Leeds museum named one of the UK's best free family days out

Adventure travel company Arctic Direct ranked the Royal Armouries Museum as the sixth-best free family attraction in the UK, with Leeds City Museum also making the national top 30.

The research compared free attractions across the UK using factors designed to reflect what matters when planning a family day out, including Google ratings and reviews, rainy-day suitability, how easily a visit could fill a whole day, family appeal, weather resilience, transport and the risk of additional costs.

The Royal Armouries Museum achieved an overall score of 94.79 out of 100, putting it ahead of attractions including Manchester Museum, Ulster Museum in Belfast and London Museum Docklands.

It has a Google rating of 4.7 from almost 15,000 reviews and received maximum marks for full-day potential and family appeal.

The museum was also rated "excellent" for rainy-day suitability, while scoring highly for weather resilience and transport ease.

Leeds City Museum was the second Leeds attraction to perform strongly in the research, ranking 29th in the UK with a score of 87.03.

The museum received maximum marks for family appeal, weather resilience and transport ease, as well as an "excellent" rating for rainy-day suitability.

The Leeds attractions appearing in the ranking were:

• Royal Armouries Museum - 6th in the UK, scoring 94.79

• Leeds City Museum - 29th, scoring 87.03

Both attractions are free to visit, giving families in Leeds options for a day out without paying an admission fee.

Leeds wasn't the only part of Yorkshire to perform strongly.

The National Railway Museum in York was the highest-ranking Yorkshire attraction, placing fourth nationally with an overall score of 95.45.

The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford came 20th with a score of 88.81, while the National Coal Mining Museum for England in Wakefield ranked 33rd with 85.96.

Elsewhere in Yorkshire, Weston Park Museum in Sheffield placed 27th, while Hull's Streetlife Museum came 22nd.

Some of the highest-ranking Yorkshire attractions included:

• National Railway Museum, York - 4th, scoring 95.45

• Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds - 6th, scoring 94.79

• National Science and Media Museum, Bradford - 20th, scoring 88.81

• Streetlife Museum, Hull - 22nd, scoring 87.95

• Weston Park Museum, Sheffield - 27th, scoring 87.49

• Leeds City Museum, Leeds - 29th, scoring 87.03

• National Coal Mining Museum for England, Wakefield - 33rd, scoring 85.96

The results give families across Yorkshire several highly rated options for keeping children entertained without the cost of admission.

Royal Armouries finished just outside the national top five.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow took first place with a score of 97.75, followed by the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh with 96.39.

London's Science Museum came third with 95.82, while the National Railway Museum in York was fourth with 95.45.

The Natural History Museum in London completed the top five with 95.18, putting Royal Armouries immediately behind it in sixth.

The findings suggest families don't necessarily need to spend heavily to find attractions capable of filling a large part of the day.

Several of Yorkshire's highest-ranking free attractions performed particularly well for family appeal and rainy-day suitability, making them options for the school holidays even when the British weather doesn't cooperate.

Arctic Direct assessed free attractions using eight factors: Google rating, number of Google reviews, rainy-day suitability, full-day potential, family appeal, weather resilience, transport ease and extra-cost risk.

Each factor was converted into a weighted score, giving every attraction an overall result out of 100.

Google ratings, full-day potential and family appeal carried the greatest weight in the final ranking, while the methodology also rewarded attractions that could provide a reliable day out in poor weather and where families were less likely to face additional costs during their visit.