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Tropicarium Budapest - Sharks in the Shopping Mall
City: BudapestAddress: H-1222 Budapest, Nagytétényi út 37-43.
Tel.: +36 1 424 3053
We do not only present a part of the deep sea world but also a tiny bit of a tropical rainforest, where the sky thunders every quarter of an hour, rain starts to fall and lightning zigzags over the lazily lying Mississippi alligators. Besides, the Tropicarium can boast with the largest sea aquarium in all Central Europe, the shark aquarium containing 1.4 million litres of salt water, housing 8 two-meter-long sharks and hundreds of colourful fish of other species, swimming around in peaceful harmony. In addition to the enormous fish-tank, there are 50 other 'smaller' aquariums and terrariums (meaning 5000-40.000 litres each!) on site.
Let us take a short walk and see what types of animals call the Tropicarium their home. Room 1 presents fish species of the Hungarian fauna¸ including protected Hungarian fish. The underwater world can be observed in its natural environment in the outer pools. Moving on, we can imagine walking in the depth of rainforests with colourful exotic birds flying freely above our heads and squirrel monkeys jumping branch to branch with ease, not to mention the elegantly stretching snakes in green, yellow, red and other colours. The next room introduces us to the world of alligators and the tropical rainforests. Visitors are greeted by chameleons, giant turtles, spiders and scorpions. The freshwater department presents the fish species that live in the beautiful and pristine lakes of Asia and Africa among green water plants and cliffs, in an environment that resembles the original.Piranhas are the real 'stars' here and their reputation is far from being perfect...
The 11-meter-long observation tunnel and the huge, 4-meter-deep shark aquarium offer a breathtaking sight, where the frightening looking sand tiger sharks, leopard and brown sharks swim only arm's length from the visitors. The qualified caretakers of the Tropicarium, all holding diver's certificates, dive weekly to fed the sharks from their hands and clean the pool. They give 12-15 kg of sea fish to the predators each time. Shark feeding takes place from 3 to 4 p.m. each Thursday, apart from some special occasions. Understandingly, one of the favoured places for visitors is the ray stroking pool, where they can feed these creatures of silky skin and lovely face.
Opening hours
Every day of the year between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. The ticket office closes at 7 p.m. In the Christmas period - on 24th, 25th and 31st December and 1st January - we have modified opening hours. The ticket office closes one hour before the closing time on these dates, too.
Accessibility
The Tropicarium is situated in the Campona Shopping Centre.
By car directly from motorways M0, M1 and M7, via highway 6 or from Nagytétényi út.
(Free parking facility of 1800 places for cars and buses).
By bus from Móricz Zs. körtér by bus 3, from Kosztolányi D. tér by bus 14 and 114. Bus 233 connects with the city centre (Astoria, Ferenciek tere). Visitors have to take off all three buses at the bus stop in Lépcsõs utca.
By train: Through the train station named Budatétény next to the Campona.
