The new Munich Sea Life Centre is opening April 15, 2006 at the Olympiapark.

Of the 9 Sea Life Centres in Germany, this will be the largest. Costing around €10.5 Million Euro, and covering 2,200sq.m, the centre will house over 30 aquariums, including the 400,000 litre 7m deep 'Sea Life' aquarium - viewable from an underwater tunnel and home to sharks.

The centre aims to provide visitors with an insight into aquatic ecosystems "from the sources of the Isar, along the Danube, through to the Black Sea and the Mediterraenean".

Visit the website at Sea Life Centre Munich.
You can find more information about the build, view pictures of the site, and read about the philosophy behind Sea Life Centres at Olympiapark Munich.

I've been to the Sea Life Centre in Brighton and, although these centres might be considered a little pricey, they provide a great day out. A UK company has even played a large hand in constructing the one in Munich, so it cannot be bad now can it.

I couldn't find the entrance fees on the website so phoned up:
Adults: €11.50
Children (3-14): €8.50
Children (0-3): free
Concessions (incl. Students): €10
They also do group fares (over 15 people).

It will be VERY busy the first few weeks I reckon. I lived in Barcelona when they opened an aquatic centre thing, and the queues when it was first open went on for miles.
There's one in Singapore where you can put on scuba gear, and swim amongst the fish. Rather pointless when you consider the geographic location of Singapore, but hey ho.

I will feel less home sick when seeing "Under the Sea"
Great it is so close to my place!

For a discount on the admission to the new Sea Life Centre, check the 2-fer pack of Palmolive liquid hand soap on sale right now. There's a buy-one-get-one-free offer on the wrapper. So I bought two packs at DM.

Enjoy!
MunichMom

Should we go there? Is it like a Dolfinatorium, a torture for sharks?

The Munich Aquarium opened in the Olympiapark a week early today.

There's an article on it (in German) in the Münchner Merkur here: Sea Life eröffnet

I haven't yet found out what the entrance fee is. Does anyone know?

Copyrighted photo removed by admin.

13 euro I believe (for adults)

is that next to "pondlife munchen"? (Kultfabrik)

poor beasties

The MVV magazine Linie8 available in buses and trams have a discount coupon of €3 for this center.

saturn on Kaufingerstr had two for one vouchers on the info counter when I was in a couple of days go if anyone is planning on going...

Oh - I was going to go today, but will go downtown and get vouchers instead. Thanks.

I went to Sea Life today and after being there my advice to anyone else thinking of going is, don't waste your money!!!.
It is a rip off. Obviously the queues were huge but decided to give it a look anyway. Frankly at €11.50 for an adult and €8.50 for kids over 3 it is already overpriced. You'd expect something good for that, but no...Luckily we had the vouchers where 2 adults get in for the price of 1 but even with that saving its too much to pay for what they have.

The place deals mainly with the fish and aquatic life from the Isar and the Danube down to the Black sea which is basically boring. Its mostly brown and grey dull looking fish that you usually see on a dinner plate. None of this coral reef stuff with beautiful colours and exotic animals. One good thing was the displays were written in both German and English and there is a small section near the end with a few rays and skates thats interesting but just not worth the price.
The place lacks any "Wow" display where you just have to stop and be amazed. The fact of the matter is that Munich Zoo have a more interesting aquarium that this place. In the zoo they have bigger sharks and impressive and beautiful fish, they have electric eels, piranhas, an octopus, plus a whole zoo full of other animals to see and its cheaper that this bloody place.

Save your money and go to the zoo instead. I won't be going back there again and we filled out the vistors review card at the end and said as much. If you have ever been to a halfway decent aquarium anywhere else then this place will be a big disappointment for you.

You have been warned.

Thanks for the warning, I read it to my son and he still wants to go - but it's nice to have a realistic expectation of what they will have. And it probably is important to learn about the local water fishys...

@DDbug, so did you go there then? If so, what did you make of it?

We didn't go, but I told my son about what you said, and he said he still wanted to go. We found out later that a friend of his went and thought it was great - even after waiting an hour in line.
These are 8/9 year olds - wonder if that makes a difference...
We might go tuesday afternoon though.

I find most "Under the Sea" aquatic centres a rip off anyway. Sydney's was all right compared to the rest. The ones in Malaysia and Singapore are not worth the effort after the one in Sydney.

one in Boston's quite good - but there's nothing QUITE like being there yourself... go diving in the Red Sea or Caribbean or... ahhh sigh :-)

I heard that they transport some fish from England and Spain. They were brought here by trucks. The trucks had to stop every hour to stop the water from shaking to much. Don`t know if this is true but anyhow an interesting question to think about: How to transport a shark???

IMHO whenever one plays THIS tune a shark appeared.

else i dont see the problem, what if the trucks move about a bit, would it not give the sensation of waves in an ocean and calm the fish down?!

I am planing to visit today. Does anyone has idea if i can still get vouchers where 2 adults get in for the price of 1.

