The bad weather doesn’t have to spoil the fun
King Pins inside Manchester Arndale(Image: King Pins)
We all know Manchester gets more than its fair share of rain, but the wet weather doesn’t stop play.
There are loads of places that make for a great family day out across the region – and they don’t all have to cost a fortune.
With the cold and wet months ahead of us, we’ve been putting together a list of places to go where families can have some fun and stay dry.
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Here’s our full round-up of rainy day events and things to do in and around Greater Manchester…
Adventures in Wonderland, Z-arts
Families can tumble down the Rabbit Hole to experience their own magical Adventures in Wonderland at Z-arts.
Created in partnership with Macmillan Children’s Books and running until December 2025, the immersive play experience celebrates the 160th anniversary of one of the most loved children’s books of all time, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Stepping into the shoes of Alice, children will find things in Wonderland become ‘curiouser and curiouser’. Greeting you as your storyteller is the White Rabbit, and from the shape shifting Cheshire Cat to a game of croquet with flamingos, there are scenes that will be familiar, including the chance to take your place at the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
Tunnels to crawl through, mazes to get lost in, fairground mirrors to amuse and a ball pool to ‘splash’ into, plus interactive games and sensory areas, all ‘bring Lewis Carroll’s fantastical world to life’.
The Z-arts’ café, Butties and Books, also serves up tea party themed food and of course jam tarts.
Tickets cost £12 (plus 60p booking fee), with a family ticket for four priced at £40 (plus £2.40 booking fee). Book on the website here.
Adventures in Wonderland at Z-arts(Image: Abbie Jennings/Z-arts)Inflata Nation
If you’re looking for somewhere the kids can burn off some steam, then Inflata Nation is a great option.
Last year the indoor inflatable park underwent a makeover to add brand new features and a huge new ball pit with more than 400,000 balls.
As well as the supersize ball pit, it features other new attractions including new spiralling slides, climbing walls, games and obstacle courses. The dedicated under fours area also had a refurb for younger children to enjoy.
Tickets cost £13.99 for anyone four and above and £6.99 for under fours. You can add an extra hour for £8.50 and £3.50 respectively. Book on the website here.
GMP Museum
Greater Manchester Police Museum has been recognised twice by Visit England as being a ‘hidden gem’.
Founded in 1981, the GMP Police Museum is itself located in a former police station and hosts regular open days during school holidays on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
It collects and preserves relevant archive material and acts as an important resource for community engagement.
Open days run from 10.30am to 3.30pm and focus on different units within the police force from the North West Underwater Search and Recovery Unit to the Tactical Dog Unit and the North West Ambulance Service. Private tours can also be arranged.
GMP MuseumTrafford Centre
If it’s indoor fun you’re after then you can’t go wrong with the Trafford Centre.
Whether you’re heading there to catch a film at Odeon Cinema, or fancy your chances at some indoor golf at Paradise Island, there’s plenty to keep kids of all ages happy.
Namco Funscape features bowling, more than 100 arcade games, dodgems and more, and there’s also a Laser Quest for players to ‘navigate through a maze of dynamic obstacles and engage in heart-pounding laser tag missions’.
For more details, visit the website.
Paradise Island Adventure Golf, Trafford Centre(Image: Manchester Evening News)Manchester Museum
The museum attracts visitors of all ages and there’s even more reason to visit this autumn.
This month, visitors to Manchester Museum will have the chance to see one of the most famous pre-historic beasts up close as part of a new exhibition.
Manchester Museum’s ‘Triceratops: Eat, Roam, Repeat’, opens this October, and will bring visitors face-to-face with a magnificent, fossilised Triceratops skull, as part of a fun, family-friendly experience. It will also reveal how this three-horned giant lived, what it ate and how it survived battles with predators like the mighty T-Rex.
Free to enter, Triceratops: Eat, Roam, Repeat will opens on Saturday, October 25 and will run until February 2026.
Of course visitors will also delight at seeing Stan the T-Rex, the museum’s resident dinosaur, and checking out the Vivarium, a collection of live amphibians and reptiles, including many critically endangered species. The museum is completely free to visit and there’s a cafe too.
The exhibition begins with a glimpse into the Cretaceous world that Triceratops once inhabited, evoking the sights, sounds and creatures of the time(Image: Manchester Museum )Chaos Karts
The UK’s first live action video game karting experience is right here in Manchester, inside the Arcade Arena next to the Science and Industry Museum.
