Boggart Hole Clough
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.
Days out with the kids in Manchester
35 places in Manchester, Greater Manchester, 15 of which cost nothing. Everything below is within easy reach if you live locally.
35 in Manchester15 free26 indoor
Manchester's great trick is that the best of it is free. The Science and Industry Museum and Manchester Museum sit within a tram ride of each other, and between working steam engines, a T. rex cast and live frogs in the vivarium you can fill a wet week without spending anything beyond lunch. Heaton Park is one of the biggest municipal parks in Europe, with a free animal centre and a boating lake, and Wythenshawe Park has a proper community farm - pigs, goats, horses - for nothing at all.
When it rains, and it will, the museums absorb the worst of it, with Treetop Adventure Golf and Depot Climbing as the paid backups. The National Football Museum is superb if yours care about football and pointless if they do not. Locals know about Runway Visitor Park: jets close enough to feel, Concorde parked by the fence, a play area for the waits between planes. Days out in Manchester with kids run far cheaper than the city's reputation suggests.
Places in Manchester
Chorlton Water Park
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.
Fletcher Moss Park and Botanical Gardens
Didsbury's garden park: a rockery on a slope, the Parsonage Gardens, meadows and a path down to the Mersey. Free, open dawn to dusk, and better for a pootle than a play.
Heaton Park
One of the biggest municipal parks in Europe: a free animal centre, a boating lake, playgrounds and enough space to lose a whole day in. You will not do all of it in one visit.
John Rylands Research Institute and Library
A neo-Gothic library from 1900 on Deansgate that looks like a cathedral built for books. Free, no booking, and a genuine wow for about 45 minutes. Open Wednesday to Saturday only.
Manchester Art Gallery
Free, right in the city centre, and properly set up for children: the Lion's Den family gallery has its own play space and the family activity programme costs nothing. Closed Mondays.
Manchester Central Library
The big library on St Peter's Square has a jungle-themed children's library, refurbished in 2021, with board books to older fiction, a nursing room and a cafe in the building. Free, and open until 8pm Monday to Thursday.
Manchester Museum
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.
Mayfield Park
Manchester's first new city park in over 100 years, next to Piccadilly station, with a play yard of six slides built around the uncovered River Medlock. Free, open 5am to 9pm, with accessible toilets and baby change by the play area.
People's History Museum
The national museum of democracy, on the corner of Left Bank and Bridge Street, with galleries of protest banners, badges and votes-for-women history plus free drop-in family activities that change with the season. Free, and closed on Tuesdays.
Platt Fields Park
Fallowfield's big Victorian park: a lake with a boathouse, play areas, a skatepark and BMX track, and enough flat grass to wear anyone out. Free, and better than its student-land reputation suggests.
Runway Visitor Park
Watch jets take off close enough to feel them, with Concorde parked by the fence. Free in, pay for parking, and there is a play area and cafe for the wait between planes.
Science and Industry Museum
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.
The Whitworth
A free gallery on the edge of Whitworth Park, with a cafe among the trees and a surprisingly full calendar of free under-fives days, baby sessions and outdoor art clubs. Closed Mondays.
Wythenshawe Park & Community Farm
A big south Manchester park with a proper community farm - pigs, goats, horses - a Tudor hall, and enough playground to earn the trip on its own. All free.
Manchester Aquatics Centre
A Commonwealth-standard pool run as a public leisure centre, with a shallow family pool, a diving pool with a family splash area, an interactive splash pad and Aqua Splash inflatable sessions. Juniors £4.05 pay as you go, under-fives free.
Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester
A 1930s bus garage in Cheetham packed with around 70 historic buses, run by volunteers who know every rivet. Under 16s go free with an adult, so a family visit costs one or two £7.50 tickets. Only open Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays.
Rock Over Climbing Manchester Central
A big bouldering centre by Victoria station with over 300 problems. Children climb for £9, but unless a parent is already a registered climber your first visit has to be a booked family introduction.
Tenpin Manchester Parrs Wood
26 lanes at Parrs Wood with bumpers and ramps, plus laser tag, Prison Putt mini golf, escape rooms and an arcade. Bowling from £9.95 a game online, half price on Tuesdays, and free parking.
Wacky Warehouse at Barlow Croft
A pub soft play at Parrs Wood: slides, tunnels, ball pools and a separate tots area, £6 a child, adults free and free parking. Not glamorous, but cheap, easy and next to a coffee.
Depot Climbing Manchester
A serious bouldering gym in Trafford Park with a proper kids' programme: coached hour-long sessions for £11 including shoes, classes from age 4, and a parent-led play session for under-5s. No ropes, no harnesses, just deep mats.
Flip Out Manchester
A big trampoline and adventure park in east Manchester with a soft play, a ninja course and £2 go-kart rides. Toddler Time is the bargain; a full-price weekend hour for a family of four is not.
Head Over Heels Chorlton
A big indoor centre on a Chorlton trading estate: a gated area for nought to threes, a space themed sensory room with bubble tubes, a role play castle and village, an LED disco room, a music zone and a sports court.
KICKair Manchester
A trampoline and ninja park on the edge of the city centre with its own soft play for under-5s and, unusually for town, a free car park. Grip socks are compulsory and cost £3.
Museum of Illusions Manchester
More than 60 hands-on illusions on Market Street, from the Infinity Room to the Cloning Table, made for daft photos. £25.50 an adult and £21.50 a child, under 5s free, and prams are not allowed in.
