La Cité de la Mer (City of the sea) is a fantastically immersive and dynamic experience, that’s situated in the old art-deco transatlantic terminal of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France. Split into an exciting trio of maritime exhibits, you’ll get to explore Cherbourg’s aquarium, wander inside a huge decommissioned nuclear submarine (super cool) and see artefacts from the most famous maritime disaster still to this day at the RMS Titanic exhibition.
We recently visited La Cité de la Mer as Cherbourg was our first port-of-call on the MSC Virtuosa, and I’m so glad we chose this as our activity for the day. With oodles of fun exhibits for a mixture of ages, theres plenty to keep you occupied and entertained inside this popular French tourist attraction.
You don’t have to explore La Cité de la Mer in any particular order. But as we started with the aquarium, i’ll begin this review there too.
In this article...
The Ocean of the Future – Cherbourg Aquarium
Your journey into The Ocean of the Future exhibition begins by taking the dimly lit, neon-blue stairs up to the second floor. At the top of the landing you’ll see a projection of our blue planet surrounded by hundreds of twinkling stars. A gentle reminder of why we need to do what we can to look after our oceans, and in-turn protect our planet Earth. Because a whopping 50% of our oxygen comes from the plankton that lives in our seas.
The story of this exhibition starts right where life began. The ocean. Unless you believe in Adam & Eve of course.
As you head through the door, you’ll be greeted with a sense of being under water. With reflective ripples dancing on the ceiling, like you’re just beneath the oceans surface thats being lit by shimmering moonlight.
The first room has loads of things to do. We loved how interactive the displays were, and how different elements lit up when touched. You could listen to different whale calls, and play on a voice recording machine to hear your own voice at different ocean depths. Each one getting increasingly higher pitched the deeper under water you went. Until eventually you end up sounding similar to Donald Duck.
There were fun sensory guessing games too, where you could slide your hand into dark cubbies to try to figure out what animal or creature you were feeling. The boys really enjoyed trying to work them all out by touch alone, some of which were quite challenging!
The star of the show was right in the heart of this exhibition, where you’ll find the deepest aquarium tank in Europe! This abyssal aquarium in Cherbourg is a crazy 11 metres deep and 8 meters wide. With a methacrylate sheet thickness of 33 centimetres, which is required to hold back all 350,000 litres of water. I can only imagine what the aquarium tank at the Atlantis in Dubai feels like, as this one felt impressive.
As for fish, they had a great variety to stand and admire. From smaller tanks of mesmerising jelly fish, and beautiful seahorses. To the huge abyssal aquarium that was home to black tip sharks, angle fish and many other vibrant fish. Including some funny looking nason fish, which have the apt nickname of ‘Unicorn fish’ thanks to the pointy growths they have. They even had a huge octopus and a friendly stingray which seemed to enjoy popping its head out the water to say hello.
Another (rather futuristic feature) was a ginormous curved cinema screen which displayed the seabed. You could stand in front of it, and point at different objects. Then, like magic, it would open up information about the objects you were pointing at. It was very impressive. Just like something you would see on a futuristic sci-fi film.
We all loved the aquarium section of La Cité de la Mer. It was a great exhibition and got you thinking about our deep mysterious oceans.
Le Redoutable – Wander inside a military submarine
The submarine section of the Cherbourg museum, was a personal highlight of my visit to La Cité de la mer. It was such a unique experience getting to wander inside the narrow pathways of a decommissioned French military submarine.
But theres something that makes stepping foot inside this submarine extra special! Because Le Redoutable is the biggest submarine thats open to the general public in the world. Plus, it’s the only almost-complete ballistic missile submarine hull thats open to the public. Making this activity something extremely rare to get to do!
The vessel tour of Le Redoutable is self guided, and done using headsets that looked like a 00’s throwback of an old Nokia 3310. Although they looked pretty old-school, they worked well and came preloaded with several different languages. Including French, English, Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish.
