Den Blå Planet

I’m afraid this is a big thumbs down from me. Granted we went on a Saturday at 11am (prime time?) but the place had such promise — a jazzy new build, boasting floors of sea life and a walk throw the tunnel. Unfortunately everything felt old, tatty and uninspiring. The walk through tunnel was pretty, with hammerhead sharks but they were small and so was the enclosure. Everything else was also small including the touch pools :(.
The only highlight were the sea otters that were sooo cute (see photos). I could watch them playing with ice cubes for hours if it weren’t for the cold.
Overall a huge disappointment for the cost and the journey out the city!

Finally I made my way out here by invitation of a friend who has an annual pass, which allows one to bring a friend along on Mondays between 5pm and 9pm. The place is laid out nicely and the smaller tanks are designed well to mimic the habitat that those particular creatures are accustomed to. My favourite was the Arapaima; a truly incredible prehistoric fish to see! The biggest tank is truly awesome to observe, however it seems too small for those who live in it! The hammerheads and rays seemed very irritated to be swimming in circles in such a tiny environment and often lashed out at each other and the smaller fish. There is hardly anything in the tank besides a stump of rock covered in coral and some small rocks on the floor, so not much stimulation for any of them.
While I think aquariums can be breathtaking and educational, it is also very sad that these creatures are kept in such inadequate conditions. We also came here with the intention to do some sketching, and although it was fun some places were way too dark, as Camilla S. pointed out. I understand the low lighting benefits the fish of course. If you want to do as we did, I advise against it. Or bring a headlamp. My eyes were very tired after this evening. =_=

Great place where to spend some time while outside is awful (cold and rain). The building outside is worth a shot with your camera if the weather allow you so. Unfortunately for me, it was storming weather so I didn’t see the Marina neither i took photos outside.
The staff is polite. I don’t know how much it costs as I used my CPH card.
Inside there are 3 areas to see divided by kind of environment such as cold water and warm water (tropical fish). The illustrations on each tank is in English and a touch screen tells you more about the fish.
During the day there are live demo or entertainment for all the family but they announce that is in Danish language only, so if you don’t speak Danish, you are lost… Still interesting if you want to get into more interactive experience.
If you are looking for place where you can eat, I recommend their restaurant which is very cool, not so expensive, which has Sea viewing. I had their Fish and Chips (Fish Voksen) @115 DKK (15.5 Euro), really good. Price are in line with living cost of Denmark. To purchase food here you have to go straight to the till, make your order and pay. They looked to me a bit disorganised and they take their time to serve you: I waited for a while before I could place my order. They give you a sort or round pager to bring with you at the table. When the food is ready, the pager start to vibrate and you can go to grab your food. Very clever and smart.
Don’t worry about your belongings as they have lockers if you want to store your rucksack so to be more comfy while you visiting the aquarium but, they charge you 20 DKK or 1 Euro coin. As outside was cold, it was better not wear the coat inside, otherwise the shock of being outside again was going to be huge. So I paid for it. If you are in couple, you can use one locker and save for money, smart isn’t it.
There is also a cloak room service to hang your jacket, as you might not have bags or luggages, I didn’t use so I cannot tell you if it is free or not.
On the way out there is a little gift shop where you can buy your souvenir from this place. I didn’t as I found the quality a bit poor.

Great place where to spend some time while outside is awful (cold and rain). The building outside is worth a shot with your camera. If you are here on Summer you can also have a stroll around the marina. Unfortunately for us wasn’t possible to do as it was storming weather :-)
5 meters before the entrance there are queue separators that indicate you where to go but as usuals visitors (maybe some of them don’t speak English) don’t care about it and just go inside into the priority queue. Staff is so polite that can not whip them or admonish, so the one who goes into the regular queue is overtaken by them.
Inside there are 3 areas to see divided by kind of environment such as cold water and warm water (tropical fish). The illustrations on each tank is in English and a touch screen tells you more about the fish.
During the day there are live demo or entertainment for all the family but they can announce that is in Danish language only. Still interesting if you want to get into more interactive experience.
You can access free of charge to this place if you buy the Visitor Card. Just show your card at the reception and they print a ticket. Then you scan your ticket at the gate entrance and you are in.
The restaurant Spisestedet Øst has Sea viewing and we tried their Fish and Chips (Fish Voksen) @115 DKK (15.5 Euro) each: really good. Price are in line with living cost of Denmark. To purchase food here you have to go straight to the till, make your order and pay. They give you a sort or round pager to bring with you at the table. When the food is ready, the pager start to vibrate and you can go to grab your food. Smart!!!
They have lockers if you want to store your rucksack so to be more comfy while you visiting the aquarium but, they charge you 20 dkk or 1 Euro coin (you can insert a Euro coin) which is more convenient for who is into Euro zone :-)
There is also a cloak room service to hang your jacket but I didn’t use so not sure if it is for free.
On the way out there is a little gift shop where you can buy your souvenir from this place.

