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.
Runway Visitor Park
- Cost
- Free entry, paid parking
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Where
- Manchester, Greater Manchester
- Weather
- Mostly outdoors
- Booking
- Concorde tours sell out - book those ahead
Park at the end of Manchester Airport's runway and watch the heavy jets leave the ground close enough to feel it in your chest. Concorde sits by the fence, tourable on booked slots, and a play area fills the gaps between departures.
Free in, pay for parking. Aviation-minded children will stay all day; everyone else gets a solid couple of hours and a very good story.
Concorde is the reason to pay for a tour, and the classic tour takes you aboard; children get the cockpit story, adults get the champagne-age nostalgia, and everyone gets the photograph. Around it sit a Trident, a Nimrod and the DC-10 nose, with the viewing mounds close enough to the runway that departures rattle your coffee.
The park is free to enter and charges for parking, £6 for up to two hours, which sets the economics of a visit: two hours of big jets and a play on the aviation-themed playground, and the cafe means nobody has to leave at the wrong moment. Arrive on foot, by bike or by public transport and there is no charge at all. When the car park is full they turn cars away rather than letting them queue. Plane-spotting regulars treat it as a destination in itself, and on a clear evening it is easy to see why.
What it costs: Free to enter. Car and motorbike parking, card only: £6 up to 2 hours, £12 for 2 to 4 hours, £15 over 4 hours. Free for anyone arriving on foot, by bike or by public transport. Concorde tours are booked separately.
Know before you go
- If Concorde is the draw, check tour times before you set off - they book out in the holidays.
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What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.5 across 6,516 Google reviews.
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