The Sunken Shipwreck tunnel
A glass walkway with rays and sharks gliding overhead, the one spot children go back to for a second look.
Among the forty-odd tanks here is one holding an Arabian carpet shark, a fish that Gulf fishermen know from their own shallows far better than Bristolians know anything in theirs; there is a small irony in flying a few thousand miles to meet a creature that lived a boat ride from home. But that is the flavour of Bristol Aquarium: a mid-sized, well-kept attraction on Anchor Road at the old harbour, next door to the We The Curious science centre and Millennium Square, occupying the former Wildwalk building that also housed the city's IMAX cinema. Its 300-seat auditorium still runs today as the Bristol Megascreen, with its own tickets separate from the aquarium. The route opens in cold British waters with small native sharks, thornback rays and a lobster or two, then drops you into a glass walk-through tunnel beneath the big Sunken Shipwreck tank, where rays and sharks glide overhead. Beyond it lies the Amazon zone with red-bellied piranhas and spotted river stingrays, and a tall, humid botanical house holding hundreds of rainforest plant species, the one element you will not find at most of Britain's seaside aquariums. It finishes with Australian coral-reef tanks, softly lit moon jellyfish and big-bellied seahorses that hold children's attention longer than anything else in the building. To be plain: this is not the London aquarium and not a half-day. An hour to ninety minutes covers it even at a dawdle, and it earns its price if you have children in tow or the rain has closed in over the harbour and you need a plan, not as a destination in its own right. Its great virtue is that it is entirely step-free, with wide corridors and ramps throughout; pushchairs come round with you, and the ticket lets you leave and return the same day, so lunch at the harbourside restaurants next door and a second lap is perfectly possible. No advance booking is needed even in July and August, though British school holidays mean a crowd at the tunnel by mid-afternoon; arriving at opening gives you the tanks nearly to yourself. Online tickets are valid for any single day within six months, and the family-of-four ticket trims a little off the individual price. From Temple Meads station it is about a twenty-minute walk along the harbour, or a rather pleasant quarter-hour ferry ride along the water to the City Centre landing stage; drivers use the Millennium Square car park two minutes from the door.
A glass walkway with rays and sharks gliding overhead, the one spot children go back to for a second look.
Red-bellied piranhas and river stingrays beneath hundreds of rainforest plants in a warm glasshouse few British aquariums can match.
A visitor from Gulf waters among Britain's small native sharks, and a tank that means more to a Gulf visitor than to anyone else in the room.
Anchor Road, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5TT
Honestly, usually not: about 40 tanks that take an hour, and roughly the same money buys the SS Great Britain, which fills half a day. With children under ten, or on a wet day at the harbour, it is a good and very convenient choice.
No; the aquarium does not require booking and door tickets cost the same. An online ticket does skip the queue and is valid for any day within six months, and arriving at opening in July and August avoids the mid-afternoon crush at the tunnel.