A Visit to SEA LIFE Brighton - January 2022

We recently celebrated our youngest daughter Lilah's 4th birthday. We spent her special day painting pottery and eating all the cake, before a big family birthday gathering (with of course even more cake) the next day. And for her final birthday treat, we decided to head down to Brighton for some seaside fun! A big draw for picking Brighton as our seaside destination of choice, was so we could take the children to SEA LIFE Brighton using our Merlin Annual Passes.

History

The Brighton Aquarium was thought up and designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1872 - making it the oldest aquarium in the whole world! It was bought by SEA LIFE in 1991 where it has been redeveloped and restored to the beautiful aquarium we know and love today. The most recent development was in 2012, when SEA LIFE Brighton was closed so that the Victorian Arcade could be beautifully restored to it's original glory. I really think that this area of the aquarium is the highlight and make's it one of the most beautiful SEA LIFEs I have visited.

The aquarium is really easy to find once you make it to Brighton as it's located right on the seafront, opposite the main Brighton Palace Pier. We visited on a Sunday in January and only just managed to park along the seafront, so do keep in mind that it can get really busy and parking is pricey. 

What to Expect from your Visit

Once you enter SEA LIFE Brighton there are 5 zones inside that you can currently wander through along a one-way route. You start off in the Victorian Arcade which includes the rock-pool area where you can have 'hands on' experiences, and the ray pool. Like with most SEA LIFE aquariums there's the rainforest adventure area (we love watching the leaf cutter ants here), Reef area, Conservation area, and of course the ocean tunnel too - made extra special here by the two beautiful giant sea turtles Lulu and Gulliver who are around 82 years old! Something unique about Brighton aquarium is that the seawater tanks are fed from a large tank under the building, which actually gets its water from the nearby sea twice a day. Cool right?

Make sure to collect the free children's guides/maps as you enter, as the littles loved finding the answers to the questions as we went through the aquarium, and if you show them to a member of staff in the gift shop you receive POP badges as a reward. There's also a small cafe in the Victorian Arcade area if you need refreshments during your visit. The aquarium is quite small though so you are probably best heading out to grab food as there are many yummy treats to find around Brighton.

How to Book Tickets

You currently have to prebook tickets to enter SEA LIFE Brighton, however ours were not checked when we arrived and they let us in before our timed tickets. Standard tickets costs £21.50 per adult and £17.50 per child (under 3s are free), but you can save money by booking online. You can also pay extra to go on the glass-bottom boat and VR experience. We visited with our Merlin Annual Passes which was really easy to do, as I just simply booked a slot online and then they scanned our passes to go through.

Have you visited SEA LIFE Brighton or any other SEA LIFE centres?