Chaos Karts combines real-life racing with augmented reality and makes it feel as if you’re inside a game of Mario Kart.
Each player has their own kart and, just like Mario, you get to pick your own avatar and even the colour of your vehicle. The players are real, the karts are real and the racing experience is real – you whizz around an actual track. But the track changes each time, as it’s projected onto the floor along with the rest of the landscape that surrounds you.
You use the buttons on your dashboard to fire forwards or backwards, dodging virtual obstacles like splattered eggs as you go.
Drivers have to be a minimum age of 11 and be at least 5ft tall (1.5m) to take part. Chaos Karts tickets cost £26.50 and can be booked online on the website. Guests who aren’t playing can book a free companion ticket online.
Chaos Karts(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)Pac-Man Live Experience
Also inside the Arcade Arena is the new Pac-Man Live Experience, which opened at the site earlier this year using the entire floor space that hosts those Mario tracks.
This interactive, immersive experience lets you take on the identity of Pac-Man himself and again drops you into a real-life video game where you are chased by ghosts.
You have your very own ‘Pac Master’ to oversee proceedings and tell you what game is coming next – reminding those whose vest becomes a ghost to take a breather as players take it in turns to take short breaks from the action.
Two separate teams of eight play separately on either side of the room and the goal is to beat your opponents by running around and collecting power pellets and fruit while desperately trying to avoid those pesky ghosts, Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde.
Pac-Man Live is suitable for anyone aged eight and above. It is a physical experience so you are on your feet for the duration.
Tickets start from £22 each, with a discount applied for family bookings. Tickets can be booked here.
Total Ninja, Trafford Park
Another place the kids can burn off some energy is at Total Ninja which offers activities for all ages.
The park tests your Ninja skills while climbing, balancing and swinging across obstacles or bouncing across their inflatable – plus find out if you have what it takes to beat the wall.
Ninjas can ‘find their inner calm’ on Balance Logs, or sail through the Sea of Swings with more than 25 challenges to suit all ages and abilities.
There’s a cafe for parents who’d rather keep watch. Visit the website to book.
Science and Industry Museum
The Science and Industry Museum is always a popular day out with families and will be attracting more crowds now that its iconic Power Hall is reopening on October 17.
Visitors will be able to explore working steam engines, some of which are running for the first time in almost a decade.
But there’s lots more to see and do at the museum, including the chance to see the blockbuster exhibition Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You, which is running until January 4, 2026.
A second collaboration with the hit BBC show, it features the show’s presenters Dr Xand and Dr Ronx as virtual guides for visitors, who get to become tiny brain explorers – setting out to investigate Dr Chris’ senses before being sneezed out of his giant nose.
From poking around inside a giant eyeball and journeying through an ear canal covered in gooey wax, to being sneezed out through sticky snot, there’s nothing kids won’t love about the new exhibition.
Mini medics are invited to explore their own brilliant brains by banging on an eardrum, venturing into a massive eyeball and even taking a whiff of a ‘smell library’ during what promises to be ‘a lively, interactive and playful adventure’.
Tickets are priced at £10, with children three and under going free. To find out more and book your tickets, visit the website here.
Visitors can also explore five decades of play with a ticket to the popular Power Up ‘ultimate gaming experience’, where they can discover how far computer games have come. From retro favourites like Pac-Man and Street Fighter to virtual reality, there’s something for all the family with over a hundred consoles to explore.
Annual passes are now available to purchase, meaning visitors can unlock a new level of play and gain access to the experience for a whole year.
For more details, visit the website here.
Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You is running until January 4, 2026(Image: Science Museum Group)The Snow Centre (Chill Factore)
Now called The Snow Centre, the former Chill Factore is home to the longest indoor real snow ski slope in the UK.
There’s a huge beginner slope and a Snow Park setting for kids as young as 4 to enjoy the thrills of sledging and sliding along on real snow all year round.
45-minute Snow Park passes, including Downhill Donuts, the Ice Slide and Sledge n Slide, cost from £15. Visit the website for more details.
Oxygen Activeplay, MediaCity
A massive new trampoline play park Oxygen Activeplay opened in February and has proved a big hit with families.
Taking over the former I’m a Celebrity Jungle Challenge site inside Quayside, formerly Lowry Outlet, at Salford Quays, the state-of-the-art venue features 24 trampolines, a mega-air bag jump, a high ropes course, a Sky Rider aerial ride, an interactive strike arena and more.
