Museums & science in Carlisle

About £43 gets a family of four into Carlisle Castle, a working border fortress for 900 years and not a fairytale one. Expect a squat red keep, prisoners' carvings scratched into the stone and ramparts to walk, free if you have English Heritage membership.

Tullie is the cheaper day and mid-transformation with it: £8.50 an adult, under-18s free, £16 for an annual pass. Solway Aviation Museum, out on the edge of Carlisle Airport, is volunteer-run and built round a Vulcan bomber, £8 an adult, £5 for a six to sixteen year old and £20 for a family, with Cold War aircraft you climb inside.

Museums & science in Carlisle

Solway Aviation Museum

Carlisle~0 min

★★★★★4.8(241)

A genuine Avro Vulcan and a line of Cold War aircraft parked on the apron at Carlisle Airport, with volunteers who open them up and let children climb inside. Canberra, Sea Prince and Trident stay open all year.

Adults £8, kids £5, family £20Late March to 1 November, days vary by seasonAges 4-11

Tullie

Carlisle~1 hr 50 min

★★★★★4.6(1,179)

Carlisle's museum, plain Tullie since the rebrand, mid-transformation and all the better for it: under-18s go free, the adult ticket is £8.50, and £16 buys an annual pass. New galleries opened in 2025, though some of the old favourites are shut for the next phase.

Adults £8.50, kids freeIndoorsAges 2-11

Carlisle Castle

Carlisle~1 hr 50 min

★★★★☆4.4(4,723)

A working border fortress for 900 years, not a fairytale castle: a squat red keep full of prisoners' carvings, ramparts to walk and a military museum inside the walls. English Heritage, so members go free and everyone else should book online for the discount.

About £43 for a family of fourAges 4-11

Museums & science elsewhere in the North West

World of Glass

St HelensIn town

★★★★★4.6(956)

Free, indoors and better than it sounds: interactive science aimed at younger children, glassblowing demos, a picnic area and a small playground outside.

Free museumIndoorsAges 5-11

World Museum, Liverpool

Liverpool~30 min

★★★★★4.6(16,054)

Five floors, free, and it covers three things small children reliably love: giant dinosaurs, an aquarium and a space gallery. The best wet-weather day within half an hour.

Free entryIndoorsAges 4-11

Catalyst Science Centre

Widnes~20 min

★★★★☆4.4(1,125)

Hands-on science galleries and a glass rooftop observatory over the Mersey. Small, cheap, indoors and close.

Low entryIndoorsAges 5-11

Science and Industry Museum

Manchester~30 min

★★★★☆4.4(20,615)

Working steam engines, the story of Cottonopolis, and hands-on galleries in the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station. Free, and the live demonstrations are the bit kids actually remember.

Free entryIndoorsAges 4-11

Manchester Museum

Manchester~30 min

★★★★★4.7(10,653)

A T. rex skeleton cast, live frogs in the vivarium, Egyptian mummies and a genuinely good natural history floor. Free, university-run, and less overwhelming than the big London equivalents.

Free entryIndoorsAges 4-11

National Football Museum

Manchester~30 min

★★★★☆4.3(7,724)

Shirts, trophies and match footage across six floors, with penalty shootout and skills games that football-mad kids refuse to leave. If yours do not care about football, skip it - it is exactly what it says.

TicketedIndoorsAges 6-11