155 places across Greater Manchester, 69 of which cost nothing. Every one written up honestly, with dated events from the venues that run them.
Greater Manchester splits neatly into two economies. The free one is genuinely good: the Science and Industry Museum, Manchester Museum's dinosaurs and vivarium, Imperial War Museum North, and Heaton Park, which is vast enough to swallow a whole afternoon. The paid one clusters around the Trafford Centre, where Legoland Discovery Centre, Sea Life and Play Factore sit within a few minutes of each other and will happily empty a wallet before lunch.
That Trafford cluster is the rainy-day insurance, and rain is a consideration here, but book online because walk-up prices are worse and school holidays get busy. If the weather holds, the East Lancashire Railway from Bury is the day we recommend most to visitors, and Hollingworth Lake or Burrs Country Park cost nothing. Days out in Greater Manchester rarely need a long drive; the tram does half of them.
227 dated events coming up across the county.
A free exhibition at Lowry built round picture books like Elmer and Dear Zoo, with play areas for under 7s. It closes on 1 November, so half term is the last chance. Free, but book a timed slot.
Halloween build challenges, glow in the dark brick workshops and the Great Monster Chase 4D film back in the cinema. The toilets there are shut for a refit until 22 October and the nearest ones are on floor 4 of the Trafford Palazzo, which is better known before than during.
A trail round the tanks helping the Sea Witches and Warlocks protect the creatures, with characters, photo spots and a small pumpkin patch, all in a normal ticket. Under 2s free. The Cursed Depths nights on 30 and 31 October and 1 November are the after hours, scarier version and a separate thing.
A free, low-key Halloween-season job for 5 to 12s: pick up a sheet at the welcome desk and make a skeleton mask inspired by a mysterious painting in Gallery One. Runs through half term and all of November.
Radcliffe Library's Monday rhyme time carries on at New Life Church, 10.30am in term time, while the library is closed for its move into the new Radcliffe Hub. Cost is not stated on the council page.
Free drop-in storytelling for 2 to 5s at Bolton libraries, running through school holidays. Bolton Central is Wednesdays and Fridays at 11am; Farnworth, Horwich, Westhoughton and others have their own weekly slot.
Everything on221 more not shown here
Twelve to start with. Each area above has the full list.
Oldham's Victorian showpiece, 72 acres built by out-of-work cotton spinners. Lake, duck pond, cafe on the water, seven free tennis courts and a playground with a proper accessible section.
A Green Flag nature reserve wrapped round an old reservoir at Walkden, with a permanent orienteering course that turns a lap of the lake into a treasure hunt. No playground, no cafe, nothing to pay.
North Manchester's wild park: ancient wooded valleys, a lake with a lakeside cafe and a children's play area. And a name no child can resist.
A free town museum hiding one of Britain's best Egyptian collections, including a full recreation of Thutmose III's tomb, plus an aquarium in the basement. Genuinely free, genuinely good.
A black and white Tudor manor house sitting in around 60 acres of parkland with woods, brooks and lakes. The park costs nothing, under 16s go into the hall free, and all-day parking is £4.
Stockport's big council park in Cheadle, with a fully accessible playground, a free BMX race track and an 18-hole pitch and putt at £6.50 for juniors. Free to visit, but the car park is pay and display.
Salford's largest and most popular park, a listed Victorian landscape off Eccles Old Road with a children's play area, tennis courts, a games area and room for picnics. Free, open round the clock to walkers, and the venue for the quieter Little Sparks fireworks on 31 October.
Riverside country park on the Irwell with a playground, old mill remains and its own East Lancashire Railway station, so a heritage steam train can be part of the day rather than the whole of it.
The Chadderton park with the cafe, and therefore the toilets. Play area with a sand pit and accessible swings, free tennis, a river walk and ornamental gardens, all on a flat site with parking.
A flat mile around a lake, swans included, plus a genuinely good playground with a zip line, sand play and sensory equipment. Free entry, free parking, and south Manchester knows it, so go early on sunny days.
Twenty hectares, the biggest park in the borough, and the one Bury has actually spent money on: a concrete skate park went in for 180,000 pounds, and there is a playground, tennis, a cafe and a boating lido.
48 hectares on the River Irwell with a lake, a play area, a climbing boulder and a cafe open every day. Trails are marked for distance and for accessibility, so you know before you set off with a buggy.
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.