There’s even a dedicated Toddler Zone, so little jumpers can have just as much fun on their own trampettes. High above the park, the high ropes course will have fearless families navigating their way across six challenging crossings, while the Sky Rider will ‘give thrill seekers a sky-high feeling, as they soar through the air on a harness’.
Tickets cost £14.50 for an hour’s Open Play session, or £45 for a family of four. A 60-minute Open Play and High Ropes ticket costs £17.50, with Sky Rider an extra £3. Open Play is for ages four and above and children must be 135cm tall to use the high ropes.
See the website to book.
Museum of Illusions
The Museum of Illusions opened in Manchester city centre a year ago and is the first in the UK.
Billed as ‘one of the world’s most Instagrammable museums’, exhibits range from holograms and optical tricks to full-scale illusion rooms and playful mirror displays.
There are more than 50 exhibits in all, ranging from simple wall-mounted optical illusions to immersive experiences that challenge both mind and body.
There’s the world’s first ever optical illusion centred around a tram inspired by the city’s Metrolink, where guests appear to be hanging upside down on-board the specially made carriage; the Vortex Tunnel, a mind-spinning illusion that makes you feel like you’re actually going upside down; and the Infinity Room, which multiplies your group as far as the eye can see.
You can take as long as you like inside the science-meets-entertainment attraction, but it typically lasts around an hour. Tickets, costing from £19.50, can be booked on the website here.
Museum of Illusions(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)Arcade Club Bury
If you’ve got a little gamer in the family then they’ll love to visit the Arcade Club in Bury.
The Ela Mill venue features hundreds of retro and modern machines over four floors and gamers have been flocking there since it opened in 2015.
There’s everything from Pac-Man and Space Invaders to Donkey Kong and Sega Rally and kids can play their modern favourites like Fortnite and Rocket League.
The £10 entry fee is for kids aged five to 15 to play all day long. If adults want to play too it’s £18 per adult, or £46 for a family. For more information, or to book tickets, visit the website. Opening hours are extended during the school holidays.
Manchester Art Gallery
There’s a full programme of family events at Manchester Art Gallery and it’s completely free to attend.
Families are encouraged to unleash their creativity with ‘exciting workshops, hands-on activities, and immersive experiences designed to spark your imagination and love for art’.
You can check out Wild Wonder, a family art trail promising ‘a fierce and fun themed walk around Manchester Art Gallery’. Its artworks are full of creeping creatures and playful pets. Can you spot them all as you wander around the gallery?
The trail, aimed at children aged five to 11, is free and running until the end of the year.
Archie’s Atomic
The North West’s biggest pink roller rink is inside Trafford Palazzo and welcomes skaters aged six plus of all abilities.
With Archie’s signature hot pink branding, a retro-inspired design, and a huge spinning disco ball, the rink promises a feel-good throwback atmosphere perfect for rainy autumn days.
Archie’s Atomic also houses the Arena gaming vault – an immersive, all-in-one activity featuring eight interactive games for up to eight players at a time. And there’s a state-of-the-art amusement arcade featuring SEGA games, basketball hoops, all the classics and more.
Once you’ve worked up an appetite, it’s also home to an Archie’s diner, with all the burgers, shakes and treats the viral brand is known for.
Open seven days a week, from 10am to 10pm, tickets can be booked on the website.
Archie’s Atomic(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)The Crystal Maze
Families can take a bold leap into this ‘frantic, frenetic and fun world of adventure and nostalgia’ based on the hit 90s’ TV show.
It’s an opportunity to work together with your team, solve puzzles, and conquer the maze, just like the contestants from the popular show fronted by Richard O’Brien and Ed Tudor-Pole during its original run, and Richard Ayoade during a more recent revival.
Contestants get to tackle games in the zones including Aztec, Industrial, Futuristic and Medieval.
Tickets cost from £49, or from £44 as part of a family ticket, and can be booked on the website here.
The Ice Cream Farm, Cheshire
There’s loads of outdoor fun at The Ice Cream Farm, but it’s also home to Europe’s largest indoor sand and water play area.
Honeycomb Canyon is part of The Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire and features sandpits, water channels, climbing frames and interactive play equipment.
There’s soft play; an indoor arcade, with a dancefloor and games like air hockey and table tennis, and a Formula One arcade game; and every day there are three family escape rooms to choose from at The Play House. That’s not mention the ‘world’s largest’ ice cream shop, with dozens of different flavours.
