A few weeks ago we visited my cousin who lives near Antwerp and we wanted to spend a couple of hours in Antwerp: visit some children-friendly place and have a nice lunch near the train station. We found both challenging. Our first idea was the zoo, but most of it was under reconstruction so we decided to visit Aquatopia which was just around the corner.
Initially, we thought we will spend about 2 hours in there, but we were done in an hour including some soft play time. And that was the best part of it. It’s very small, not much to do, a couple of enormous fish tanks with fishes, some rays and some reptiles. All very-very dark. Bobcat was actually scared at some points, that dark. There’s some extra features which also doesn’t make any sense: like a corner imitating the inside of a submarine, but only a big stirring wheel and two metal panels. The reptile section is so stinky and stuffy that we just rushed through. I was wondering if the animals actually looked after properly. Most of it looks a bit run down too. (See the photo of me and Bobcat with that tired looking octopus?) It’s also quite pricey for what it is: we paid €54 for 3 adults and a child. The only nice (ish) thing is a small soft play area by the cafe, but nothing special really. Just a ball pool and some climbing area.
I don’t recommend it at all, waste of time and money. It was also completely empty, we only met a few other dissappointed people on Saturday morning.
