Heights of Abraham — Attraction in Derbyshire Dales

A lovely outing starts with a cable car ride up over the road to the heights, the cable car certainly gives you wonderful views, & it actually stops for a few mins halfway up & down for you to have a look around & admire the views, perfect time for photos, takes about 5 mins to go up. When you get to the top you get out & are directed to a lady who gives you general info about the place & the cavern tours,The Great Masson cavern, & The Great Rutland cavern, then you just go where you want. The 2 tours are really informative, & interesting to learn facts from the past, no need to book the tours, just join the next one. They have Vista restaurant, booking needed busy times, & the Terrace Cafe, & plenty of picnic tables if you take your own which we did. There is a film theatre which shows the film of how the cable cars & infrastructure were built & put together, which was quite a feat, & they show a virtual tour through the Great Masson Cavern over 400 million years, which is ideal for people who are not mobile enough to do the actual walk. Plenty of toilets dotted about, all very well kept, clean, & don't smell, they certainly keep the whole place looked after, clean & tidy,& constantly updating,& investing, which is apparent when you learn there isn't much of the original cable cars running, constantly checking & doing any work. We spent almost 4 hours, just as a couple, looking around, in the film theatre, gift shop, sitting for a drink & lunch, if you have younger children you could certainly spend longer as they have a few different play areas as well, definitely recommend for a day out, but beware the closer to summer the more people, in our tour today there were about 12 of us so we had a nice slower pace through the cavern, but in the summer we were told by the guide(Andi), that she sees between 1500- 2000 people day, so those tours are done a lot quicker, definitely recommend here...

Wasn't sure what to expect as I'd never been on a cable car before & was a bit nervous as I don't cope well with heights but I actually really enjoyed it. Seeing the cars arrive & people getting on & off as the cars were still slowly moving didn't help at first but the guy overseeing everything stopped the cars on request for my elderly father to get on - he was more than happy to do so.

Yes, the staff were lovely - friendly & helpful. The girl in the ticket booth at the bottom even showed us how to download the apps onto my mobile for information (I'm a bit of a technofobe!).

Getting to the place was a bit tough, but parking at Matlock Bath Station was fine & not too expensive for the whole day. Then there's a 5 minute walk to the entrance for the Heights which culminates in a steep incline - thankfully it has a handrail. When we left at the end of the day they let me fetch my car to the entrance to help my Dad who uses a walking stick.

It was well worth the effort - the views were amazing. The cars were clean & airy with small openable windows. The ride stopped for a few minutes partway so we could take pictures.

The facilities at the top were really nice, but again many of the pathways were steep. The restaurant was clean with friendly, helpful & efficient staff. The photo was taken from there & mists were starting to obscure the views at the end of the day but it was still amazing. We had a hot meal in the restaurant & both of us were impressed with the presentation & how well it was cooked - really tasty!

The attractions at the top were interesting with history of the area and location clearly given & the views were spectacular! The guide is really useful.

We were surprised at how much was at the top - it's a large site. With exhibitions, a tower to explore, a kiddies playground, refreshments & lots of beautiful walks all over the place we really enjoyed our trip & will...

If you want to see tourism done right then this is for you! My wife and I went today and were really impressed! Whole site was clean and well maintained. Cable cars spotless and we were able to just have us two in ours. The theatrical staff who welcome you are excellent and enthusiastic as are all the normal staff. The cave and mine tours are brilliantly run. The view points and tower are lovely. The information boards are very good and staff knowledgeable. We don't have kids now but there was clearly fantastic provision for people to eat there own food at numerous tables with shelter from sun or rain. The kids play area was clean and well stocked with wood chip. Whole place was invested in and nothing was tired. Local ice cream was lovely and sensibly priced considering the captive audience element. We reserved a balcony table for two in the Vista restaurant and were served excellent quality food. The starter/ light bites were big and exceptionally good. I had the chilli con carne which was large and totally restaurant quality. Again, not extortionate considering the location, ambience and views. We can normally spot where businesses are missing something or staff are less well motivated or trained, but I, for the first time ever, came away absolutely thrilled to see something done so perfectly! Well worth the money and congratulations to the staff themselves and their management. Outstanding day. We walked there from our holiday cottage but if you are coming by car, do your research as to the parking. We filled the whole day there and left at 4pm for the gentle ride down. It was definitely worth the money and the excellent cafe and restaurant saved us carrying food half the day. 11/10 to the owners and staff. The most impressed I've been in a long...