Manchester is one of the best cities in the country for a day out with children that costs nothing, largely because its big museums have never charged. You can fill a whole day, and then a second one, without paying an entry fee anywhere.
It is also compact. Most of what follows is walkable from the city centre, which matters when you are travelling with small legs.
Free things to do in Manchester with children
- Science and Industry Museum — Built on the site of the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station. Working engines, a textiles gallery where the machines actually run, and hands-on galleries aimed squarely at children.
- Manchester Museum — Reopened in 2023 after a major redevelopment. Dinosaur skeletons, a live vivarium full of frogs and lizards, and the Egyptian galleries. Reliably the single biggest hit with under-tens.
- People's History Museum — The story of ordinary working people, told with banners the size of a wall. Better for older children, and it usually has a family activity trail running.
- Manchester Art Gallery — Free, central, and has a dedicated clore art studio space for families where children can make things rather than just look at them.
- Heaton Park — One of the largest municipal parks in Europe. Boating lake, animal centre, huge open space to let everyone run off the train journey.
Worth paying for
Not free, but cheap enough to be worth it, and all reachable without a car:
- The tram to the Trafford Centre or Media City — A family Metrolink ticket is cheap and, to a certain age group, the tram itself is the day out.
- Chetham's Library — The oldest public library in the English-speaking world. A small charge for the guided tour, and the medieval building does a lot of the work.
Getting to Manchester by train
Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria both sit right in the city centre, and the free Metroshuttle-style bus services and trams cover the gaps.
Going by train also means nobody has to find a parking space, and children can move about, look out of the window and eat crisps for the whole journey.
Click here to book train tickets to Manchester
Opening hours, admission prices and booking requirements change, and some attractions close on certain days or for refurbishment. Always check the attraction’s own website before you set off. This page was written in August 2026.
Disclosure: the train ticket link on this page is an affiliate link. If you book through it I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
