Best Easter Days Out across South Wales
Join an Easter egg hunt, see newborn lambs and stike your own coin. Get ready for a half-term adventure with plenty of family fun and chocolate galore!
Become a duck detective
Llanelli Wetland Centre has a mystery to solve this Easter and they need your help. The friendly collection of birds may seem very innocent and well-behaved, but there’s a cheeky rascal waddling among them. You’ll need to use all your senses as you explore the wetlands and follow clues to eliminate suspects one by one to uncover the culprit. If you’re looking for a fun outdoor activity for all the family this half-term, the new Duck Detectives story trail is the perfect Easter treat (Sat 1 April – Sun 16 April).
Strike your own coin
For a fun day out that the whole family will treasure, it has to be The Royal Mint Experience, one of Wales’ top attractions. The Royal Mint Experience is the only place in the world where you can watch the United Kingdom's coins being made. Go behind the scenes to follow the journey of a coin from a blank to a bank in the 45-minute Guided Factory Experience. See thousands of glistening new coins, hot off the presses, and get the chance to strike your very own coin, then wander through the Interactive Exhibition, discovering the incredible processes needed to make a coin. Come face to face with British monarchs over the past 1,000 years. Get up close to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic medals.
Get up close to science
A must-visit during half-term, Techniquest has over 100 hands-on exhibits that kids of all ages love to explore, with two floors of mesmerising models, marvellous machines and mind-boggling interactive displays. You can launch a rocket, try your hand at virtual surgery, experience a real-life earthquake and even feel the force of a hurricane! The Digital Planetarium can take you through space for a close-up look at some of nature’s most beautiful sights such as distant galaxies and exploded stars. Book the Star Tours to find out more about familiar constellations, the planets, how stars are born and how they die.
Lambing live
Celebrate the start of Spring with the annual baby boom in the lambing shed. Visit St Fagans National Museum of History as they welcome the new arrivals at Llwyn-yr-eos Farm. You can also follow the progress of the mums and babies on the Museum website via #Lambcam (6-19 March). If you fancy a more hands on experience why not check out the Lambing Day Courses.
A day at the museum
From art and science to everyday objects and beautiful artefacts, you’re guaranteed a fascinating day out at National Museum Cardiff. Be inspired by the breath-taking art collections featuring work by Turner, Monet, Rodin, Van Gogh and leading Welsh artists such as Richard Wilson, Thomas Jones, Augustus John and Gwen John. You can take a journey through space and time in the Evolution of Wales gallery, where you can see real meteorites, moon rock, dinosaurs and woolly mammoths! The natural history galleries house animals, birds and insects from Wales and beyond, including a humpback whale skeleton and the world’s largest leather back turtle.
Easter extravaganza
Visit Castell Coch for an Easter of craft-based fun, 1-16 April. There will be a trail around the castle (with a chocolate egg at the end for those who complete it!), as well as card-decorating in the kitchen, and Aesop’s Fables storytelling in the Drawing Room, there will also be opportunities for children to have their faces painted.
Go underground
Experience the sights, sounds, smells and atmosphere of an authentic coal mine at Big Pit National Coal Museum. Set in the unique Blaenafon Industrial Landscape and designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, Big Pit used to employ up to 1,300 workers. Led by a real miner the world-famous underground tour will take you 300ft underground through original mine workings. It will give you a living, breathing taste of what life was like for those who made their living at the coal face. On the surface, enjoy a virtual tour of a modern coal mine in the multi-media exhibition King Coal: The Mining Experience.
Step back in time
Llancaiach Fawr Manor is a 16th century manor house fully restored and brought back to life by costumed characters. You never know who you might meet when you visit Llancaiach Fawr Manor. If you are lucky you might meet the master of the house, Edward Prichard or his wife Mistress Mary Prichard. There are also the servants who no doubt have a grisly tale to tell. But whoever it is you can be sure of a warm welcome with someone pleased to show you around the master’s fine house.
Hoppy Easter
Hop down to Plantasia Tropical Zoo on Sunday 9th April for the Hoppy Easter event.
Some-bunny’s taken over the jungle and filled it full of hoppy bunny Easter decorations and egg-citing activities for all the family.
Hop to it, as you follow the bunny tracks trail around the jungle in search of the animal’s eggs. How many will you find? All successful trail completions will be entered into a prize draw. There will also be Easter crafts and face painting.
The story of Wales
Take in the sights and sounds of more than 300 years of Welsh industry and innovation at the National Waterfront Museum. Located on the quayside of Swansea Marina, 15 themed galleries each tell a different aspect of this crucial period in Welsh history using a mix of touch screen technology and real objects, enabling visitors to be in charge of tracing their own experience of the fascinating, and still evolving, story of industrial Wales.
Easter egg hunt
Join a traditional Easter egg hunt at Caerphilly Castle. There will also be lots of crafty fun for the little ones, 1-16 April.