Saturn in Kaufingerstrasse maybe? That's where I got mine, but back in April.

Despite all warnings posted here, i visited sea life centre yesterday. I must say i was very disappointed and this whole thing is simply not worth the price they are charging for it.

Did you get the 2 for 1 price? Its a small consulation to know that you could have paid more for the disappointment.
For anyone else thinking of going, heed the warning: Its not worth the price, go to the zoo instead.

Thanks for the warning! My girlfriend and I thought about checking the place out, but will probably pass.

they still have the 2 for 1 vouchers at Saturn at the OEZ

i should have listened to the warnings - i was there today and also was dissappointed. Unless you are intrested in grey fish in all shapes and sizes its not very exciting.
although i understand why the prices are high (maíntainace etc) it isn't worth it
i had a 2for1 and didn't park there (an addtional 3,50) so for that price it was ok!!

has anyone been lately on a weekend? is the waiting line sill so long?

Doesn't matter if there is no queue. The place isn't worth visiting.

I totally agree with SleeplessInMunich. I have seen See world in Singapore, Barcelona and Auckland and now in Munich. We were totally disappointed with the Munich one. So small and nothing if u really compare it with the singapore one. Even if u dont compare it with any other see world, its still not worth 13,50 euros per person. We paid over 30 euros for my husband, myself and our son.

It "Sea Life Centre" not Seaworld.. Remember Seaworld, has Shamoo and is about as big as the entire Olympica Park..

Locations: Orlando, Florida - San Diego, California - Queensland, Australia - San Antonio, Texas

Sea Life centre or Seaworld, whatever it may be called, ITS NOT WORTH THE PRICE AND SO WE WERE DISAPPOINTED.

At 10.30am on Wednesday 21.Mar.2007 the Deputy Mayor Christine Strobl will open the Sea Life Center's new seahorse exhibit.

Seahorses range in size from 16mm to 35cm and are notable for being the only species in which males become pregnant.

The female inserts her ovipositor into the male’s brood pouch, where she deposits her eggs, which the male fertilizes. The fertilized eggs then embed in the pouch wall and become enveloped with tissues. Most seahorse species' pregnancies lasts approximately two to three weeks.

See Sea Life Center - München and Seahorse - Wikipedia.

what about Arnie in Junior? are u saying that it was not true?

I went to the one in Konstanz the other week, and I also agree that the entrance fee is just a joke. Its too expensive for what you get.
I had vouchers from Mirakoli Spaghetti ( Got them off ebay for 1€ ) and with them I got 25% off.

It was good for my son to see, but I thought it was a huge rip off!!!
The queues were not too bad in Konstanz, as I went when it was cold and people didn't want to stand outside.

Verdict: Nice to sea, but expensive for what you get.

Wow! Awesome place. Went there with my 7 yr old daughter and her friend and moko. Some of the aquarium displays are so cool. It looks like the fish are swimming in mid air and you could just reach out and pet them. Going again but without the kids next time.
Take care,
space

I don`t think it is worth your money, but if you still insist on going, you can buy tickets on the internet and get 1 child free per adult ticket and you don`t have to wait in the huge entrance line for hours. We walked right in, while the people in line who came at the same time waited up to an hour.

Agree with everyone who said it was overpriced and not worth it. I am comparing my experience (last week) to aquariums visited all over the world so my expectations were high. Wish I had read this thread first!

Although it is quite expensive, I thought it was very good and my group of visitors, including two teenagers, thought it was great.

Anybody know if the Sea Life Centre has improved since the last post? If there were some impressive fish to see i dont think the price is toooo bad, but I wouldn't pay that to see a few grey fish.

I ended going there again with my kids recently and it has improved a bit. Still not worth the entrance fee but they do have some new fish and a couple of large turtles that they didn't have before.

I went a few weeks ago, but was honestly not impressed based on the amount of money it costs to get in. Maybe I have been spoiled by the aquarium in Boston, but I was expecting to see sharks larger than two feet long, more than two sea turtles and a greater number of aquatic creatures. If you are bringing small children, they will certainly enjoy it, but the overall lack of variety and size tends to be lost on adults.

I was there yesterday, it hasn't changed much since I last went. It's still a bit expensive, but I wouldn't consider it a rip-off. I'm not sure what you mean by impressive, but you won't find Dolphins or anything of the ilk. There is a lot of grey fish, there's a sign saying they try to get as many "local" fish there as possible, so pretty much anything from the Isar to the Black Sea. Some Mediterranean fish, some (colourful) tropical fish (including Nemo for kids), a few small sharks, sea horses etc.

It's pretty interesting, I've ended up there twice in the last year, so a year card might have been better value for money. I definitely wouldn't say it's as bad as some people were making out earlier on the thread.

If you've got kids, they'd probably get a kick out of it. They were giving free kids tickets to Legoland yesterday too, valid for a few weeks, if anyone is planning on going there too.

The Legoland vouchers we got last year were the best thing about the trip. Legoland rocks!