National Football Museum
Shirts, trophies and match footage across four gallery floors, with a 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.
The Crystal Maze LIVE Experience
The nineties TV show rebuilt for real: around 75 minutes of physical, mental, skill and mystery games across four themed zones, ending in the crystal dome. Brilliant from about nine up, but it is strictly 9+ and the adults have to play too.
Treetop Adventure Golf
Two indoor jungle-themed mini golf courses inside the Printworks, plus a bonus 19th hole that can win you a free round. The easiest wet-weather hour in the city centre, if not the cheapest.
Zip World Manchester
Treetop nets, high ropes and forest tubing in the woods of Heaton Park, and it is outdoors, not indoors. The cheap one is Treetot Nets: an hour bouncing on nets in the trees for ages 1 to 5, from £5, with a grown-up joining in.
Aviva Studios (Factory International)
Manchester's huge arts venue on Water Street does free craft drop-ins in the half terms and a big family draw at Christmas, this year a life-size dinosaur Lightroom show. Free to walk into, with food and drink inside.
Immersive Gamebox, Manchester Arndale
Private projection game rooms in the Arndale for up to six players. Paw Patrol suits three-year-olds, Angry Birds suits fives and up, and most games are 8+. Prices only show in the booking system.
National Cycling Centre
The velodrome and indoor BMX arena at the Etihad Campus runs coached sessions for children from balance bikes at age 2 to BMX and track riding, plus school holiday camps. Bikes and helmets provided.
Opera House Manchester
Manchester's big touring house, which first opened on Boxing Day 1912. Families get the city-centre panto plus a string of big-name children's shows in the half terms, from The Dinosaur That Pooped to Horrible Histories.
TeamSport Go Karting Manchester Victoria
A multi-level electric kart track underneath the Manchester Arena car park, with a flyover and 15 corners. For 8-year-olds who fit the karts, and free for everyone else to watch.
Z-arts
The UK's only arts centre run entirely for children, in Hulme. Come for a booked show or an Adventures in Wonderland session rather than a wander: this is a plan-ahead venue, and a very good one.
What’s on in Manchester
67 dated events coming up, 3 of them this weekend.
Secret Society skeleton activity at People's History Museum
People's History Museum, Manchester
until 30 Nov. Daily except Tuesdays, museum opening hours
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.
Written by us
Silly and Spooky Sill-Haunters (October half term) (opens in a new tab)
Elizabeth Gaskell's House, 84 Plymouth Grove · Manchester
until 1 Nov. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 25 October to 1 November, 11am to 4.30pm
Half term at Elizabeth Gaskell's House: a Cranford the Cat trail and a spooky sill haunter craft, free for under 16s with a paying adult. Open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday only, and you need to book.
Written by us
Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) Sunday Funday (opens on Manchester Libraries (Library Live))
Performance Space · Manchester
1 Nov. Sunday 1 November, 12pm
Join us and Colibri Mexican Folkdance for a vibrant celebration of life, love, and remembrance!
Listed by Manchester Libraries (Library Live) · collected 1 Nov
Baby Book Club (opens on Z-arts, Manchester)
Z-arts · Manchester
3 Nov to 1 Dec. Every Tuesday, 10.30am
Runs on 5 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Listed by Z-arts, Manchester · collected 1 Nov
Play & Make (opens on Z-arts, Manchester)
Z-arts · Manchester
3 Nov to 1 Dec. Every Tuesday, 4.15pm
Runs on 5 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Listed by Z-arts, Manchester · collected 1 Nov
Z-arts Kids' Council (opens on Z-arts, Manchester)
Z-arts · Manchester
3 Nov to 1 Dec. Every Tuesday, 4.15pm
Runs on 5 dates. Times, prices and tickets are on the organiser's own page.
Listed by Z-arts, Manchester · collected 1 Nov
Everything on in Manchester61 more not shown here
Also worth the drive
Not in Manchester, but close enough for a day out.
Pennington Flash
A big lake with easy flat paths, bird hides and a decent play area. Free, close, and a good one for scooters and a picnic.
Imperial War Museum North
War told through people's stories in a building designed to feel like a shattered globe. The hourly Big Picture Show projections fill the whole gallery and stop everyone mid-step. Heavy themes, handled well, and better for the top end of primary.
RHS Garden Bridgewater
One of the biggest garden projects in Europe, and more fun for kids than a flower garden has any right to be: a huge walled kitchen garden, lake walks, and space to run that feels endless.
Legoland Discovery Centre
Two rides, a 4D cinema, build zones and Manchester's skyline done in miniature bricks. Squarely aimed at 3 to 10, and it knows it: adults can only visit with a child.
Sea Life Manchester
Ocean tunnel, rays, seahorses and rockpool touch sessions, sized for smaller legs - you can do the whole thing in a morning and pair it with Legoland next door.
The Snow Centre Manchester
Real snow all year round at the venue Manchester still calls Chill Factore. Over-fours get the Snow Park with sledging, Downhill Donuts and an ice slide at weekends and in the school holidays; older kids can learn to ski or board on the UK's longest indoor real snow slope.
Play Factore
Home to what it bills as the UK's largest indoor play frame, with laser tag, ValoJump trampolines, a racing simulator and a zip wire that crosses the entire building. Older primary kids do not age out of this one.
Dunham Massey
A Georgian house in a deer park where the fallow deer wander right past you, with one of the UK's largest winter gardens for the cold months. The house shuts for the winter after 1 November; the park and gardens stay open.
What’s on near you, every Friday
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.