What’s on

at Blue Reef Aquarium Portsmouth

Find out what’s on at Blue Reef Aquarium Portsmouth

Santa Claws at Blue Reef Aquarium
20th Dec – 4th Jan 2025

Join us at Blue Reef Aquarium this holiday period for Santa Claws, a fun crustacean sensation for all ages. From 20th December to 4th January, visitors can take part in the Santa Claws Quiz and Trail, exploring the aquarium while learning interesting facts about our marine creatures along the way.

Throughout the event, our team will be running talks and feeds, offering a closer look at some of our most fascinating residents. Guests can also get hands-on with Christmas craft activities, inspired by the animals and themes found across the aquarium.

If you’re looking for an easygoing and engaging way to spend time together over the break, Santa Claws offers a relaxed blend of activities and discovery.

BOOK NOW!

Sensory Saturdays

Next upcoming session: 6th December, 9am – 10am

We don’t want anyone to be excluded from experiencing the wonders of our aquarium, but we know it can be overstimulating to some. To create a more inclusive and calmer environment, we’re running Sensory Saturdays on the first Saturday of every month. We invite individuals and families with neurodivergent sensory needs to come explore our colourful fish displays with minimal distractions.

To put the focus purely on the mesmerising animal displays, there will be no music playing, no bright lights from screens, and no talks generating large crowds. You will also find increased lighting in the darker areas of the aquarium, to provide visitors with a more consistent sensory journey. At 10am there will be a silent giant gourami feeding demonstration to watch.

We want visitors to feel comfortable to come and enjoy the beauty of marine life and express their joy for it in whatever way comes naturally to them. It’s for this reason that we can’t fully guarantee there will be no loud noises from other visitors, but we will be reducing sound from the aquarium to an absolute minimum.

To prepare for your upcoming visit, we’ve created a sensory guide you can download here to understand what your visit might look, sound, smell, and feel like ahead of arriving.

Terms & conditions
There’s no need to make a special booking! Purchase any standard entry ticket to the aquarium and turn up on the first Saturday of the month, between 9am and 10am. These sessions are open for anyone to attend. Visitors are welcome to stay on at the aquarium past 10am with their ticket, however music and tv screens will be turned on, and talks will start at 11am.