National Waterways Museum
A real working dock kept as a museum: historic narrowboats, locks, indoor galleries, boat trips and a waterways playground. Under 6s free, and the annual pass costs less than two visits.
Blue Planet Aquarium
Ellesmere Port, Cheshire
One of the UK's bigger aquariums, with a moving-walkway tunnel where sharks glide overhead - the moment every child remembers. Rays, otters, piranhas and dive shows fill the rest.
Everything is under cover, which makes it the region's most dependable washout-day big hitter. Go round the tunnel twice; nobody minds.
Know before you go
- The shark tunnel moving walkway is the moment - go round twice, nobody minds.
Looking for more water & swimming near Ellesmere Port?
Also in Ellesmere Port
Whitby Park
Ellesmere Port's main park: two play areas, a skatepark, tennis courts, formal gardens and a fish pond, with Theatre Porto in the old hall. Free, with free parking off Stanney Lane.