shop with various souvenirs etc. Good clean toilets. The Aquarium is well worth a visit and we would like to go...