Your Family’s Ultimate Guide to the UK’s Best Water Parks

Water Parks Bath

Families in Bath can enjoy both indoor and outdoor water attractions within easy reach. Bath Sports and Leisure Centre in the city features a heated leisure pool with a flume slide and playful splash zones for children. It’s an inviting indoor option year-round, complete with fountains and shallow toddler areas in a warm environment.

For outdoor thrills, just a short drive away is West Country Water Park near Bristol where an inflatable obstacle course floats on a lake, offering climbing walls, balance beams, and lots of splashes under the open sky. This aqua park is great for older kids and adults on warmer days, with wetsuit rental available. If you fancy a beachy vibe, the Cotswold Country Park & Beach in the nearby Cotswolds provides a lake swimming beach and an AquaVenture inflatable course in summer. Whether you stick to Bath’s own splashy indoor pool or venture out for a lakeside aqua park adventure, the Bath area has plenty of wet and wild fun to make a family day trip memorable.

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Water parks Bristol

Bristol may be famous for its harborside and history, but it also offers splashy fun for all ages. The city’s own West Country Water Park features an inflatable aqua park obstacle course on a scenic lake, where kids and adults alike can bounce off “Total Wipeout”-style inflatables, zoom down slides, and plunge into refreshing open water. For classic pool thrills, families often head just outside the city to Brean Splash Waterpark, a short drive from Bristol, which boasts twisting flumes, a gentle splash zone for little ones, and even heated indoor pools for year-round play. Whether you’re racing friends across a floating obstacle or relaxing by a wave pool, Bristol’s water attractions blend excitement with West Country charm.

Travel tip: If you’re visiting from London or the Midlands, Bristol is easily reached via the M4 and makes a perfect en-route stop to cool off in summer – arrive early on sunny weekends to beat the crowds and enjoy a full day of aquatic adventure.

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Water parks Coventry

Coventry is home to one of the UK’s newest and most exciting indoor water parks: The Wave, Coventry. Located right in the city centre, The Wave is an ultramodern complex featuring six epic slides (from the adrenaline-pumping funnel slide to the dizzying whirl of the bowl slide), a wave pool that simulates the swell of the ocean, and a relaxing lazy river to float along. There’s also a dedicated splash zone for younger kids with smaller slides and fountains. This indoor water park is open year-round and even has an on-site café, making it easy to spend a full day there. Beyond The Wave, Coventry has other aquatic attractions: the Coventry Water Park at Coombe Abbey is an outdoor inflatable obstacle course on the park’s lake (seasonal, typically summer holidays) that older kids will find a blast – expect to be challenged with climbing walls and balance beams over water, all while wearing a buoyancy vest. If you’re up for a short drive, Bosworth Water Park (about 35 minutes away in Leicestershire) offers a man-made beach and a small lake with pedal boats and a kiddie splash pool – perfect for a sunny day picnic with water play. And of course, the famed Water World in Stoke-on-Trent is about an hour away, if you crave even more slides and tropical pools beyond what Coventry offers.

With The Wave making a… wave (pun intended) as a top attraction and other parks within reach, Coventry families have no shortage of wet and wild experiences to enjoy.

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Water Parks Ely

Ely is a small city famous for its beautiful cathedral, but when it’s time for water-based fun, families might need to explore a bit beyond the city limits. In Ely itself, The Hive Leisure Centre offers two pools – one for lane swimming and a teaching pool – but it doesn’t have slides or leisure features (aside from occasional inflatable sessions). So for splashier excitement, many head to nearby Cambridge (only 15–20 minutes by train or car). There, Parkside Pools awaits with its flume slides, wave machine, and dedicated children’s water play area, providing a mini water park experience indoors.

Another close option is Newmarket Leisure Centre (about 30 minutes from Ely), which sometimes sets up a giant pool inflatable during school holidays for kids to clamber over and slide down. If you’re willing to go a bit further, the Oasis Beach Pool in Bedford (around an hour away) is a popular indoor tropical-themed pool with wave effects and a couple of fun slides; it gives that “beach resort” vibe in any weather. During the summer, consider a day trip to the North Norfolk coast (about 1.5 hours): the seaside town of Hunstanton has a seasonal splash pad and shallow tide pools ideal for toddler play, and Hunstanton’s leisure centre features an indoor pool with a flume.

While Ely might not have its own water park, its central location and good transport links make it easy to dive into aquatic adventures in the surrounding region. Pair your outing with a picnic or pub lunch, and you’ve got a fantastic family day out.

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Water Parks Wells

Wells, famed for being England’s smallest city, is nestled in the Somerset countryside – but that doesn’t mean families there can not find big water fun in the vicinity. While Wells itself does not have a water park (the medieval Bishop’s Palace moat is beautiful, but no swimming allowed there!), a short drive opens up a world of splashy possibilities. One fantastic nearby spot is Greenbank Outdoor Pool in Street (about 15 minutes from Wells). This retro-style heated lido has been a local favorite for generations, offering a main pool with a small slide and a separate toddler splash pool. It is open in the summer and even boasts a grassy picnic area – on a warm day, you will find families sprawled on blankets between dip sessions, enjoying the sunshine and the 1930s vibe.

Small city, big fun – Wells is proof that you can find aquatic adventures even in the heart of rural Somerset.

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