Had a brilliant time here. It's clean, spacious, educational and friendly. The tour underground is great, our guide got us involved and told us things about what it is like to work down there, using his own experience too, worth it and you also get a little token souvenir when you arrive and get your ticket. Cafe ✅ car park ✅ outdoor space/walking ✅ family friendly ✅ museum/things to look at ✅ disabled friendly ✅ (not sure about the underground tour though) value for money ✅✅✅✅✅ all in all, very enjoyable for adults and young people alike.

Visited here yesterday & to say all they asked for is a £5 donation its definitely worth the money. We gave them £30 as I genuinely think £5 is an insult to themselves considering how good it is. You definitely should pay more if you can afford to do so. The chaps that run the underground tour really do make the experience 10x better. Such a friendly attitude and atmosphere all the way through-out the museum. They have a unique sense of humour that just makes the tour 10x better. There's a lovely little picnic area & nature trail for the kids and a park too, 10/10 definitely worth the visit & we will definitely be visiting again.

Wow! We had an amazing visit in February 2022, the staff are so very lovely. Joe was our guide down the mines, and he was amazing! He was great with our 11 year old and answered all questions with such knowledge and experience. We would recommend visiting, it was a great day out for our little family! Amazingly low prices and the cafe is lovely too... There are ponies too, which made my day! Have fun!!

What an awesome place to visit. Firstly, free parking (but you can donate £2 if you are feeling generous). Second, £5 to take the Caphouse underground tour (highly recommended). And finally, wander around the site, making sure not to miss Pit Wood, Pony Discovery Centre, onsite café, large children's adventure playground, blacksmiths (has some amazing wrought ironwork for sale) and at least another 20 attractions. Where can you get value for your money like this? I'll tell ya, nowhere! Another fine Yorkshire experience that won't empty your wallet.

An absolutely fantastic museum that is a must visit if you are in Yorkshire. There are lots of really interesting exhibits that go into great detail about the mining industry and the staff are all really friendly. You must book on the the underground mine tour, for just £5 you get led around the mine by someone who has lots of knowledge about the industry. Our guide Col was great, he was super enthusiastic and engaging and you could clearly see he was passionate about mining which made the whole tour memorable.

A really love day out was had at the national coal mining museum. Going underground and having a tour around a real mine was somthing that I will remember for a really really long time. The halls and exhibitions were also really well done, showing you all aspects of mining life. I can really recommend taking the time to visit here 5 stars.

Absolutely a fantastic place to go with kids or with your partner. It is all free, I don't know how they stay open. You have to pay to go down into the mine. We did the mine tour I must say which was fantastic with our very knowledgeable guide. You spend about 1 hour underground and the guide will walk you through all the history of mining from the beginning to present day. The tour costs £5.00 each. The rest of the site is fantastic aswell. You can go and visit the horses aswell. All in all brilliant.

This is a fantastic museum it's such a good experience with so much to do !! There is a cafe, ample parking, playground, memorial garden, a nature trail, the museum portion, conference room and you can even go down into the mine. They have lots of events on throughout the year and we just watched a brass band and wind band there which were brilliant 👏 😀 It's not an expensive day out and there are 2 sides to the museum and there just a short walk from each other and they have a little train on through the spring and summer. It's for all ages and very educational and this year marks a special year so they will have lots of events on (check the website and experience Wakefield for info) The cafe is nice with friendly staff, nice food and not expensive plus they have lovely home made cake and a bar. Overall we had a great day out learned alot about mining and had an awesome experience with both of the bands and will definitely be going again with the family and highly recommend giving it a visit

Highly recommend the visit. Only £5 for underground tour of a real mine by a miner. Very interesting visit. Great museum too.

Lovely place to learn about coal mining and working conditions. Quite a lot to see, great play area for the children, short walks not too far to see all exhibitions. The tour down the pit was very interesting, one and a half hours flew by..... pity we couldn't stop longer than we did, we just called in on our way home from a weekend away. Would like to take the grandchildren in the summer and have a picnic. The food in the cafe was lovely, but it would be nice to sit in the sunshine.

Great day out, unfortunately we couldn't do the pit tour as they were booked up,but still found enough to keep us occupied for 2-3 hours. The volunteers were lovely, and really helpful and there was plenty to do and see.