As for the audio, there were two options available. Either an in-depth adult version, or a simplified kid friendly option. We chose to listen to the kids version, just so we could join in with the boys and hear what they were listening to. The audio was told by an ex-submariner called Charles, and his grandson, Nathan. It provided a great insight into the life of a submariner, and how they would have lived deep beneath the ocean, encased in metal and without sunlight for up to 70 days at a time.
It was simple enough for children to understand, and it told you when to press buttons to play the next section of audio. This did sometimes go a bit out of sync if you were quicker to get through part of the submarine before the audio had finished. Unlike the exhibitions at The Newt in Somerset, where the headsets detect your location and know which part of the audio to play.
You get to see so much inside this submarine, including the control room, the living quarters (which oozed 70’s retro charm) and even the torpedo room! I had no idea there were THAT many buttons and switches inside a submarine. It was an insane amount!
Top tip: Under 5’s aren’t allowed inside Le Redoutable. If you’re coming with little ones, the adults might need to tag-team this part, taking it in turns to visit the submarine.
Submarine games
Once you’ve completed your 35 minute one-way trail through the belly of Le Redoutable. You’ll need to hand back your headset and then make your way over to the fun submarine gaming zone which is just down the corridor.
Inside here are loads of different submarine themed games and quizzes to do. You could try your hand at driving your own submarine on a simulator, peek through periscopes and loads more.
This moody lit zone is super fun for both children and adults, and you could easily pass an hour or so giving all the different games a go. It was pretty busy in this room, but we only ever had to wait a couple of minutes to get onto something new.
The Titanic museum at La Cité de la Mer
Next up we visited La Cité de la Mer’s exhibition thats devoted to the Titanic. Now we all know Titanic’s fateful journey, when it struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton UK to New York USA. Resulting in over 1500 people tragically losing their lives. But what you might not know is, after setting sail from Southampton on the 10th April 1912. Titanic’s first port-of-call was right here in Cherbourg, before another quick stop in Queenstown, Ireland (which is now known as Cobh) before making its way across the North Atlantic ocean where it would meet its cruel destiny.
Right inside the entrance was a huge curved cinema screen and a few wooden benches facing it. It simulated the last few days of ocean views from the deck of the Titanic. Followed by Morse code SOS distress calls, before the Titanic plummeted to the icy depths of the North Atlantic ocean. The entire video is condensed into a 30 minutes, however If i’m honest, I think that time could have been halved. Some sections went on a long time without anything changing on the display. Which is fine for adults, but the boys were rapidly losing interest.
I liked how they had made the Titanic museum feel as though you were walking along one of Titanic’s 3rd class decks, which they achieved by having LED screens displaying ocean views. The replica corridor was impressive too, and it was just like what you see on the 1997 Titanic film by James Cameron. They had even reconstructed the onboard post office that was located on G deck of the Titanic.
There was a selection of heart-moving Titanic artefacts on display too. All of which have been remarkably rescued after spending 70 years in the North Atlantic ocean, from a depth of 3,800 metres.
Out of the three exhibitions here at La Cité de la Mer, the Titanic museum was our least favourite. Don’t get me wrong, we still enjoyed it, and I love learning more history about the Titanic. It just felt like it needed a little more (as far as i’m aware, we didn’t miss any sections!) However, it did make me want to visit Titanic Belfast, as that visitor attraction is supposed to be absolutely amazing. It is the conception and birthplace of RMS Titanic after all.
See the submarines without a ticket
If you don’t want to buy a ticket to visit Cherbourg’s maritime museum. You can actually come into the foyer area of La Cité de la Mer for free! They have quite a few submersibles of all different shapes and sizes dangling from the vaulted ceiling, which you can take a look at without the need for a ticket.
I highly recommend buying a ticket though, as this was a great family day out in Cherbourg.
Is La Cité de la Mer in Cherbourg worth visiting?
Yes! I think La Cité de la Mer is definitely worth visiting if you’re in the Normandy region of France. With a trio of water themed exhibitions, I think it’s great value for money. Theres lots to do, plus as its really varied so it will keep a mixture of ages happy and entertained for hours.
