Seaquarium Grau-du-Roi, France: What To Expect On Your Visit
After we left Parc Asterix, we drove for 8+ hours to arrive in Grau du Roi, a beautiful destination famed for its fine sandy beaches, abundance of wild flamingos, and its aquarium. Known as the Seaquarium in Grau du Roi, this is home to over 300 tropical fish, as well as turtles, rays, sea lions and seals.
But what attracted us most to the Seaquarium in Grau du Roi was Le Requinarium. This is the only dedicated shark centre in Europe, and is a huge area within the aquarium that is entirely dedicated to the planet’s fiercest predator. The boys are obsessed with sharks right now (there have been so many new shark documentaries on Disney+!) so they were very excited to be able to get up close to so many breeds in one place.
Thinking of visiting the Seaquarium Institut Marin on your next trip to the South of France? Wondering if this aquarium is worth the money, and how long you should expect a visit to last? Here’s everything you need to know about visiting the Seaquarium in Grau du Roi:
- Highlights of the Seaquarium in Grau du Roi
- Buying Seaquarium Tickets
- Practical Information
- Our Experience
- Further Reading
Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
Highlights of the Seaquarium in Grau du Roi
The Seaquarium in Grau-du-Roi is packed with exhibits that are engaging for both adults and kids, with a strong focus on marine life from the Mediterranean and beyond. Here are some of the highlights to look forward to:
- The Shark Tunnel – Without a doubt, the biggest attraction. Visitors can walk through a tunnel surrounded by several species of sharks, giving you an incredible close-up view of these powerful creatures gliding overhead. It’s thrilling without being scary, and a must-see part of the aquarium. We also loved that once you’d walked through the tunnel, you could see if from above, which we’ve never experienced anywhere else.
- Sea Turtles – The Seaquarium is known for its sea turtle care and conservation efforts. Watching these gentle giants swim gracefully through their tanks is always a highlight, and children especially love spotting them.
- Mediterranean & Tropical Fish Zones – From colourful clownfish and angelfish to schools of Mediterranean species, these areas showcase just how diverse marine life can be. The tanks are beautifully designed and easy to enjoy at your own pace.
- Interactive Exhibits – For younger visitors, the touch pools and interactive learning zones are a big hit. Kids can get hands-on while also learning about the importance of protecting marine ecosystems.
- The Seal Pool – Outdoors, you’ll find playful seals that always draw a crowd. Watching them swim, dive, and interact with each other is a lovely way to round off your visit.
Buying Seaquarium Tickets
You can buy Seaquarium tickets in advance OR you can buy them on the day. From a financial perspective, it doesn’t matter which of these approaches you choose, the prices are almost idenitical. But from a practical point of view, I recommend buying your tickets in advance to save time.
There are two queues to enter the Seaquarium: one queue is for those that have pre-purchased tickets and the other is for those buying tickets on the day. While the pre-purchase queue was empty (you could literally walk straight into the aquarium!) the on the day queue was out the door and into the car park. You can actually see this queue in my photo of the Seaquarium entrance above!
If you can plan ahead and pre-purchase, you’ll save yourself a lot of time in a long queue!
I recommend buying your Seaquarium tickets from Klook. These are instant, and are delivered straight to your phone. Tickets are priced at £14.75 per adult and £10.85 per child.
👉 Click here to pre-book your Seaquarium tickets. You can do this right up to your day of visit!
🎁 Use the code THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOK to get an additional 5% off these ticket prices.
Practical Information
If you’re here for practical information about the Seaquarium in Grau du Roi and not me prattling on for paragraphs about our experience then i’ve got your covered! All the practical information you need is right here in this handy box:
📍 Location: In the heart of Grau du Roi. The full address if you’re driving is Avenue du Palais de la Mer Hall Seaquarium, 30240, Le Grau du Roi, France.
⏰ Opening Hours: These vary by season. In July and August the Seaquarium opens from 9.00am – 11.00pm. In the shoulder months of April, May, June, and September the opening hours are from 9.30am – 7.30pm. And in the winter months from October to March, the Seaquarium opens from 9.30am – 6.30pm.
🎫Ticket Prices: Tickets are priced at £14.75 per adult and £10.85 per child. You can pre-book these here to save time on the day.
Our Experience
We visited the Seaquarium at around 9.30am, shortly after the attraction opened, and there was already a long queue out of the door to get in. I do recommend visiting in the morning, because the queues were even longer the later in the day it got! I can imagine trying to visit in the afternoon during the peak summer period would be unbearable.
Once we were in the Seaquarium, we found it to be very crowded. The first two rooms full of smaller tanks are fairly compact, and when we walked in we could barely move: this was the most crowded aquarium we have ever visited. But as we continued walking into the Seaquarium, the rooms got bigger, there was more space to see the animals, and the whole experience became much more manageable.
Our favourite parts of the Seaquarium (by far!) were the sealion enclosure, the tunnel where we got to walk through the tank and see the animals (particularly the sea turtle) up close, and the Requinarium, which is the unique shark area. In fact, the boys liked this part of the aquarium so much that we wandered around it twice. If you have any interest in sharks then it is worth visiting the Seaquarium for this attraction alone.
In total, we spent around 2 hours exploring the Seaquarium: this is about the right amount of time to allocate to exploring this attraction. You could do it in less time, but you would have to walk around the exhibits fairly quickly. And you could spend longer here, especially if you wanted to visit the small cafe and gift shop. But with so many excellent beach front restaurants and cafes in Grau du Roi, we would recommend doing what we did, which is heading to the beach for lunch in the sunshine after your Seaquarium experience.
This isn’t the best aquarium we have ever visited, but it is very good and the shark area is a stand out attraction. We felt that it was enjoyable, good value, and if you’re staying in Grau-du-Roi and want something to do on a rainy morning (which is what lead us to the Seaquarium) then I would definitely recommend it.
Further Reading
Looking for other fun things to do while you’re travelling (or in our case, road tripping) across France? I’ve put some further reading and reviews to inspire you below:
🐘 Everything You Need To Know About The Wonder Of Nantes Giant Elephant
🚗 Planning a Road Trip to France With Kids: What To Pack
🕍 5 Things to Do In Rouen With Kids: What to do, Where to Stay in This Underrated French City
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Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
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