A FAMILY day out can easily set you back over £100 for a family of four.
And with it being the summer holidays, just a few days out can quickly add up to the cost of a holiday abroad.
Instead of watching your wallet empty of cash, there are actually a number of ways to get free and cheap attraction tickets.
Here’s our round-up of the best options and what days out you can get for less:
Sun Club promotions
As a Sun Club member, you have access to loads of free and discounted days out across the UK.
Currently, these include free tickets to the races, 50% off Horrible Histories Live, savings on theatre tickets and 2-for-1 tickets to Diggerland theme parks.
Find out more about what’s on offer here.
LatestFreeStuff.co.uk
LatestFreeStuff.co.uk always has different offers on attractions.
Some you might need to snap up quick, while others might have more availability.
Current offers on the website include a free National Trust pass and free bike hire.
Previous offers have included free Eden Project tickets as well as discounts on major UK attractions.
Promotional supermarket packs
If you are in the supermarket, look out for promotional packs.
On items such as Cadbury‘s multi-packs, Kellogg’s cereal, Heinz products, Carex soap and Robinsons squash, you’ll often find offers to attractions in the UK.
For example, Kellogg’s cereal boxes often have 25 per cent off online advance entry tickets for up to two people to Merlin attractions including the London Eye and Legoland.
Cadbury’s, on the other hand, often has instant 2-for-1 vouchers for top UK attractions.
National Rail
If you are heading out on a day out, taking the train could save you both hassle and money, because National Rail offers 2-for-1 deals, a third off savings, and other discounts for attractions when you travel via train.
Attractions include 2-for-1 tickets on City Cruises, 20 per cent off Frameless and 50 per cent off Thinktank at the Birmingham Science Museum.
Tesco Clubcard
Tesco Clubcard members can convert their Clubcard points into Reward Partner vouchers.
These vouchers cover major UK theme parks including Alton Towers and Thorpe Park as well as English Heritage sites and a number of museums.
Octopus Energy
If you are an Octopus customer and are signed up to Octoplus, you can redeem your points for a free National Trust pass.
02 Priority
If you happen to be an O2 customer, make sure you have the O2 Priority app as it is full of offers and giveaways.
Currently through the app, you can get discounted tickets to Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, free kids tickets to Jurassic Oceans at the Natural History Museum (with one adult ticket) and 20 per cent off tickets to Up at The O2.
MoneySuperMarket
If you sign up to a MoneySuperMarket account and allow it to check your credit score, you can get a free days out annual pass worth £180.
The pass includes top attractions such as London Zoo, English Heritage Sites and Go Ape parks – you can redeem one ticket each time you visit an attraction, per account.
Vodafone
Via Vodafone‘s VeryMe Rewards, you can get a Kids Pass which offers between 10 and 56 per cent off entry to attractions across the UK, including Alton Towers and Go Ape.
To get this reward, you’ll need to be a Vodafone Pay Monthly mobile customer or a qualifying Pay As You Go customer.
Vitality Health Insurance
If you get moving, Vitality Health Insurance will reward you with discounts to top Merlin attractions, such as Thorpe Park and Alton Towers.
You are able to redeem four tickets at 30 per cent off each month.
Welcome Break
Welcome Break operates 31 hotels across the UK’s motorway network – such as Days Inn and Ramada hotels – making them ideal stops to split up a journey.
But more than just the hotels, Welcome Break has 62 service stations across the country.
If you stop off at one or stay in one of the hotels, make sure to set up an account when you use their Wi-Fi as you’ll get Road Trip Rewards.
Each time you log in to the Wi-Fi at either a hotel or service station, you’ll gain a point.
These points then go towards entering you into different prize draws.
For every three visits, you’ll go into a draw to bag a Merlin attraction discount, for every five visits a £50 Welcome Break voucher, and with 10 visits a Merlin Gold Pass. For every 15 or more visits, you’ll get a chance to win a family weekend away.
Blue Light Discount
If you work in the NHS, emergency services, or armed forces, you can get a Blue Light Membership, costing £4.99 for two years (so just under £2.50 a year).
This membership can then get you loads of discounts on days out and attractions, including 15 per cent off entry to Alton Towers, 20 per cent off English Heritage sites, and 10 per cent off Eden Project tickets.
There are loads of attractions with discounts as part of the membership, including local and regional attractions.
National Lottery Week
In March each year, the National Lottery hosts The National Lottery Open Week, with loads of free or low-cost days out.
These include castles, museums, sports venues, galleries and theatres across the UK.
Local resident/postcode discounts
It is worth looking up which attractions are in your area, and whether they offer discounted entry for you as a local.
For example, The Eden Project offers a discounted Cornish Residents Pass.
Similarly, Kew Gardens offers a reduced entry fee for local residents and young people, and Tower Bridge offers £1 entry to Southwark residents.
The best way to find this out is to search ‘attractions near me with resident offer’ online, and Google should pick up your location and find the attractions near you providing a discount.
Groupon and Wowcher
Groupon and Wowcher are both great sites for getting cheaper days out for the family.
You can search for things near you to do, and depending on your location, these can include things like the Ninja Warrior UK experience, bus tours and circus shows.
Some current offers on Groupon include a session at The Snow Centre Hemel Hempstead for £20.49 instead of £37 per person.
Or with Wowcher, you could head to the UK’s biggest inflatable obstacle course for £20, instead of £27.82 per person.
Universal Credit
Lots of UK attractions will offer heavily discounted tickets – usually £1 or £2 each – for people and families receiving Universal Credit.
For example, you could head to Royal Palaces such as Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace for just £1.