Cherbourg is a popular port-of-call when cruising Northern Europe, and as its right next to the cruise terminal this is such an easy activity to organise. If you’re arriving by boat, don’t miss the chance to visit La Cité de la Mer!
Pick up a souvenir in the on site gift shop
Just beyond the ticket booth you will find a little gift shop tucked around the corner. They were selling typical souvenir type gifts, including items such as fridge magnets, key rings and mugs, to soft toys and games.
We had a quick look around in here and the prices seemed reasonable, before walking into the centre of Cherbourg. If you visit this town on a Sunday, then this gift shop could potentially be your best bet to find a holiday souvenir. As nearly all the shops in Cherbourg were closed due to French Sunday trading laws.
Can you eat at La Cité de le Mer?
If you’re feeling peckish after all that exploring, they have a couple of food options at La Cité de la Mer. Either a light-bites cafe or a restaurant that dishes up beautifully presented food.
– Le Ruban Bleu (the blue ribbon)
This cafes has enough chairs to seat 115 people, and is easily found in the main entrance foyer area. On the menu you’ll find meals such as warm toasted sandwiches and fresh salads along with a selection of hot and cold drinks. Or, you could treat yourself to some deliciously creamy ice-cream!
– Le Quai des Mers (the quay of the seas)
If you’re after something a little more fancy (and fishy) then Le Quai des Mers would be a better option for you. This seafood inspired restaurant has either an A La Carte or set menu. Serving dishes such as Normandy oysters & seafood platters. Finished off with beautifully presented cakes and deserts.
How to get to Cherbourg’s maritime museum
If you’re arriving by car, it takes just over 1 hour from Caen, 2.5 hours from Le Havre or 3.5 hours from Paris. Car parking is free, and located right next to the building.
The official address is: All. du Président Menut, 50100 Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France
If you’re catching a train to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the train station is only a 15 minute walk away. Or if you’re arriving on a cruise ship you will be docked right next to it. You can see our cruise ship right behind the building! Read about the MSC Virtuosa here!
Ticket prices
Entry to La Cité de la Mer is really reasonable, especially as this gives you access to all 3 exhibitions within the Cherbourg maritime museum.
- Adult – €19
- Child (5-17 years old) – €14
- Students – €15
- Disabled adults – €15
- Disabled children – € 11.50
- Under 5’s – Free
If you’ve arrived here on a cruise ship, let them know and you’ll receive a 10% discount. We just had to show our cruise card and she reduced our entry price which was a nice bonus. You can also pre-book tickets online if you’re worried about it being busy on the day that you plan to visit.
Top tip: Your ticket gives you entry all day. Giving you the option to walk into the center of Cherbourg for Lunch, and then returning again later in the day if you wanted to!
When is the best time to visit?
I have seen some comments about La Cité de la Mer being too busy, and people having to queue for ages to get into the submarine. However, when we visited it wasn’t busy at all! I even commented to James when we were there and said I couldn’t believe how quiet all the sections were.
For reference, we visited around 10am on a dry September’s day, but it was a Sunday. As most places in Cherbourg were closed, I thought this popular tourist attraction would be extra busy, but I was wrong! Perhaps the Sunday trading laws made it quieter?
I would try and get here early in the morning to hopefully avoid all the queues like we did! Check the opening times here, as they do vary slightly.
How long do you need at Cité de la Mer
You could easily spend 3-5 hours at Cité de la Mer, as there is so much to see, do and learn! You could rush through it quicker, but I would allow a minimum of 3 hours here. Probably even longer if you plan on doing all the submarine games or stopping at the café or restaurant whilst you’re in here.
Conclusion
We all had a brilliant day out at Le Cité de la Mer, and it was the highlight of our stop in Cherbourg. If you’re coming here as a port-of-call like us, then this day trip out couldn’t get any easier. You literally step off the boat, walk through the beautiful old cruise terminal and you’ll see Le Cité de la Mer right in front of you. It is that close to the cruise ship!
Our boys (age 10 & 9) had a great time here and enjoyed all the different sections, but the Cherbourg aquarium was their favourite.
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