Activities in Norwich

BeWILDerwood is like Go Ape! for kids. With its rope bridges, ladders, zip lines and treehouses, it ticks all the right boxes for future thrill seekers. But, instead of being 20 or 30 feet above the forest floor, BeWILDerwood’s activities are considerably less daunting and more fun for the whole family.

Whitlingham Adventure is the one if you want some water sports action. You’ll find it in the stunning Whitlingham Country Park. It offers courses ranging from canoeing and kayaking to archery and abseiling, as well as sailing and windsurfing. Alternatively, if you’re one for winter sports like skiing and snowboarding, then head down the road to the Norfolk Snowsports Club. It’s home to a huge dry-ski slope and has over 80 qualified instructors who’ll stop you from falling on your backside and get you finishing black runs in a jiffy.

For the adrenaline junkies among you who think that still isn’t adventurous enough, there’s also the nearby Skirmish Paintball and Laser Games Norwich. For over 25 years, it’s been giving the people of Norfolk one of the best paintballing experiences in the country. Their expert instructors are fantastic and super friendly; even if you’ve never been before, they’ll take you from paintballing virgin to veteran in no time.

Or, if you’re looking for a relaxing way to spend the day, the Family Golf Centre at Bawburgh Golf Club is just a five-minute drive from our Norwich West hotel and boasts everything from floodlit driving ranges to an adventure golf course replete with water features, aeroplanes and fake crocodiles.

If the weather turns and you’re forced to find something to do under cover, don’t worry, there are some fantastic indoor activity options for you to choose from in Norwich. Take Cryptic Escape for example. Escape rooms have emerged from the basements of Budapest to take the world by storm. The premise is simple; you’re locked inside one of three themed rooms and given an hour to use objects, codes and hidden hints to find a way to break free. It’s fun, it’s challenging, great for friends or family, and with a prime location in the shadow of Norwich Cathedral, it’s easy to get to as well. Alternatively, if you find yourself closer to the Norwich Guildhall, it has its own escape games known as the History Mystery.

Highball Climbing Centre is another great option and is a fantastic way to enjoy a bit of exercise. It’s just around the corner, and is less than five minutes’ drive from our Norwich Airport hotel. It features more than 600 square metres of bouldering walls, including the largest competition-grade wall in East Anglia, a 40º Woody Board, and state-of-the-art safety mat technology. It’s affordable, the instructors are great, and above all, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a similar story with the Gravity Trampoline Parks, which you’ll find alongside Norwich’s Hollywood Bowl and ODEON IMAX on the riverside, near Norwich Railway Station.

Your other cinema options for seeing a film during your stay include Norwich’s Vue, which you’ll find inside the Castle Mall Shopping Centre. Alternatively, you can make your way to Cinema City, which occupies Suckling House on St. Andrews Street. It’s a medieval merchant’s house which now houses three cinema screens, as well as a 17th-century panelled lobby area. Unlike the other big-name movie theatres, Cinema City curates a more diverse programme of art-house and foreign films, alongside your regular mainstream fare.

Norwich Bike & Go is a great service that allows you to rent bikes from their Bike & Go stations for just a few pounds a day. It’s perfect for exploring the city and making your way between some of the most popular attractions in Norwich. On the other end of the cycling spectrum, extreme sports enthusiasts will want to make their way to the Sloughbottom Park BMX Track. It’s open to the public and is absolutely free, although it’s a top-class track; the kind you’d happily pay to use.

If you want to explore the great outdoors on two wheels, be sure to check out The Broads by Bike, which offers circular rides around the National Park. It’s perfect for cyclists of all ages and abilities, with quiet lanes, flat relief and properly picturesque landscapes. In total, there are more than 14 circuits you can choose from; nine exploring the northern Broads and five exploring the southern Broads around the Waveney Valley.

Or, you can stick to one of the Norwich Seven Pedalways, which cumulatively add up to 58 miles of cycling. Five of them begin in the city centre before sprawling to the surrounding area. Meanwhile, the other two are inner and outer circuits of central Norwich.

The Guided Walking Tours of Norwich run from Easter to October, with the most popular being the City of Centuries tour. It explores more than one thousand years of Norwich history from its origins as the ancient Saxon settlement of Northwich, through the age of the Vikings, Norman invasion, the Black Death and WWII. The tours tend to take around 90 minutes and are designed to be walked at a gentle pace for people of all ages and abilities.

Alternatively, if you’re interested in the spooky side of the city, why not book a place on one of the Norwich Ghost Walks? For over 20 years, they’ve been giving people an insight into the peculiar past of Norwich, including poltergeists, phantoms, spectres and cannibals, while visiting some of the city’s top attractions.