Clevedon's Grade I pier is £6.50 and lets you back free for a year. Weston Museum is free. Prices, opening times and what is shut, all checked this week.

North Somerset gives you two different days out depending on which way you turn off the M5. South is Weston-super-Mare: a proper seaside resort, a pier with go-karts on it, and the biggest helicopter collection in the world sitting next to the old airfield. North is Clevedon and Portishead: a Victorian pier Betjeman called the most beautiful in England, a saltwater lake you can swim in, a 1912 cinema and a heated lido on the edge of the Bristol Channel.

Every price and opening time below was checked against the venue’s own website on 10 August 2026. Where something is shut, we say so.

The quick answer

What one adult pays, August 2026 Cheapest standard adult admission, checked on each venue's own site Weston Museum Free Clevedon Marine Lake Free Grand Pier (entry only) £2.00 Clevedon Pier £6.50 Portishead Open Air Pool £6.50 Curzon Cinema, matinee £8.00 Puxton Park, low peak £12.25 Helicopter Museum £15.00 Noah's Ark Zoo Farm £29.14 Wristbands, rides and activities cost extra at the Grand Pier and the piers' cafes. Source: each venue's own website, checked 10 August 2026. Chart by The North Somerset Post.
Adult admission at nine North Somerset attractions. Chart by The North Somerset Post.

Clevedon

Clevedon Pier is the reason people drive here. It is the only Grade I listed pier in Britain, and Betjeman’s line about it being the most beautiful in England is on the pier’s own website, so they have clearly decided to keep it.

Admission is £6.50 for an adult, £4.00 for a child aged 4 to 15, £17 for a family of two adults and up to three children, with extra children at £1 and under-4s free. The detail that makes it good value: a standard ticket gives you twelve months of free return visits. Open 1 April to 2 November, Monday to Friday 10:00 to 16:30 and weekends 10:00 to 17:00, last entry half an hour before closing. Dogs are welcome on a short lead but not in the Glass Box restaurant or the Pagoda cafe.

Clevedon Marine Lake is free and is one of the best things in the district. It is a saltwater tidal lake looked after by a charity, MARLENS, and it is used for open water swimming, paddleboarding, kayaking and model boating year round. The lake’s own site publishes a live water temperature, which is worth checking before you commit: on the afternoon we looked it was 22°C at the deep end and 21.2°C at the shallow end.

The Curzon on Old Church Road has been showing films every day since 1912, which makes it one of the oldest continuously operating cinemas anywhere. It is a Grade II listed building and a charity, and it programmes far more than new releases. Standard auditorium seats are £9 evening, £8 matinee before 5pm, with concessions at £8 and £7, under-25s £6 and an adult-plus-child ticket at £14 or £13. Balcony seats run £10 to £11, and a two-person sofa is £20 to £24. Every price includes a £1 restoration levy for the building. Membership is free and gives 10% back in credit.

Park at Salthouse Fields on Old Church Road: 144 spaces, a 2.1m height barrier, and in peak season (2 March to 31 October) £1.60 for an hour, £5.10 for four hours or £8.10 until 6pm. Out of season it is £4.10 for the day.

Weston-super-Mare

The Grand Pier charges £2 per person just to walk on, which catches people out, and then sells all-day wristbands for the rides: £15 Little Kids, £20 Big Kids (which adds a round of golf and a go-kart race) and £30 Ultimate (unlimited golf and go-karting plus everything else). Wristbands are sold at weekends and in North Somerset school holidays. The pier opens at 10:00 daily with rides from 11:00, and pre-booked parking is £5 for the day.

Weston Museum on Burlington Street (BS23 1PR) is free, and it is the best free hour in the town: the story of Weston from prehistory to now, in a striking old building, with Clara’s Cafe attached. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 16:00, with the cafe closing at 15:00 and last food orders at 14:30. Only assistance dogs.

The Helicopter Museum on Locking Moor Road (BS24 8PP) is the largest dedicated rotorcraft collection in the world and is five minutes from junction 21 of the M5. Adults £15, children aged 3 to 15 £8.50, seniors and concessions £13.50, family tickets £36 for two adults and two children or £38 for three. Open every day 10:00 to 16:30, last admission 15:30. Parking is free, the site is fully wheelchair accessible, and a carer accompanying a visitor with restricted mobility pays the concession rate.

For the beach, Marine Parade has 443 bays at £3.50 for two hours, £7.00 for four or £12.00 all day in peak season, dropping to £4.00 all day from 1 November. The big one is Royal Sands, 1,000 spaces, £7.00 for four hours or £14.00 all day in peak, £4.00 all day in winter. Both are pay and display from 8:00 to 18:00 every day including bank holidays, and blue badge holders get the first hour free.

