Rainy day? Free indoor days out in Yorkshire

Yorkshire weather has a mind of its own. When the rain sets in, these free indoor places are a lifesaver — warm, dry and full of things to do, without paying for tickets.

Hull and East Yorkshire

Hull's Museums Quarter is a brilliant rainy-day option: several free museums sit within a few minutes' walk of each other in the Old Town.

Streetlife Museum of Transport🏛️ Museum📍 HullWalk-through Victorian streets, trams, carriages and vintage cars.✓ Free

Wilberforce House Museum🏛️ Museum📍 HullBirthplace of William Wilberforce and the story of abolition.✓ Free

Ferens Art Gallery🖼️ Art gallery📍 HullOld masters to contemporary art in the heart of Hull.✓ Free

West Yorkshire

Royal Armouries Museum🏛️ Museum📍 LeedsThe national collection of arms and armour, with live demonstrations.✓ Free · donations welcome

Leeds City Museum🏛️ Museum📍 LeedsNatural history, ancient worlds and a giant floor map of Leeds.✓ Free

National Science and Media Museum🏛️ Museum📍 BradfordPhotography, film, TV and the science of light and sound.Free entry · paid extras

South Yorkshire

Sheffield's Millennium Gallery connects straight through to the Winter Garden, one of the largest urban glasshouses in Europe — a green escape from the rain.

Millennium Gallery🖼️ Art gallery📍 SheffieldSheffield's metalwork collection and the Ruskin Collection.Free entry · paid extras

Weston Park Museum🏛️ Museum📍 SheffieldSheffield's museum of everything, set in a lovely park.✓ Free

Experience Barnsley Museum🏛️ Museum📍 BarnsleyThe story of Barnsley told through objects and memories.✓ Free

North Yorkshire

National Railway Museum🏛️ Museum📍 YorkGiant halls of locomotives, royal carriages and a working turntable.✓ Free · donations welcome

Looking for more? Switch on Rainy day on our list of free places to see everything that works in the wet.

Everything here was free to visit when we wrote this, but opening times, parking charges and access can change — please check before you travel. Spotted something that's changed? Use "Suggest an edit" on the place's page.

Cover photo: Streetlife Museum of Transport by Peter Church · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons.