Winchester Science Centre & Planetarium — Attraction in Winchester

I decided to visit Winchester Science and Planetarium as my Son is obsessed with Science and Space and thought it will fill a day during the holidays where the weather forecast was ominous.

The cost per adult £17.50 and child £17.50 does seem high and can be extremely costly if you have a few children, but does decrease if you book in advance bear in mind it's also £4 each for the Planetarium. I was a bit gutted when I saw that there was a charge of £3 for Car Parking whilst going through the payment, but I had already committed by then.

The Car Park is quite small, but seemed to just cope with the demand which is fine, the grounds look well kept and beautiful. The facilities are very clean and modern and the staff were so polite and friendly.

I was so pleasantly surprised with this place, there were so many stands for the children (and adults) to interact with and learn from that you just couldn't get bored. The Space section had arcade stands, a spacesuit photo stand, but my recollection would just not do this place justice.

I would advise for you to bring a Picnic as the food and drink are expensive just like any other similar complex, there are many nice places to sit down and eat whilst being here.

The Planetarium was amazing and I would suggest that if you live in the West side of London and are going to Greenwich just for their Planetarium, go to this one instead! Both my Son and I enjoyed this more. The lady (forgot her name) that narrated was so clear, fun and informative which heightened our experience.

The Shop at the end was reasonably priced and had a lot to offer and my Son bought a cool space Pen 3D Picture of the Solar System.

Overall after my visit I feel this is great value for money, the staff and owners should be proud of what they have delivered here and I personally would recommend this for anyone who is slightly curious of Science or just...

I visited the Science Centre and Planetarium yesterday with my 9-year-old and 7-year-old and we had the most amazing day. I can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing - it was just perfect! The exhibits were both interesting and fun and kept the children entertained all day. However, what impressed me most about our visit was the staff. They were so friendly and informative and really hands-on. They got down to the children's level and patiently explained all about the science in a fun and memorable way. The science shows throughout the day were excellent, and the children absolutely loved the Dino Show where Grace shared her knowledge in a personalised and amusing way. Ollie really brought the world of dinosaurs alive when showing the children the fossils and telling them about the different species, as did Grace in the excavation section. Their enthusiasm really made an impression on my girls - they just couldn't get enough of your fun facts! Also Charles in the Planetarium was great, narrating about the planets in a calm and clear manner, taking the time to answer additional questions after the show. It was good to see a member of staff regularly going around disinfecting the activities ready for the next users. There were little science snippets on the cubicle doors of the toilets - each one had a different fun fact. (Yes, we were reading them out to each other - luckily it wasn't a busy day!) Details such as this show just how much thought has gone into creating this centre. We brought our own food and used the ample indoor picnic areas. By all accounts eating was last on the priority list - the girls couldn't wait to get back to the activities. We were there to the very end of the day and even that wasn't enough. If only we didn't live in Turkey we would get annual memberships. But we will definitely be back on our next...

This place is fun! I took my lady for the after hours show in the Planetarium. The cafe/bar was open for a beer and a snack and and the exhibitions were open for playing with.

As a 30 year old ex teacher with an MSc in Physics I was impressed at how the exhibits would engage young kids and encourage them to play around with some pretty fundamental science and engineering concepts. Of course the exhibits were well used and some showed a few signs that they could do with renovating, but I think this is expected in a place that (purportedly) sees 140,000 visitors a year :O

Ticket pricing, at £12.50 each adult was fair I thought, much the same price as a cinema ticket after all, and there was definitely more than a few hours of entertainment on a Saturday night. Parking was free after 5 (but at £2 for a day I would not have worried about paying anyway) and doors were open from 7. All the staff were really pleasant, informative and best of all happy.

The show in the planetarium was pretty, however the screen could be a higher resolution, often the stars were blurry and the images didn't have the same defined punch as I've seen in other, similar shows. The guided commentary was decent, a modified child friendly presentation, I personally would have liked more in depth information and theory, but again perhaps I am overqualified in this scenario.

My girlfriend enjoyed it (which is the most important thing) and it made a really nice, romantic date night that allowed to get back in touch with our inner children.

As a side note I have to say that I would not want to be here on a rainy day in the school holidays though, I can imagine it is some small hell on earth full of excited kids and...