After The Sunset
Every Saturday night @ Ya Beach Bar Hersonissos
Start you night here, a pre club place for all the music lovers.
Free your mind and let the music guide your soul
Dj Nicolas Panderis playing the best of House, Downbeat and Chilled…
Experience the Mediterranean marine world, on a journey of discovery beginning here. Hundreds of species and thousands of organisms will come face to face, fascinating you with their behaviour and revealing the wide variety of shapes, colours, habits and needs of their own world. Learn about them and reflect on what our common future may be.
Here at CretAquarium, we aspire to be a unique venue for discovering, learning and promoting awareness of Mediterranean marine life. In its depths, the Mediterranean Sea hides a world little known to most people, with a wide biodiversity of species and habitats that are now under threat more than at any other historical time. As an enclosed sea featuring both steep, rocky shores plunging to great depths and indented shores with translucent waters, more than any other sea it has determined the course of human history and culture.
As part of THALASSOKOSMOS (Hellenic Centre for Marine Research), the largest marine research, technology and entertainment complex in the Mediterranean, CretAquarium's operation and development are founded on scientific knowledge and discoveries made in marine science, its goal being:
- to inform, educate and raise public awareness of the variety of Mediterranean species and habitats;
- to highlight the diachronic relationship between human beings and the Mediterranean marine environment;
- to stimulate interest and concern for the protection and sustainable management of the Mediterranean marine ecosystem.
So as to achieve its goals, CretAquarium aims:
- to offer a unique spectacle that will never cease to captivate young and old alike
- to offer relevant information on the marine environment of the Mediterranean using a variety of up-to-date methods (interpretive graphics, interactive techniques, modern interactive multi-media etc.), so as to best communicate information and knowledge
- to develop aquarium research
- to popularise the results of research by the Hellenic Centre of Marine Research, in collaboration with its respective institutes
- to offer visitors current scientific information
- to organise educational programmes, seminars and events so as to stimulate ongoing public interest
- to co-operate with schools and environmental education centres
The Aquaiums: Along the 600 m seascape of the Mediterranean, the Greek seas and tropical waters awaiting them, visitors come face to face with approximately 2.500 organisms belonging to 200 species. These are kept in 32 tanks, with a total capacity of 1.600.000 litres. The tanks alternate depending on the species, their habitats or habits. Habitats which host numerous species and large species that have need of room are kept in large tanks, while in the smaller ones, visitors will come across particular species and micro-ecosystems which, though impressive and significant, would be lost to sight in the larger tanks.
At particular points along the route, visitors can rest and enjoy the spectacle of marine species moving behind the glass of the tanks, some of which cover up to 10 square metres. Visitors can learn about species behaviour and habitats interactively, using info-points with touch screens, and can tour the interior of the aquariums using the remote-control underwater cameras found in the larger tanks. A series of wall posters presents interesting and imaginative subjects relating to marine life and ecosystems.
Getting here
Getting to the Aquarium couldn't be easier. Visitors taking the National Road can travel from Heraklion to the aquarium premises in a distance of 15 km, following the clearly marked route and information signs.
Those preferring public transport can take the Cretan Intercity Bus Service, which runs regular services to the former American Base at Gournes every day throughout the year. 20 minutes' ride after leaving the bus station at the port in Heraklion, you'll arrive at CretAquarium. For further information call the Bus Service at 2810 246530.
Weather Conditions
What will the weather be like on the day you and your family plan to visit the aquarium? A glance at the Poseidon site is all you need to rest assured that the weather won't get in the way of your plans.
Contact Us
To best plan your visit, call us in advance on +30 2810 337888.
The CretAquarium building is part of the "THALASSOCOSMOS" complex, the largest research, technology and entertainment centre in the Mediterranean.
Thalassocosmos covers an area of 60 hectares in the northwest shoreward section of the former American Base at Gournes, Heraklion Prefecture. It includes the Central Building (approx. 5,500 m2), which houses research facilities for marine sciences such as Oceanography, Fisheries Biology, Marine Biology and Genetics, alongside the administrative and financial services of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Crete). Added to this is the Institute of Aquaculture building (approx. 3,500 m2) and CretAquarium (approx. 3.500 m2).
The CretAquarium building is situated about 100 m from a long sandy bathing beach.
CretAquarium Thalassocosmos, ,
Former U.S. Base at Gournes,
P.O. Box 2214, Heraklion 71003 Crete, Greece
Tel: + 302810 337788 Fax: +302810 337882
E-mail: thalassocosmos@cretaquarium.gr
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