Each person pays £2.50 to enter (under 12 months free) and that gives access to the outdoor play area and ice cream parlour. Activities are then paid for individually, so you can pick and choose what you want to do.
You can either pay individually at £4.50 per activity, or the most economical way is to buy a Play Pass, starting from £15 for five activities, making them £3 each.
For more details about the Tattenhall attraction, which is open 9.30am to 6.30pm seven days a week, or to book a pass, visit the website.
There’s always something happening at the museum and art gallery, which is home to the popular Lark Hill Place, an authentic recreation of a Victorian Street which instantly transports you back in time.
It has life-size original shop fronts, including Mr Tomlinson’s Sweet Shop, which opens on selected dates and objects which transport you to life in a Victorian street in Salford.
At Lark Hill Place, it’s always tea-time on a winter’s evening, when the street gas lights have just been lit. But the place has recently introduced some new lanterns for visitors to be able to collect from a basket and use while they explore all of the dark nooks of the street.
Visit the website to see the full events programme and to book tickets.
Lark Hill Place (Image: Manchester Evening News)Bolton Museum and aquarium
Bolton‘s Central Library and Museum has loads going on, including its free aquarium, which is home to more than 70 varieties of fish.
Most families tie in their visit with a trip to the museum at Le Mans Crescent too, which hosts family friendly events and exhibitions all year round and is also free.
Ranging from Egyptian mummies to local history and wildlife, Bolton’s collection promises ‘something for everyone’.
The museum is open daily from 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, except for Wednesday when it opens at 9.30am. On Sunday it opens 10am to 4pm.
Visit the website for more details.
Hat Works Museum, Stockport
A museum celebrating Stockport’s history of hat making reopened last year after being closed for four years for a £100,000 refurbishment.
Based in a grade II listed Victorian mill in the town centre, the museum has more than 1,300 items on show for visitors to enjoy, including examples of the manufacturing process.
The tradition of hat making has long been associated with the town, as factories made use of the rivers to power their machinery and get rid of waste.
Visitors can explore the global connections of Stockport’s hat collection and be inspired by the array of colours, shapes, patterns and textures of the hats on display.
It’s a hands-on attraction, with new Montessori-style play equipment encouraging children to ‘see, wear, make, touch, hear, become, discover, imagine and create,’ through puzzles, try-on areas and a pretend play Milliners.
Take a tour of the factory floor where you can learn the facts about Stockport’s hat trade. You can also see the restored Victorian hat-making machines in motion for the first time since 2016.
The Hat Works Museum(Image: Sara Auty)Legoland Discovery Centre
Lego fans will delight in a trip to Legoland Discovery Centre Manchester.
From an area dedicated to Lego Ninjago to Miniland and even a Lego 4D cinema, there are so many activities to keep little ones busy.
Special events take place in the school holidays including Brick or Treat Monster Party running now. Visit the website for more details.
Sea Life Manchester
Also inside Trafford Palazzo is Sea Life Manchester, home to sharks, clownfish, turtles and more.
Families can learn about the different ways our oceans are being affected and take a walk through the ocean tunnel to get a closer look at the sea animals including the blacktip reef sharks who are all part of Sea Life’s ongoing conservation efforts to breed this species.
Again, specific events run throughout the school holidays. Find out more on the website here.
Imperial War Museum North
Free family activities are always on offer at IWMN.
Running around the walls of the Main Exhibition Space is a timeline that guides you through key events of 20th and 21st century warfare and there are some iconic large objects on display including a US Harrier suspended above the entrance, a First World War Field Gun and some of the steel remains recovered from the ruins of the World Trade Center.
There are six mini exhibitions on everything from Women and War to Science, Technology and War.
Crack the Code also runs on weekends from now until November 23, where visitors can collect a trail sheet and help Second World War veteran Bernard to ‘crack the code’ as he makes his way home after the end of the Second World War. Discover stories and objects covering historical moments, from VE Day, VJ Day, and rationing, which continued to be part of life well after wartime.
Find out more about what’s happening on the website here.
Imperial War Museum North(Image: IWMN)Manchester Jewish Museum
The attraction is open seven days a week with a wealth of activities for families.
Make sure to ask at the welcome desk for a Family Pack Rucksack. Suitable for ages 4-10, it includes activity and colouring sheets, scavenger hunts, a magnifying glass, dreidel games and more.
