Summer holiday survival kit: things to do with kids in Manchester

Play Factore is like a super-sized version of the traditional indoor play centre.

It’s enormous; crawling through tunnels, clambering through spider nets and zipping down slides is only the start of it. One of the highlights of the huge play frame is the big red slide – the biggest indoor slide in the UK. There is also a toddler area with mini slides, soft play and sensory lights for age-fives and under.

Manchester boat tours from £9pp.
Want to fall in love with your city all over again? Take a boat tour from Manchester River Cruises, and you’ll see its iconic views from a new and surprising perspective.

The ultimate rainy day activity (and Manchester certainly has its wealth of those), Escape Hunt at the Corn Exchange places you in a locked room for 60 minutes for fun.

This indoor inflatable playground is an excellent way to tire out hyperactive kids on a rainy day and for that we thank them. The other fab thing about it is that adults are welcome too. Inflata Nation Manchester believes all ages can have fun bounding around and burrowing through ball pools. We can’t disagree.

Cockfields Farm Park, in the countryside between Oldham and Ashton-under-Lyne, is a young child’s idea of the perfect day out.

Tatton Park is a historic estate on the edge of Knutsford, home to an opulent neo-classical mansion, landscaped gardens, a farm, a huge deer park and a medieval Old Hall.

If you’ve never known the joy of flying over a lake on a rope swing and daring yourself to let go, get it on your bucket list, and then get yourself over to Wild Shore Delamere to tick it off.

It’s no secret that Manchester city centre is short on decent parks. The opening of Mayfield Park in September 2022 goes some way to fixing that with its 6.5 acres of lawns, playgrounds, pathways and live events area.

Step inside the restored nineteenth-century Ashton Canal Warehouse in Ashton-under-Lyne and you’ll find the Portland Basin Museum. With exciting, accessible exhibitions, it’s a great place to learn about the people, history and places that have shaped Tameside’s past.

Ordsall Hall is a piece of Tudor history just a short walk from the contemporary comings and goings of Salford Quays. Please note: it’s closed on Bank Holiday Monday.

Flagship arts venue The Lowry was at the heart of 1990s’ plans to breathe new life back into Salford Quays. Now in its third decade, it’s maintained its reputation as one of Greater Manchester’s top visitor attractions thanks to a lively, ever-evolving programme of art, music, theatre, comedy and more.

Manchester Museum reopens on 18 February 2023 following a £15m transformation to make it more inclusive and more imaginative in how it tells its stories.

If you’re looking for a fun way to get outside and get active, try Treetop Trek Manchester at Heaton Park. It’s a chance to feel the breeze on your face and face your fears on a high-rope aerial adventure in the woods.

As the name suggests, TenPin Manchester – Printworks is a bowling alley in the Printworks. It’s family-friendly by day and over-18s only after 9pm.

If you don’t want to stay in – or on – your lane, you can also try out beer pong, karaoke, air hockey, arcade games, American pool and table tennis. It’s decent value for a wide range of entertainment.

Dunham Massey is one of the National Trust’s top 10 most visited properties, bringing in 439,000 people in 2020/21. We reckon at least 80% of them were Mancunians escaping the city for their nearest bucolic country park.

Jodrell Bank is a landmark. On a clear day, you can see its Lovell Telescope from the top of almost any hill in the region. It’s also a landmark research institute at the forefront of modern astrophysics. And it’s a lovely day out.

Bolton Museum is much more than just your standard local history-focused collection. Because of its links with the cotton trade, this unassuming town has an internationally recognised collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts.

Legoland Discovery Centre is Manchester’s ultimate Lego playground. If your children like building and creating with those brightly coloured blocks, then they will love it. There are evening sessions for adults available too so serious Lego architects can geek out undisturbed, otherwise adults (15+) must be accompanied by a child to visit.

Manchester Academy of Gymnastics offers gymnastics to adults and children, boxing for anyone over ten, and parkour.

Ian Brown, take note. Reddish Vale Farm, on the Stockport side of Manchester, has everything you could want to keep little ones entertained, including a beach.

TeamSport Go Karting: Manchester Victoria is a high-octane experience that’ll turn even the mildest contestant into a speed demon.

TeamSport Go Karting: Trafford Park has 450 metres of adrenaline-fuelled GP circuit and a new fleet of Biz Evo3 adult karts so you can whizz round at speeds of up to 40mph.

Lane 7 Deansgate has bowling lanes as well as more than seven other things to do while you’re there and that doesn’t even include drinking a gin cocktail in a stein. Obviously, that’s just a given.

As well as bowling, there is fancy-pants bowling with neon zig zags. A bit of a cross between a new restaurant opening and Blade Runner. All the bowling is pretty sleek and shiny though with the standard graffiti décor.

Non-bowling entertainment includes just about everything that could possibly be construed as competitive with the exception of tiddlywinks.

Knowsley Safari is an exciting day out for all animal-lovers – not just for kids. Who wouldn’t want to watch their car’s windscreen wipers being expertly deconstructed by some cheeky little baboons?

Fletcher Moss has four outdoor, floodlit clay tennis courts which are open to everyone and accessibly priced.