What an experience. Fantastic all round family day. Kids loved the park and exploring around the surface area attractions. We save the best bit until last, the underground tour. Russell Jones our guide was superb in his interactions with the children and knowledge and storytelling was brilliant. Fully recommend this to anyone. £5 donation...wow, keep it. Well worth it and Value for money.

Excellent museum. Plenty of varied indoor displays of artifacts,or former actual workings.There is is a large site with many outdoor exhibits,often previously active pit machinery and support equipment,mostly carefully restored.There is the underground tour for the real feel for how life underground as a miner would have been. There is also a nature walk,pit ponies and a great cafe. A really fantastic place for all and especially children. Best wishes from Paul.

Really enjoyed our visit. Great trip down the mine, reminds us how lucky we are not to have had to work down there. Brilliant tour guides, very knowledgeable, as of course they are all ex miners

Had a fantastic day learning about the history of mining. Loads to look at and suitable for the whole family. I would highly recommend the underground tour it Is a true experience. Make sure you get a map as there is so much to see. Check out the ponies and the blacksmith. A massive thank you to our underground tour guide Martin you made it a fun learning experience. In Fact thank you to all the staff who are so informative and friendly. Check out the cafe great prices and fantastic quality.

Visited here with a group of friends this week, straight away you receive a warm welcome fram all the staff. The cafeteria is good and spotlessly clean and again the staff both friendly and welcoming. The museum itself is just fantastic. Run by volunteers that obviously care about the history and are keen to share experiences, knowledge, good and bad times. I highly recommend doing the underground tour, it's brilliant! Our guide was Chris but we also met Eric who made us laugh and feel at ease straight away!! These little pieces of our national history should never be lost!

The underground experience was the twins favourite part. £5.00 per person for the tour and you get to keep the gold coloured token. Don't forget your mask if you are going on the tour. The tour lasted about 1.5hours. Also there is a large play area, cafe with indoor and out door seating, an indoor picnic area and plenty of outdoor picnic benches scattered around. Will be visiting again very soon

A fantastic day out with the family. There is plenty to do but it is advisable to book any of the tours before you attend. The cafe had lots to choose from and the volunteers and staff were super nice and made the day. You must use the train to visit the second site and see the horses. We'll worth a visit..

Highly recommended if you are looking for a fantastic experience. You have to do the mine tour! The guides are genuine ex-miners so they really know what they are talking about. The stories they tell are fascinating, really interesting. There are a number of museum buildings to explore on the site, as well as a small railway using the man riders and a battery loco. You can use the train to easily go from one side of the site to the other. I wouldn't recommend it for young children, but 10 and over would be perfect.

Amazing place! Best day out in a long time! Staff were all super friendly, there is loads to do, the kids loved the adventure playground and the underground tour. Will be going again!!!

This is a great day out. Try to get there early or on time as we got there just after 10, it opened at 10 and there was already a big queue. Just £5 per person £5 to park a g4eat big park for the kids. Also a sand area for small children. There is so much to do. We did the underground tour, which was a fantastic hour and a half. Eric was such a great informative guide. Highly recommend going to see this.

We both went down on the underground mine tour, my wife rather nervous. Our guide Taz was really good, getting us involved and describing the lives and working conditions of the miners and their families who used to work together in the early days. One of my granddads was a miner in Co. Durham, Murton and another pit so it was very interesting for me. It's not expensive, only £5 each. It should be more expensive I think. Please go, it's so good!!!

Amazing visit honestly can’t fault it. Great to see the history being kept alive and the underground tour was fantastic. The tour guide (TC) was brilliant and great with the kids also. All the staff were friendly and everything onsite was great. The gift shop was reasonably priced too.

Absolutely fantastic place! Great for all ages, free entry, food is fairly priced and it's massive with loads of interactive bits for the kids to do while you're walking round 😊 We spent about 5 hours here and didn't see everything or play in the outdoor play area as it was cold and rainy, you could definitely spend a whole day here and it would be fantastic in the summer months. We will definitely be going back 😁 Absolutely loved it!