Birnbeck Pier is closed and is a construction site. Do not plan a visit. The Grade II* pier and its island are the subject of a restoration programme with more than £44m committed from the government, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Historic England. The landside buildings phase runs to autumn 2026 and the pier structure itself from winter 2025 to spring 2027. The council’s stated ambition is to reopen the pier and island to the public, but no opening date has been set.

Portishead

Portishead Open Air Pool is a 33-metre heated outdoor pool in the Lake Grounds, a few metres from the Bristol Channel, run by a community trust. Its refurbishment is finished and it is open for the 2026 heated season. General and family swims are £6.50 for an adult and £5 for a child, with under-2s free; lane swims are £7, a twilight swim £7.25, a full moon swim £8, and spectators pay £4. Cafe Lido reopened after its own refit and serves 10:00 to 16:00 on weekdays and from 09:00 at weekends.

The Lake Grounds themselves are free, and so is the 200-space seafront car park on Esplanade Road, which is unusual for a coastal car park in this district and worth knowing.

Out in the countryside

Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm at Clevedon Road, Wraxall (BS48 1PG) is over 100 acres with African elephants, giraffes, rhinos and lions, and it is a charity. It is the priciest day out here: adult £29.14, child aged 2 to 15 £24.41, concession £26.78, under-2s and carers free, all including an optional 10% donation you can remove at checkout. Two ways to cut that: late entry from 3pm is £13.20, and booking at least seven full days ahead takes 20% off gate prices under the Summer Saver, which runs to 31 August. Over-65s pay £15.40 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays with no booking needed. Open 10:30 to 17:00.

Puxton Park at Cowslip Lane, Hewish (BS24 6AH) is half a mile from junction 21 of the M5 and is the wet-weather option, because everything is included in the admission price: indoor soft play, high ropes, adventure golf, bumper boats, tractor rides, an animal zone and a miniature railway. High peak is £15.75 for an adult and £16.60 for a child aged 2 to 16; low peak is £12.25 and £13.10. Family tickets run from £50.57 to £97.74 depending on party size and season, and there is an automatic 5% off four or more tickets. Open daily 09:00 to 17:00, with the outdoor rides running 10:00 to 16:30.

Planning a day out

  • If you have a car and one day, do Clevedon: pier, marine lake, a walk on Poets Walk and a film at the Curzon. It is the least expensive and the most distinctive.
  • If you have children under ten, Puxton Park in bad weather and the Grand Pier in good.
  • If it is raining and you want a museum, Weston Museum is free and the Helicopter Museum is indoors and enormous.
  • If you are coming by train, Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon are the two towns that work without a car, though Clevedon needs a bus from Yatton. See our train times page for services.
  • If you are driving, check the roadworks and parking page first. Sheepway in Portishead is shut and the seafront car parks in Weston cost three times as much between March and October as they do in winter.

Frequently asked questions

How much is Clevedon Pier?

£6.50 for an adult and £4.00 for a child aged 4 to 15, or £17 for a family of two adults and up to three children. Under-4s go free, and a standard ticket includes twelve months of free return visits.

Is Weston Museum free?

Yes. There is no entry charge for the permanent galleries or most temporary exhibitions. It is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 16:00.

Do you have to pay to walk on Weston’s Grand Pier?

Yes, £2 per person for anyone over 80cm tall. Rides are extra, or you can buy an all-day wristband from £15.

Can you visit Birnbeck Pier?

No. It is closed and under restoration, with work on the pier structure running to spring 2027. There is no reopening date.

Can you swim in Clevedon Marine Lake?

Yes, and it is free. It is a saltwater tidal lake maintained by the charity MARLENS and used year round for open water swimming, paddleboarding and kayaking. Check the live water temperature on the lake’s website before you go.

What is there to do in North Somerset when it rains?

The Helicopter Museum and Weston Museum are both indoors, Puxton Park’s admission covers indoor soft play and Derek’s Cow Barn, and the Curzon in Clevedon shows films every day.

Sources

Each venue’s own website, checked on 10 August 2026: Clevedon Pier, Clevedon Marine Lake, Curzon Cinema and Arts, The Grand Pier, Weston Museum, The Helicopter Museum, Portishead Open Air Pool, Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm and Puxton Park. Car park capacities and tariffs from North Somerset Council. Birnbeck Pier status from the council’s Birnbeck Pier project page.

Prices and opening hours change, especially at the end of the season. Check with the venue before you set off.