Eureka is a children’s museum in Halifax, West Yorkshire. It’s been around seemingly forever. I remember visiting when I was at school! And in July last year, we took our then 17 month old son for the first time.
We have taken him 3 times since. It’s a favourite with us on a rainy day and every time we return, he seems to get more out of it. This is our review of Eureka – the good and the could-be-better.
Eureka, Halifax – The Quick Review
[pipdig_stars rating=”4″]
We rate Eureka a 4/5. This is based on the age of our son, now just over 2. As he gets older and can get more from it, I imagine that will change!
What we love:
- Amazing value (we got a free annual pass when we paid for our first visit)
- Lots of different areas to explore
- A good outdoor play area there too
- Lots of parking
What we’d like to see:
- More areas specifically for younger children
A more detailed Eureka review follows, along with answers to some of the questions we had before visiting.
Eureka – Location, Address and Postcode
Eureka, Halifax – Getting there and Parking
The Eureka Children’s Museum is right on the doorstep of Halifax train station. So even if you’re not driving, it’s very accessible by public transport. If you are driving, there’s a sizeable car park. We typically visit in the quiet periods, but on the one occasion we visited on a wet weekend the car park, though busy, was not full. So I can’t imagine you’d ever struggle to park.
And there’s no quirks with sat navs and the postcode either. Entering the postcode from their address has, each time, taken us there without a problem.
Eureka Entry Price and the Free Annual Pass
The first time we visited we paid the full entry price for Eureka:
- £12.95 per adult
- £5.95 per child over 1 year of age
But we were then given free annual passes, which is part of the (continuing) “play for a year” programme. So basically, for that price you can visit as many times as you like in 12 months. We’ve been 4 times, making it great value per visit.
There’s also a charge for the car park of £3 for up to 4 hours per car.
Food and Drink
One of the things we love most about Eureka is the fact there are so many places to picnic! We do sometimes eat in the cafe too and find the prices reasonable. But it does get very busy in the cafe at lunchtime and one thing I would suggest could be improved is the amount of space around tables. With a pushchair and a busy seating area it’s a bit troublesome.
But there’s an outdoor picnic area, indoor picnic area and a train carriage outside too that you can eat in. Our little one loves to take a picnic out with him so this works really well for him.
Exhibits and Areas
Eureka is made up of several different areas. They include:
- Sound Garden (specifically for the under 5s)
- Sound Space – aimed for older children but all about sound, so our little one, who is 2, loves it
- Living and Working Together – this is where the “big truck,” is an lots of cars, as well as a huge replica house. My little one loves this
- All About Me (largely focussed on the human body)
- Desert Discovery (again aimed at the under 5s)
What we love about Eureka
We love the under 5s areas, of course. But the Living and Working Together area has a lot that appeals to younger children too. My son loves pretending to shop in the child sized Marks and Spencer food shop and withdrawing money at the child sized Halifax!
It’s a great choice for a rainy day.
What we’d like to see improve
It would be great to see bigger areas for the under 5s. The ones there already are good, but they’re small.
In addition, an improved layout in the cafe that is a little bit more buggy friendly would be fab!
All in all though, we love it and we’ll definitely visit again and again!
