Lake District Coast Aquarium, Maryport — Attraction in Maryport

Extra helpful and friendly staff, really interesting place. It's not state-of-the-art sharks & whales but casual & independent, helpful & interesting. They are successfully focussing on a lot of things found locally, which I appreciated. I also especially liked the eel, sea horse, the hatching area, and what I called "Austrian prawn" while subject to the usual constraints, including the entry price (this is maryport, there will never be a mega-billions aquarium and this isn't trying to be one..). Fish don't need to be big to be beautiful or dangerous to be interesting, and the aquarium doesn't need to be new or sparkling to be accurate and enjoyable.

Cafe is also a slower-than-London pace (in the sense that the staff smile and engage in some chitchat, taking time to be friendly rather than only caring about getting everything done as quick as poss). Children's portion very well sized, and decent price. No complaints from my son anyway! 10% off for annual pass members too. And a very nice wood burning stove which was kicking out some heat when we were there. Some sensible (but not OTT) child proofing too which was nice. Gift shop also surprisingly well priced (unlike the fancy aquariums other reviews compare this to) plus 10% works here too.

There is still quite the covid hangover everywhere unfortunately, and that is my only complaint. Mostly signage, but they would benefit from taking it down and allowing things to feel normal as most other places now are. Hopefully it will happen soon, as it does impact enjoyment a little bit.

Annual pass is great value if you have pre-school age children - one of few indoor attractions in the region. You also get one free adult guest visit with an annual ticket so it's very easy to make worthwhile (for anyone concerned there won't be enough rainy days in a year to make...

The weather was absolutely dreadful, so we were looking for something to do for a few hours as a part of 10. We stumbled across the aquarium from a Google search. We made the short drive from Keswick area to the aquarium and have had an absolute blast of a day! We arrived and waited for tables at the cafe for some lunch. We tried a variety of menu items both adults and kids meals and they were brilliant and so well cooked. I absolutely recommend the Cumberland sausage and cheese baguette! The chip, man the chip are proper home made beauties, slightly crisp on the outside, lovely and fluffy inside! Absolutely recommend even the cafe in its own!

Next we headed into the aquarium. It was under £90 for a party of 10 and was worth every penny. The amount of exhibits was amazing, the kids absolutely adored the ray pool (as did I, was like a kid again). The talks were really good and interesting and the member of staff was so knowledgeable and engaging.

We then visited the gift shop, picked up some gifts and then headed to the mini golf course (included in the entry costs). I will say it's a little bit worn, but we absolutely laughed our way around the whole thing.

The playground is out of action at the moment for a full redevelopment but what was there looked impressive. The staff mentioned it will be some sort of park and splash park for next year... Can't wait to come back and see!

So regardless of the weather... If you want a fun, engaging and tasty day out, then the aquarium at maryport is the place to come! Cannot recommend them enough!

We will most...

By far the best aquarium we've been to in the UK. Miles better than any Sea Life centre! Well worth the 2 hour trip to get there!!!

We were so impressed by how nice all of the staff were. They obviously enjoyed working there and had a real passion for what they were doing. As a result they were incredibly knowledgeable, it was a real pleasure to speak to them and hear a bit about something they loved so much. We'd have loved to stay and talk for longer, but 5 year olds only have so much patience!

The fish are so well looked after here. Its obvious that they take such good care of the fish. I don't think I've ever seen such clear, well looked after tanks before either. Really informative displays and noticed too.

The crazy golf was a nice touch with it being included. It's got a few tricky holes there that we really liked, so many courses are boring or too easy. This one was a little devil - great fun!

The play area next door is lovely too which I gather is there's. There's a little splash park in it and some awesome things we've never seen before. Just like the aquarium itself, you can tell that a lot of effort has gone into it. Lots of places would charge you for that, but they don't.

It was an absolute bargain for the price. We had a blast thank you. Never change, please keep doing what you're doing it's a breath of...