Brilliant place for a family day out, recommended the mine tour. The tour guide was brilliant very knowledgeable my son enjoyed it. Cafe is good quality and good value. Kids play area excellent. Will definitely visit again

Had a brilliant day out on 11/06/2023. We were warmly welcomed on arrival and shown up to the steam winder where Clive, Phil and Pat enthusiastically talked to us about how it operated and what the lives of the staff were like. We then went over to Hope Pit and took the above-ground tour, led by the same fantastic trio. They really brought the mine to life with lots of interesting facts, humorous banter and hands on demonstrations of how various equipment worked. We were short on time so didn't do the underground tour but I look forward to returning! A fun experience for adults and children alike, and huge thanks to Clive, Phil and Pat for making our day.

Firstly I must say how friendly and welcoming all the staff are. Secondly, you have to go on the underground tour. Not going underground would be a bit like going to Blackpool and not walking along the front. It is the reason you go. I was disappointed how small the museum display part of the site is. What they have is well displayed but there is just so little of it bearing in mind this is a National museum. The whole history on the miners trade union was summed up in a few paragraphs. You will learn more about the 1984 miners strikes in the first few minutes of Billy Elliot than you will from this museum. It is on a huge site, so some nice walks through the woods, but why did they put the really child friendly stables for the horses a 10 or 15 minute walk from the main area, rather than with the other buildings? I might be sounding critical but that is because I think there is the makings of something special here that is being missed. Still it is a good day out. With a good cafe, a really first class underground tour and very friendly staff.

Not visited since before Covid, we only live around the corner so been meaning to come back for a while. Wow this museum is even better than it was a few years ago and it was good then!! The staff are so incredibly friendly, it’s great for all ages, theirs plenty of parking. It’s by far the best museum in all of Yorkshire - amazing day out.

A fantastic experience at the mining museum. The experience to go down a mine with a former miner is absolutely incredible and is serious value for money. The tour itself is about an hour and a half and it should be said that it requires quite a bit of ducking and if you are particularly claustrophobic then I wouldn't advise it! However it's like a living museum and Gaz our tour guide was a fountain of knowledge and he was superb throughout, answering all of our questions. If you are in the area then I'd fully recommend visiting. The food at the cafe was excellent as well (and has a good range of gluten free food)

Brilliant place! We have been many times. If you visit, remember it is closed Monday and Tuesday. Free entry, only pay for going underground if you choose to £5 ) lots of free parking (though can put donation in if you wish) Also, the things at Hope mine, big machine sheds and little rail ride to them, don't seem to be open on weekdays, maybe at weekends? But are worth visiting on events days. We went this tine on a weekday, up at hope pit side, There was the stables (now up near big machine shed) and the automated video information in the smaller buidings (I found the one in the pump house near the memorial garden interesting) The playground is really good, events all through the year, nice cafe and indoor building to take your own food if it rains. Not a bad thing about it! Well worth a visit.

Drove from Newcastle for the day and it was an excellent little day out. We booked the mine tour which was extremely interesting. We didn't expect to then get another tour of the surface areas but happened to be in the same place, same time as another so we were invited to this. Loved that all the volunteers are miners and that they are trying to pass the knowledge onto apprenticeships to keep the history knowledge around for future generations. Also loved the horses and farm cat - of course !!

What an amazing and informative day. Visited with local friends and kids aged 7-10. The fact the sight was free is incredible in itself. Happy to pay the extra for the short train ride in the mining train. Great play area and cafe and toilet facilities plentiful and nice. The visit into the depths of the mine with an ex mining guide was magical. What a fantastic experience and at £5 seemed exceptional value for the knowledge that was passed onto us not to mention the much valued golden token(mining check).The guide giving us 30+ years of mining expertise and story telling was superb. When he and his colleague both chipped in at the end with they wouldn’t have changed anything in their mining past and would be back mining in a heartbeat was inspirational to hear. Thanks for a superb day.

We took our 6yo granddaughter to this museum and she loved it. We got there at lunchtime so had a nice hot meal in the cafe first. Then went on the little train to the "beach", a massive sand pit near the little cafe. There was a craft tent for the holidays, stables with the ponies and big horse, as well as the museum with the mining equipment. Got the train back to use the great play area and visit the shop. Didn't have time to go down the mine but will next time as I know it is an experience not to be missed. I think you need to give yourself a good 5 hours for this museum, or all day as it is exceptional.