The Pankhurst Centre is the former home of Emmeline Pankhurst and her family. Open to the public on Thursday and Sundays, it’s now a museum dedicated to the story of the fight for women’s right to vote.

Where else but footy-mad Manchester to house the National Museum of the UK’s favourite sport? Explore the history of the beautiful game inside the unusual-looking Urbis building next to Manchester Victoria train station.

Urban Playground Manchester is the place to go for an adrenaline-fuelled, ultra-competitive night out. Located in Manchester Arndale, it brings together high-tech games with bars and big-name dining from gourmet burger brand The Butcher.

If you’re craving greenery but don’t want to stray too far out of the city, Heaton Park, on the Manchester-Bury border, is one of your best options.

Sea Life Manchester is the city’s only aquarium. It isn’t enormous – for something bigger you’d have to travel to Blue Planet in Ellesmere Port – but there is plenty to keep the kids entertained for an afternoon.

Quarry Bank Mill makes a change from the stately homes in pretty gardens National Trust blueprint. It’s an industrial gem but you’ll still find picturesque riverside gardens, woodland and rolling countryside.

The People’s History Museum tells the story of the development of democracy in Britain. It’s the only museum in the UK that focuses on the revolutionaries, reformers, workers, voters, and citizens who believed in ideas worth fighting for, like equality, social justice and co-operation.

This man-made lake used to be a field full of cows until the owners diversified their business model from dairy farming into water sports. Manley Mere is now home to an adventure trail, aqua park, cafe, and sailing centre. Sounds like they made the right decision.

Much like the once mighty industrial power of the North, Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum has shrunk noticeably over the years. But it’s still well worth a visit.

Catch the Hope Valley line train from Piccadilly to this picturesque Peak District village for a dip in Hathersage Swimming Pool, a heated lido built in the 1930s.

Even if it’s not a match day, there’s plenty happening at the iconic Old Trafford stadium. The best way to experience it (aside from watching a game, of course) is to go on the behind-the-scenes Manchester United Museum and Stadium Tour.

Junkyard Golf is Manchester’s original crazy crazy golf. There are imitators and imposters but this was the city’s first day-glo, booze-fuelled, loud, throbbing take on the traditional seaside game for kids.

Paradise Skate World is a cosmic-themed roller skating bar for grown-ups (and teenagers at certain times of the day). It’s not a professional roller rink, more a place to have fun, although the 4500 sq ft wood-sprung rink is rather lovely. Think galactic backdrops and light-up wheels with some cocktails and snacks thrown in for good measure.

Even if you’re not a Blue you can’t help but be impressed with the scale of the Etihad Stadium in this regenerated area of East Manchester.

Kickair, an “indoor freestyle park” behind Victoria Station, is the kind of place that fills kids (and big kids) with glee. 

Any art lover’s trip to Manchester would not be complete without a morning or afternoon spent gazing at the walls (and wallpaper collections) of The Whitworth.

Gallery Oldham in the town’s Cultural Quarter features artworks and items from Oldham’s diverse collections alongside newly commissioned art, international work, touring exhibitions and work produced with local communities.

Stockport Air Raid Shelters were the largest purpose built air-raid shelters in the country, originally designed to provide shelter to 3850 people, they were extended during the Second World War to accommodate as many as 6500.

The six, resurfaced floodlit tennis courts at Wythenshawe Park have just been repainted ready for summer 2023. Anyone can book to play here, with hourly rates ranging from free to £4.

DNA VR is a virtual reality arcade with three different gameplay options. You can communicate with your friends through the VR headsets as you play and it’s all private. You play with your friends, not some randoms. Everything is overseen by your own VR wizard so you don’t succumb to the zombie apocalypse too quickly.

MeetspaceVR Manchester is a virtual reality, immersive experience in a huge warehouse at Trafford Park. It’s a place where you can leave the real world behind and choose your own adventure from a range of thrilling games and set-ups.

The East Lancashire Railway has a long and rich heritage, stretching all the way back to when the first trains steamed into Bury in the 1840s.

With 180m of downhill skiing and snowboarding, Chill Factore is the UK’s longest indoor real snow slope. And though you can’t compare it to the glistening slopes of Chamonix, it offers enough action to make a day trip there a must for anyone interested in snowsports (or just larking about on a sledge).

Put down those phones, switch off your screens, and, er, stand in front of another one . . .  but this time in your own personal gamebox at Immersive Gamebox in Manchester Arndale.

Total Ninja is part bouncy-castle on steroids, part warrior training ground. The venue is mainly divided into two parts: an inflatable park and a so-called Ninja Academy, both of which are included in the entry price. There is also a free toddler area for under 4s.

Alderford Lake is the perfect summer day out. It’s an idyllic location but you won’t be able to sit still and enjoy the birdsong or take in the view; there’s far too much going on.

Lyme Park is a huge estate with a Medieval herd of red deer, stunning views and a handsome Regency house.

Now a National Trust property, Lyme Park has something for visitors of all ages. Jane Austen fans may know it best as Pemberley, the home of Mr Darcy, where he emerges dripping wet from the lake in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

Another Place, Crosby, by sculptor Antony Gormley consists of 100 cast-iron figures gazing wordlessly out to sea from the beach.