The «Blue Planet» is too expenisve. You have to pay about 18 € for to get in.
If you want to eat in the Aqarium Park you are very fast by about 40 € per person.
If somebody real want to see a nice Aquarium I can advise you the «Sea life» in Speyer, Germany or the zoo in Rotterdam. They are both more big than the «Blue Planet» and both are fewer expenisve.

I had heard a lot about this place from acquaintances and colleagues, and when my girlfriend and the kid were finally in town, we decided to go there. And honestly I was a little disappointed. The building is very nice, and the tanks are beautiful. But the building seems to be designed with the mindset of flash over substance. There was no flow of visitors through. It was just anarchy. Perhaps it was extra crowded today, I don’t know. But for the price they’re charging, it isn’t good enough. Too chaotic. Bottlenecks everywhere. And the information boards for each aquarium were digital. This is a nice looking thing, and it worked flawlessly. However, it also means that if people don’t read at the same speed or the same language, it becomes super frustrating when somebody or a kid is randomly clicking around and scrolling.
All in all it’s beautifully made and the animals are amazing. The design is not practical. The app for rearing fish was awesome. Sadly we didn’t learn about its existence until we were done. That might be on us, but I didn’t feel it was properly advertised.

Not so big as you would think it takes about 2 hours to walk around. The oceanic tank is awesome and The sea utters are so cool! Buy your tickets online to skip The que.

This aquarium wasn’t as exciting as I expected it to be. The exterior structure was fascinating. My favorite were the sea otters, but you will be fighting with little kids trying to get a close up view of them. But no worries, you’ll be able to see these cute creatures swimming back and forth for a while. The rain forest felt like a real rain forest. It was so humid inside and I loved it (weird) because Copenhagen isn’t warm at all. I went on the Copenhagen Card, but I wouldn’t go if I had to pay for entrance. It’s not a must-​see but if you have extra time, I would recommend it. Or if you have little ones with you, they will love it!

Absolutely one of the best aquariums I’ve been to. They have so many different, fun, special and exotic animals in great surroundings.
Especially the biggest tank with hammer headed sharks is fantastic.
Since many of the animals were not grown up I cannot give 5 stars — but hopefully that will come in some years.
Also, I find the price to be a bit too much.
I good tip is to book through their website so you can skip the line.

Très bel aquarium situé au bord de mer juste derrière l’aéroport.
L’architecture en spirale rend le bâtiment joli en soit. A l’intérieur chaque branche de la spirale est dédiée à une région du monde. On y trouve de grands bassins pour les plus gros poissons comme les requins que l’on observera en passant dans un tunnel de verre.
Il y a également une partie dédiée à l’Amazonie où est reconstitué le climat.
A l’opposé on trouve les phoques et les otaries qui font leur spectacle à l’extérieur.
L’aquarium dispose aussi d’un café restaurant avec une vue sur la mer.
Tout est cher puisqu’on se trouve au Danemark mais je n’ai pas eu l’impression d’être plumé juste pour manger dans l’aquarium. De plus la nourriture est plutôt bonne et il serve un vrai espresso. Une visite parfaite avec les enfants ! Faites chauffer la carte bancaire, l’entrée n’est pas donnée…
Peut-​être faudrait-​il regarder de réserver à l’avance sur internet pour trouver un tarif plus intéressant et éviter la file les jours de fréquentation.

Compared to the DK Zoo (see my one star review there) this is quite a good place to go. It is close to the airport, very easy to get to (metro/​train station and a 10 minutes walk).
I’m a frequent aquarium visitor in the whole world where ever I come, and this one isn’t nearly the best, but still a fairly good one. It was on a busy Monday after X-​Mas, with all children off from school, that we visited, so crowded it was with families.
This is a neatly portioned sea aquarium, with 4 or 5 ‘arms’ from the centre, with different sea biotopes. I saw more and better tanks, but the ones here were clean (we even witnessed the cleaning of one tank in full operation by two carefully operating divers, scraping the glass walls from the inside with a credit card!)
The highlights are most definitely the big ocean tank. Then we really really enjoyed watching a baby otter from very close by, playing with his/​her ice cubes.
I missed a jelly fish tank, I think this tank was now fillend with a school of round swimming herring. The big sea tank was a little bit smaller than I thought it would be and overly full to my tasting. Like in the zoo: how do fish live in the ocean, shouldn’t you mimic that as much as possible?
The gift shop is insanely expensive so if you’re on a budget, don’t bother.
All in all a fun experience, very expensive, but for those who have a Kopenhagen Card, it’s included.