On October 19, the place is opening its doors for free as part of the Cheetham Cultural Festival. The event runs from 12pm to 4pm with last entry at 3pm.
Special events run throughout the school holidays. For more details, visit the website here.
National Football Museum
Football fever is always going strong in Manchester and where better to celebrate than at the National Football Museum.
There are loads of activities on offer, with the Pitch Gallery providing the opportunity to have your photo taken with a collection of football silverware, including official replicas of the Premier League and Women’s Super League trophies.
Alongside George Best’s Mini Cooper, this space also hosts a programme of special exhibitions and workshops.
Elsewhere the Play Gallery features interactive games including a Penalty Shootout and a new ultimate Premier League Player VR Experience with Rezzil, allowing you to ‘walk out at Premier League stadiums’, ‘recreate the league’s biggest goals’, ‘feel the speed, pressure, and excitement of real Premier League moments’ and a whole lot more.
Then there’s the Score Gallery, dedicated to the museum’s programme of special exhibitions, the current one being From Pitch to Page: The Magic of Football Annuals.
Admission is free to Manchester residents (who pay council tax to Manchester City Council). For others it’s cheapest to buy online, with annual tickets costing £15 for adults and £9 for children aged 5 to 15. Under fives go free. For more details, visit the website here.
King Pins
Whether it’s bowling, shuffleboard or arcade games you’re after, there’s loads to keep kids occupied inside King Pins, which has sites inside Trafford Palazzo and at Manchester Arndale.
The state-of-the-art bowling and gaming experience venues feature a variety of activities for all ages, including duck-pin bowling, karaoke party rooms and more.
At Arndale King Pins there’s also tech darts, Wild West Shooting, and ‘an immersive and interactive’ Mini Golf experience – something that’s also being added to the Trafford site. With seven courses to complete, the Mini Golf features everything from swans and sundials to wishing wells and tiny houses.
There’s lots of choice for food and drink too. You can pre-book spots online here.
King Pins(Image: Manchester Family / MEN)The Whitworth
There’s always something for families at The Whitworth.
From Art Baby sessions to Play Days for under fives, little ones are encouraged to get creative from a young age.
Quiet Mornings are also held for families with additional needs.
For more details visit the website here.
People’s History Museum
Another museum worth visiting is the People’s History Museum, where there’s a range of exhibitions and activities on offer for children of all ages.
In Gallery One and Two, visitors can explore the development of democracy in Britain: past, present, and future.
From the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 in Manchester to the present day, meet the revolutionaries, reformers, workers, voters, and citizens who came together to champion ideas worth fighting for.
There’s also the Banner Exhibition, featuring 26 banners chosen from the largest collection of political and trade union banners in the world.
During their visit kids can play Banner Bingo, looking out for different images throughout the exhibition. They have two versions of the bingo, one more challenging than the other, so it’s suitable for different ages. Afterwards they can collect a small prize for taking part.
Visit the website for more details.
The Pankhurst Centre
The Pankhurst Centre in Manchester open on Thursdays and Sundays and located at 60-62 Nelson Street, Emmeline Pankhurst’s old home where the suffragette movement was born.
The Pankhurst Museum is the only place where people can visit a former home of the Pankhurst family, and is the only museum dedicated to telling the story of women’s fight for the right to vote.
Through crafts, a museum trail and fun games, visitors can discover more about the Edwardian era through a child’s eyes and in Emmeline’s parlour there is also the chance for children to dress for the period with hats, shawls and suffragette sashes to choose from.
The place has a small tearoom where you can buy tea, coffee and snacks. Tickets can be booked on the website here.
Ordsall Hall
Ordsall Hall is free to visit and open to the public throughout the year.
There’s a Let’s Explore Bookmark Trail running throughout the hall’s opening hours. Taking you to six points of interest within the Hall, visitors get a pencil to help them fill it in and a sticker of Ziggy. It costs £1 a child.
There are Tudor related activities and workshops running throughout school holidays. See the website here for more details.
Ordsall HallJodrell Bank
There’s all sorts of fun for families at Jodrell Bank, home to the Lovell Telescope.
This autumn, young space adventurers can explore the wonders and perils of the stars in The Great Solar System Adventure, a hair-raising Dome Show which can be added to your visit at point of booking.
With ‘out-of-this-world exhibitions’, a playground and four pavilions packed with fun, there promises to be ‘something for astronauts of all ages’. To find out more, visit the website here.