🏠 Indoor🐐 AnimalsEducational☔ Rainy-day friendly
What’s there
- Café on site
- Paid parking
- Baby changing
Access & inclusion
- Step-free access
Pier car park alongside the aquarium (short stay, charges vary by season); Ropery Road and Cove/Larkstone car parks within a short walk.
Only facilities we’ve confirmed are listed — anything missing here we simply haven’t checked, rather than know to be absent.
Ilfracombe Aquarium occupies the old lifeboat station on the pier at Ilfracombe harbour in North Devon. The exhibits follow a journey from an Exmoor stream down through rivers, ponds and estuary to the local rockpool, harbour and open coast, with tanks holding around 75 native species such as rays, octopus, starfish and crabs. Families can join the free quiz trails handed out on arrival and the children's viewing stools help younger visitors see into the tanks. Fish-keeper guides give feeding demonstrations during the day. The Pier Café sits alongside with a sheltered terrace and harbour views, and a gift shop sells aquatic-themed souvenirs. It suits a wet-weather or mixed day out on the North Devon coast, and it also runs school and group visits.
Seasonal opening Feb to Nov; the pattern changes through the year, see the Plan your visit page.
Stuff to take with you
The things people wish they’d packed for a day out like this one.
- Refillable water bottleMost places will fill it for free.
- Snacks that survive a rucksackCheaper than the café, and buys you twenty minutes.
- Wet wipes
- Small first aid kitPlasters solve more days out than anything else here.
- Hand sanitiser
- Portable phone charger
- Children's paracetamol sachetsThe one thing a farm shop never sells.
- Snack pot
- Lunch boxes
- Rucksack
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