Huddersfield is underrated as a family day out, and it starts before you leave the platform: the station frontage is a grand Victorian facade that John Betjeman rated as one of the best in the country.
The town itself is small, the parks are good, and the museum does not charge.
Free things to do in Huddersfield with children
- Tolson Museum — Housed in Ravensknowle Hall, a Victorian mansion in its own park. Archaeology, natural history, textiles and transport. Admission is free, and it is closed on Mondays.
- Greenhead Park — A restored Victorian park with a splash pad in summer, a play area, a boating pond and a miniature railway. Free to enter.
- Castle Hill and Victoria Tower — An Iron Age hillfort with a Victorian tower on top, looking over the whole Colne Valley. Free to walk up, and the view is the reward.
- Beaumont Park — A steep, wooded Victorian park cut into a hillside, with rock faces, bandstand and play areas. Free.
- The Huddersfield Narrow Canal towpath — Flat, free walking out of town towards the Standedge Tunnel, with locks to watch.
Worth paying for
Not free, but cheap enough to be worth it, and all reachable without a car:
- Standedge Tunnel visitor centre — The longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel in Britain. The visitor centre is at Marsden, a short and cheap train hop, and boat trips into the tunnel are bookable.
- Huddersfield Art Gallery — Free entry, small, and a decent twenty minutes if the weather turns.
Getting to Huddersfield by train
Huddersfield station opens onto St George's Square in the middle of town, with buses from there out to the parks and Castle Hill.
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 Huddersfield
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.