This is close to the airport; we took the bus line there, which drops off at the end of the entrance road, so you have to walk a bit to get in. It was quick getting in, although this was towards the end of the day.
I did like the big viewing tank area, which we sat at for quite a while watching all of the sea life. They also have a glass tunnel where you can walk through, and see sharks rays swim right over you. We got to see them feed the piranhas as well.
However, for me, it felt like this place was more about being a cool piece of architecture that an actual aquarium. We were through it fairly quickly, as there was not a ton there. This was included in our Copenhagen Card, so it was worth going, but I would not have liked paying full price. 3 – 3.5 stars

I’ll add to the San Francisco Bay Area contingent that has reviewed this place and am going out with a rating in between. This place has a nice setting similar to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and has a sleek modern design. By European and U.S. standards I found the aquarium to be average. I loved the corridor in which you walk under and over the fish in the big tank but there weren’t a lot of really exciting animals, nor is there a simulated tide pool where you can see (or better yet touch) urchins and starfish up close.
Cost: The price may have gone down since Brother O.‘s visit — I paid 144 kroner — but it’s worth mentioning that this is more expensive than museums in Copenhagen. We bought tickets online and were able to use our smartphone screen to scan our tickets and get a special entrance. Consider this if you are going on a busy day.
English speakers will find abbreviated explanations but it’s more of a place to gawk at sea life rather than an educational experience.
Logistics: about a 10min walk from the Metro and you may be able to store your luggage here if you are coming directly from the airport or on your way (I’d call ahead, though). The walk along the beach to the north is nice as well.
In case this matters: Unsecured wifi was really fast: 35mbs. So you may want to load up on movies for your tablet while you’re here.

Rainy days in Copenhagen mean one thing: spend it inside an aquarium staring at piranhas.
Evil looking with scary sharp teeth for tearing apart their prey, piranhas have a bad reputation. Looking at these up close for the first time, I notice the pretty sheen of their scales, like a hundred glitters have been applied on it. Beautiful to look at… until they bite your hand off! Lol
I’m magnetized by the gracefulness of the jellyfish, entranced by the big sea tank with sharks and tropical fishes, and delighted by the feeding of the seals. It was conducted in Danish so that made it more. interesting.
The aquarium has a café which serves quality baked goods and sandwiches, but gets too crowded for its small size. Despite this, they take advantage of the sea views with the large panel windows.
Entrance fee is included in the Copenhagen Card or 160 DKK.
Rainy days ain’t so bad after all.

I enjoyed the aquarium. My kids did as well. I’m from Chicago where there’s a great aquarium. Certainly, this one is not as large or involved. It is a very nicely organized aquarium with a lot of different areas to explore. Take your time going through it and learn a thing or two. My disappointment was with the scheduling of events. It seemed a little gimmicky with a dude walking around in a bad shark costume as well. The items in the gift shop are ridiculously priced. The Saturday crowd was crazy — but manageable. I must say, however, that almost EVERYONE in line at opening was in the fast track lane with pre-​purchased tickets. So — maybe it doesn’t save as much time as you think. ;)

The ticket price was ridiculous (160 kroner = $ 28!).
There is no welcome movie/​screen where you can watch something.
The restaurant was horribly overpriced and there was a queue half a km long for it… and it’s the only place there where you can buy food. no sandwiches, no vending machines, no, you have to buy their overpriced fish n chips (120kr!), and needless to say, drinks are a rip off too. At least they provide free bread though. Only one (v expensive) eatery in the whole place? Very cynical, preying on your captive clientele who have no other choice.
There is nowhere to just sit down. They make all this fuss in the marketing about being «northern Europe’s biggest aquarium» but the place feels small, stuffy, and cramped. There is nowhere pleasant to sit down, eat a packed lunch with your family, and let the kids run around (that wouldn’t make any money would it?)
The area to watch the sea lion outdoor training is tiny, and designed horribly (like the rest of the aquarium… another landmark modernist architectural ‘statement’ that doesn’t feel nice to be in, but looks great in photos) so that nobody can see anything.
Finally, the fish: beyond a few cool tanks with (very) small sharks, sea lions… and. oh yeah, actually there are only 2 cool tanks there.
I’ve been to a real aquarium: in Genoa, Italy. It’s the biggest in Europe, and that is what I call a real aquarium. This was a depressing, corporate, soulless experience but at least I could leave after a few hours. Poor fish.
… and if you insist on visiting, then please, do not, I repeat: DO NOT go on a saturday!