Dino Falls Adventure Golf
Two 18-hole mini golf courses threaded through life-sized dinosaurs next to the Trafford Golf Centre driving range. A family of four plays for £32, and the second course is half price on the same day.
Days out with the kids in Trafford
10 places in Trafford, Greater Manchester. Everything below is within easy reach if you live locally.
10 in Trafford8 indoor
Trafford is where the indoor big-hitters cluster. Around the Trafford Centre you can bounce the aerial nets at Zip World for about a fiver a head - the cheapest big-name activity going - then pick from Legoland Discovery Centre, Sea Life, real snow at the venue everyone still calls Chill Factore, iFly's wind tunnel and Inflata Nation. Play Factore is one of Europe's biggest soft play arenas, with a zip wire crossing the whole building, and older primary kids do not age out of it.
The catch is cost: almost everything here is a paid day, so book online and go off-peak where you can. The exceptions are worth knowing about. Dunham Massey's fallow deer walk right past you in the park, and this summer's Play Hub adds den building and giant games. The Man United Stadium Tour is the pilgrimage for the football-obsessed. Rain is irrelevant in this borough, which is more or less why it exists.
Places in Trafford
Zip World Manchester
The cheapest real activity anyone is recommending this summer, and it's indoors. An hour of play for a fiver a head, with picnic benches for when you need to sit down.
Dunham Massey
A Georgian house in a deer park where the fallow deer wander right past you. This summer's Play Hub adds giant games and den building in the North Park, and the winter garden is the area's best cold-day walk.
iFLY Indoor Skydiving Manchester
Freefall in a glass wind tunnel, no plane required. Kids can fly from age 3, and a first-timer package buys two instructor-held flights of just under a minute each. Short, expensive and unforgettable, roughly in that order.
Inflata Nation Inflatable Theme Park Manchester
A warehouse of connected inflatables in Trafford Park: drop slides, an assault course, a climbing wall and a separate toddler zone. Louder and bouncier than soft play, and priced accordingly.
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.
Manchester United Museum & Stadium Tour
The full Old Trafford works: three floors of museum, then the players' tunnel, both dressing rooms and the dugouts on a 70 minute guided tour. Plan around the fixture list, because it all shuts on home match days.
Play Factore
One of the biggest soft play arenas in Europe: a vast frame, go-karts, laser tag and a zip wire that crosses the entire building. Older primary kids do not age out of this one.
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. Little ones get the Snow Park with sledging and slides; older kids can learn to ski or board on the UK's longest indoor slope.
What’s on in Trafford
1 dated event coming up, 1 of them this weekend.
Summer of Play at Dunham Massey
Dunham Massey, Altrincham · Trafford
until 7 Sept. Daily until 7 September
The North Park becomes a Play Hub with giant deckchairs, den building, log piles and lawn games, plus Pokemon play zones this year. Runs right through to the first week of September.
Written by us
Also worth the drive
Not in Trafford, 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.
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.
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.
National Football Museum
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.
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 - 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.
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.
Heaton Park
One of the biggest municipal parks in Europe: a free animal centre, boating lake, adventure playgrounds and an actual vintage tram running on summer days. You will not do all of it in one visit.