An excellent museum above ground and a heartily recommended mine tour at £5 to give a flavour of what it might have been like to labour underground. The cafe is good, serving hot food and drink, cake and sandwiches as well as cold drinks. The site has an adventure playground that would be great for pre-teens, and there are very good exhibitions and displays dotted around the site. Staff were all very friendly and helpful, although they appeared to be at a premium. Whether this was down to the vagaries of the day was not clear, so I am hoping that specialists and volunteers are not leaving due to being mishandled (I seem to recall hearing something about a new management team being put in place fairly recently). Most of the site is free to access, although there are some paying/suggested payment components, including parking and the land-train. There is also a working smithy and a pit-pony centre. In short, the museum is an under-recognised gem, and is heartily recommended, particularly for those with an interest in social and working class history. There is much to see and to learn from. Why not 5*? Some aspects of the site appear to be overlooked due to poor signage, and the narrative to link the component parts together could be stronger and better told, with the roles that they played in the miners' working lives more strongly delineated.

I only gave this one start because I could not select zero. My son has just started University this week and today took part in a trip to the Mining museum arranged by the University, to give students the opportunity to spend time getting to know one-another. I am writing to express my disappointment when I discovered that he had been excluded from the underground tour by the staff due to his disability. After reading through their website and Facebook page I found that it does not state anywhere that face masks must be worn on the tour. My son has Autism and suffers with Anxiety, he was wearing his sunflower lanyard and University staff made the museum staff aware of my son’s hidden disabilities, but he was still denied access to the tour. There were no issues with him being around the other tour participants as these were all his fellow students who had arrived together on the same coach, and it would have been possible for him to walk at the back of the group so that he would have been more than 2 metres away from the tour guide which would have meant that the guide was a safe distance away from my son. I feel that their policy of excluding anyone with a hidden disability and who is unable to wear a face mask for medical reasons, should be made known to the public on their website, Facebook and any other platforms they use for advertising, and I believe that it is an absolute disgrace that this is their stance on selected disabilities.

Excellent museum. Don't miss the underground tour!!!

Surprisingly, it is very good to learn the history and entertain children.

What an amazing day. You get the chance to see what miners actually did when they went down the mine. You too can go down the mine ,even in your wheelchair. There's no end to family entertainment and activity. A wonderful day.

What a fantastic day! The underground tour of the mine, descending 150 meters in the lift, proved to be a truly enlightening experience. Also undergroud guide is super cool made the whole tour memorable. Will definitely visit again

So much to see and explore, pit ponies, nature park, blacksmith to name but a few, and then there is the trip down the mine its self, an absolute must do. Words cannot do this place justice, our guide below ground was Martin, who made the tour with his cheeky sense of humour and vast knowledge of pit life and history. Take a trip on pit train to Hope pit and visit the memorial gardens, ponies and smithy, then a cuppa and a bite to eat in the cafe/gift shop. We got there for 9.30 am and left at 4.30pm thats how much there is there, still dont think we saw it all!

What a fantastic day! The underground tour of the mine, descending 140 meters in the lift, proved to be a truly enlightening experience. The guides, all former miners, exhibited a remarkable passion and a wealth of knowledge. The museum in itself stands as an invaluable source of information, providing a glimpse into the past.

Had a great day visiting the Museum. Would highly recommend a trip, great for any age group took my 80 year old father and family visiting from New Zealand and we all enjoyed the trip below into the mining shaft and the museum displays and exhibitions above grown. All staff were friendly, informative and helpful.

The Coal Mining Museum is a warming token of the past for this region, and it does feature a working actual mine tour which is underground. All the volunteers are immensely friendly, I would list all the features of the museum however it would be long. It is an educational yet fun day for young families and people who want to learn more about this "vein" of mining history.

Went here with my family. It's amazing place. I would recommend 😃⚒️

A great experience. 1 hour 15 minutes underground tour in a real mine by a miner was brilliant. Only £5 too. Highly recommend.

Really exceded my expectations, spent abought 1hr,15mins underground a probably walked abought 1 mile through the tunnels looking at all the methods & machinery used through the ages. It is a real coal mine preserved as it was when it was a working pit. Cannot recommend highly enough.

