National Space Centre Family Day Out: Tickets, Opening Times and Where to Stay

The National Space Centre is the biggest attraction of its kind in the UK, and the thing most people notice first is the Rocket Tower, a translucent inflated shell on the northern edge of Leicester that holds two real rockets upright. It is a genuine wet-weather rescue and a genuine full-day out, which is a rarer combination than it sounds. If you are staying at the large cottage near Market Harborough, it is about a 40 minute drive, and it pairs neatly with the other things to do in Leicestershire on a longer stay.

This guide covers the parts that decide whether a visit works: current ticket prices and the online saving, opening times and parking, how long you actually need inside, and what a family of six should expect to pay. For families booking a base rather than a hotel, our family getaways at 14 Acres page sets out how the numbers work for six people.

National Space Centre tickets and prices in 2026

Booking online is cheaper than paying at the door on every ticket type, and the gap is widest on children’s tickets. There is no family ticket here, which catches people out: a family of six pays six individual prices rather than a bundled rate.

Concession rates cover over-65s, NUS and UniDays cardholders, and disabled visitors. A carer or personal assistant ticket is free with proof of DLA or PIP. Under-5s means up to four years and 364 days, so a child who turns five the day before you go pays the full child rate. Group bookings need 15 people minimum and must be arranged in advance. Prices are reviewed periodically, so check before you travel.

What a family of six pays at the National Space Centre

Because there is no family ticket, the arithmetic is simply per head, and it is worth doing before you set off. Two adults and four children aged five to sixteen comes to £111.16 booked online, against £124.52 paid at the door. Add £4 for parking either way and you are looking at £115.16 versus £128.52.

That is a £13.36 saving for two minutes of booking ahead, and almost all of it comes from the children’s tickets. Note the oddity in the pricing: a child on the door costs £20.82, which is more than an adult booked online. If any of your six are under five they go free, which changes the total sharply for younger families.

National Space Centre opening times, parking and how to find it

The address is National Space Centre, Exploration Drive, Leicester, LE4 5NS, on the north side of the city near the A6. Standard opening is 10:00 to 17:00, though the centre closes for occasional private events, so it is worth a quick check on the day if you are driving any distance.

The car park fills very quickly during half-term and on event days. If you are arriving with six people in one car and no flexibility, aim for opening time rather than late morning. Accessible parking, sensory sessions and accessible afternoons are all provided, and the site publishes a facilities and access guide worth reading in advance if anyone in your group needs it.

What to see at the National Space Centre

1. The Rocket Tower

The tower is the centrepiece and the reason the building looks the way it does. Inside it, a Thor Able rocket and a Blue Streak stand full height, and you climb alongside them on a series of galleried levels rather than looking up from the floor.

It works on children who have no interest whatsoever in the science, because the sheer scale does the job on its own. Give it longer than you think; most families end up going up and back down twice.

2. The Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium

The planetarium is the largest in the UK and it is the part of the visit people remember. Shows run to a timetable through the day, so the practical move is to check the show times as you arrive and plan the rest of the galleries around the slot you want rather than the other way round.

One show is the usual expectation on a standard ticket. A second show is £5 and is sold on the door only, which is worth knowing if you have a group who will happily sit through two.

3. The galleries and hands-on exhibits

Six galleries cover the solar system, human spaceflight, satellites and the science of the universe, and a good proportion of it is interactive rather than behind glass. That is the difference between a two-hour visit and a four-hour one with children in the group.

There is a café on site and a gift shop, both of which are priced as attraction cafés and shops usually are. With six people, a picnic in the car for the drive home is a sensible hedge.

How long you need at the National Space Centre

Three to four hours is the honest answer for most visitors, and that assumes one planetarium show and a stop for food. A determined adult moving briskly could see it in two. A family with primary-age children who want to press every button will fill five without difficulty.

Because opening is 10:00 to 17:00, arriving at 10:00 gives you the full seven hours if you want them, and it solves the parking problem at the same time. If you are driving the 40 minutes from Clipston, leaving at nine gets you there for opening comfortably.

The best time to visit the National Space Centre

Term-time weekdays are quietest, and the difference is not marginal. School holidays and half-term weeks bring the crowds that fill the 400-space car park before lunch, and they also mean longer waits for the planetarium, which has a fixed capacity per show. If your dates are flexible and the children are not yet at school, a Tuesday in term time is a completely different experience from a Saturday in February half-term.

Weather matters less here than at almost any other attraction in the county, which is the point of it. Everything is indoors, so a forecast that ruins Bradgate Park or a walk at Pitsford has no effect on a day at the Space Centre. That is worth holding in reserve rather than spending on your one sunny day, particularly if you are down for a long weekend and can move things around.

Within the day itself, the first hour after opening is the calmest stretch on the galleries, because a good proportion of arrivals head straight for the planetarium timetable. If you are travelling with a group of six and want photographs in the Rocket Tower without a queue on the stairs, go up first and leave the interactive galleries until mid-afternoon when the morning crowd has started to thin.

One more scheduling note: the centre closes occasionally for private events, and it does not always sit prominently on the homepage. A forty-minute drive from Clipston to a closed door is an avoidable morning, so a quick check the night before is worth the thirty seconds it takes.

Combining the National Space Centre with other Leicestershire days out

The centre sits on the northern edge of Leicester, so it combines well with the city rather than with the countryside south of it. The King Richard III Visitor Centre is in the old town and makes a good second half-day, particularly for older children who have run out of patience with buttons.

For a contrasting outdoor day, Bradgate Park has deer and open parkland, and Twycross Zoo is the other reliable full-day option in the county. Both work better on a dry day, which is exactly when the Space Centre is least needed.

Where to stay near the National Space Centre

Leicester itself is a city-hotel proposition, which suits a couple and rarely suits six. The Barn at Clipston sits about 40 minutes south, on the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire border, and sleeps 8 across four bedrooms with a kitchen big enough to feed everyone without a restaurant booking.

For a family of six that is usually the cheaper arithmetic once you have counted three hotel rooms and six breakfasts. The family cottage in Northamptonshire covers the same ground for smaller groups, and prices and stay options are set out in full.

More to explore

• Things to do in Leicestershire, for the rest of the county.
• Twycross Zoo visitor guide, the other full-day family option.
• Bradgate Park, deer and open parkland on a dry day.
• King Richard III Visitor Centre, in Leicester’s old town.
• Family getaways at 14 Acres, for how a group of six fits.

The Barn at Clipston: your base for a Leicestershire family break

A converted country barn on the 14 Acres estate, sleeping 8 across four bedrooms, with a 10-metre glass wall onto a private garden, a covered dining terrace with a gas BBQ, and a kitchen built for a group cooking together after a long day out.

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