One of the famous places in Antalya is the Aquarium. But there is more to the aquarium than just the aquarium.
Other attractions include the Wild Park, the Face2Face Wax Museum, Snow World, and the XD Cinema.
The Aquarium is located in Konyaaltı at Dumlupınar Bulvarı Arapsuyu Mahallesi No: 502 Konyaaltı, Antalya.
Before you go to the aquarium, I recommend that you take it with you:
- Теплую одежду для себя и особенно для ребенка. В Мире снега температура -5°C.
- Еду и напитки. Здесь очень дорого. Например, обычное мороженное обошлось нам около 4 долларов США (60 лир; такое же мороженное в супермаркетах продается за 15 лир.). А баночка холодного чая – 1 доллар США (15 лир). Для Турции это крайне высокие цены.
- Если вы получили ВНЖ в Турции, обязательно возьмите с собой икамет (удостоверение). Вас ждет просто ОГРОМНАЯ скидка на входе.
- Фотоаппарат. Фотографировать везде можно и нужно.
PRICES
Prices change all the time. You should see them on the aquarium’s website at: https://ticket.antalyaaquarium.com/Ticket/List/all
However, one thing you should be aware of.
The price of a Mega Pack ticket (all entertainment for one day) is now $74 per adult and $59 per child. But for those who have a residence permit, the same ticket costs 269 liras ($17) for an adult and 199 liras ($12.5) for a child! I.e. discount for holders of residence permits is 75-80%!
Since we have a residence permit, we bought an annual pass for 4 units (everything except Snow World) for 820 lira (about 50 dollars). It was cheaper than a one-time pass only to the aquarium for those who do not have a residence permit.
If we had bought the same season ticket without a residence permit, it would have cost us $200.
1. ANTALYA AQUARIUM
Of course, first of all, we got to the Aquarium.
In general, if you’ve been to other aquariums in the world before, you won’t like it here very much. Yes, it’s supposedly the largest aquarium in the world (that’s what they write on their website).
The aquarium is really quite a big underwater tunnel with colorful underwater decorations and lots of fish. There are sunken ships, planes, and boxes of gold.
But, to be honest, there is not as much variety of underwater inhabitants of the earth here as in some other aquariums of the world.
Feeding carps and especially stingrays turned out to be not bad fun. To feed the carp, they give you a bottle with food and a nipple on the end. And the carp are very funny pulling it.
And we’ve just never fed stingrays in our lives. The problem is that they have their mouths on one side and their eyes on the other. That’s why they can’t see the food you give them. But somehow they find it very easily, even if you drop it in the water past their mouth.
2. REPTILE PARK (WILD PARK)
In Wild Park you will find only lizards, varans, crocodiles, snails, spiders, chameleons, snakes, etc. They are all enclosed in aquariums.
The animals here are interesting, well-groomed, but for our child (5 years), it was a little boring. In Kiev, contact zoos are much more interesting. You can feed the animals, pick them up, take pictures with them.
There are no such animals in Wild Park that you can feed or pick up.
Nevertheless, if you came here, why not stop by (if the ticket is discounted for the residence permit).
3. SNOW WORLD
It was probably the best entertainment there is. At least that’s how my daughter appreciated it.
Here you will be given warm clothes and pants. But I recommend taking your warm clothes. I couldn’t find pants that fit me. And for my daughter’s jacket was very thin and she ended up freezing.
Also, they won’t give you gloves. And while adults don’t really need them, children could really use them.
What my five-year-old daughter liked was the slides at Snow World. Children take a soft canvas circle and come down on it from one of five ice slides of varying difficulty. The slides are not dangerous, but the kids had a lot of fun. Especially for those Anatolian children who have never seen snow in their lives.
4. XD MOVIE THEATER
I’ll be honest, in Ukraine such cinemas are much more groovy. The XD cinema has a large hall and a small screen. The effect of presence is quite blurred. There are also fewer special effects. I don’t see the point in spending the money.
5. WAX MUSEUM FACE2FACE
For our five-year-old daughter, the wax museum turned out to be a bit of a boring event. In order to keep her interest somehow, we asked her logic questions about the wax figures and helped her guess the answers.
But in fact, it was a boring spectacle even for adults.
And this Botox freak in general caused a mixture of surprise and joy. Astonishment because in 2022 such an exhibit should not stand in a wax museum. It’s like immortalizing Hitler. And the joy is because I wish he were already in the Mausoleum with that same wax face.
CONCLUSION
Not a bad entertainment to go here with children, if you come to Antalya for a long time. If you have a short vacation here, don’t waste your time. There are many more interesting places in Turkey and not so expensive!
My verdict is this. If you take the ticket at full price (tourist), there is no point in going.
If you have a residence permit and you can get tickets at a special price for residents in Turkey, then go to the aquarium is not only possible but even necessary.