My wife and I took the underground tour on Saturday . We are seniors and a young family were also on the tour . Our guide, Joe , was brilliant taking care to engage with the children whilst also catering for the needs of the adults . The tour was entertaining , instructive and at times poignant and sobering. A special mention also goes to Sharon on reception who went above and beyond to be helpful . Thanks again Sharon

Place is amazing, a lot of activities for children. I have not ever been there before. Really good option to spend time with family. Eye-opening museum, I am really happy that it is such a nice place and kids or adults can learn from it. There is also cafe and nice park to walk around.

This museum is an absolute gem. The exhibits have something for interesting for people of all ages, children and adults alike. The museum really enlightened me to the way of life of coal miners in the United Kingdom throughout the last 3 centuries, and the hard work they did- which contributed so much to industrial revolution and energy security of the country right up until relatively recently (and the little recognition they got.) Alex, our tour guide for the underground tour was exceptional. He was incredibly knowledgable and enthusiastic, and had a wealth of information about mining. He really had the knack for the job and the tour which made it one the best guided tours I’ve ever been on. The cafe had a good selection of food and was reasonably priced. The only comment or criticism I’d have is, at £5 per person for the underground tour- I think they are undercharging. It could be doubled and still be superb value for money. Highly, highly recommend day out.

Great day out for Dad and Child, very interesting no rush exhibits and buildings to wander around, very good cafe with probably the best chips I've ever had! The staff are all very helpful and friendly. We did the underground tour which was absolutely amazing and I cannot credit our guide enough, forgive me for forgetting his name (bald man with strong Barnsley accent) he really did excel as a tour guide making it one if the best I've experienced. Overall a great day out which we both enjoyed and would go again, we cannot forget such a big part of our history! Many thanks.

What a fantastic place to visit. I'm a single dad & took the kids for half a day and needed a full day to get around it all. It's all free what an excellent experience. Paid for the underground tour and the tour guide nicknamed big bird took us around. The kids loved him and his rendition of we will rock you as we were going Down the lift shaft. To be honest all the staff was fantastic from the reception to the cafe staff. Well done. Will definitely visit again. 💯

A wonderful place for a day out. A guided tour around the old workings deep underground with very knowledgeable and light hearted ex-miner guides to tell you about how it used to be. And lots to see and do above ground too:- Adventure playground for kids. Pit ponies in their stables. Beautiful nature walks A lovely cafe. And lots more besides!

Visited here Saturday (23/10/21) with my partner daughter and nephews. We all had a brilliant time. The museum is looking great after a revamp. The new stables are also fabulous. Our underground mine tour was simply superb, Steve was fantastic with the children and was so engaging. Everyone had a fantastic time. Highly recommended day out. A big shout out to Steve you really were fantastic thank you. 😊

What a wonderful experience, the underground tour was made all the more interesting as the guide had worked the mine personally and his knowledge was so impressively extensive, I had absolutely no idea how dangerous it was down a pit.... The museum back at ground level is also very informative, there is a gift shop with many interesting books available to purchase. After all that, the café is a must,, it has a really extensive menu and caters for many food requirements,, reasonably priced with very friendly and helpful staff, the food arrived quickly and hot and was delicious. Thank you..

This was my third visit to the mining museum, I went with a friend who was interested after listening to my stories of working underground many years ago. He was intrigued to visit a coal mine for himself. The NCM is a wonderful day out and hopefully people will still visit and support otherwise it will be closed! This a era that we will never experience within our lives again and must be cherished. From the pit top, the cafe/canteen to underground visit a great non expensive day out.

Some of the children's banners made at Caphouse today. Brilliant efforts...Thank you for coming Kids, love Viv x

Nice place to experience real coal mine atmosphere and being underground about 140m deep. The tours are worth the money and the tour guide are real coal miners who actually worked in real mines so the information they share is realistic and so informative also. The walking trail are also good to explore. Must visit.

This is a fantastic place to visit. Packed full of history. Well worth the money to take an underground tour. (Booking online is advised) I really enjoyed it 😊

This facility os all about mining and its family-friendly and disabled friendly also dog friendly. There is free parking but not much space. You need to book before you go as I just turned up and I couldn't get into the mines. It was very busy and I went on a Sunday thinking it would be a food say to go but it was packed. There is a cafe-restaurant indoors and outside too. Toilets are available for free and disabled toilets 🚻. They have a dog bowl outside the cafe doors so that's good. I took photos of the train that takes you deep into the mine where the shaff is to go in to the mines underground