Heights of Abraham – Save Your Money and Walk Up for Free
Heights of Abraham – Save Your Money and Just Walk Up for Free Instead
We visited Matlock Bath earlier this year when we were staying at Ernest’s Retreat Glamping Site which is nearby in Chesterfield. We love getting a good view when visiting beautiful places so we looked into Heights of Abraham in Matlock Bath. When we saw the prices of the cable cars for a family of 5 we instantly stopped considering that option. Instead, we looked into whether you could just go up Heights of Abraham for free.
How much does it cost for a family of 5 to ride the cable cars at Heights of Abraham?
At just over £100 for tickets for a family of 5, we thought that the price was utterly ridiculous. £100 to ride up for 7 minutes and down the same, and to gain access to average playgrounds didn’t seem worth it for us.
Sure, you also gain access to the caves (with tours at set times) so if that’s something your family wants to do then it may be worth it for you. You also get access to self-guided walking paths, heritage trails, and woodland tracks across the 60-acre estate but there are plenty of trails to enjoy just outside too (for free) which offer you excellent views as well.
Heights of Abraham discounts and offers
Sometimes, Heights of Abraham runs offers like their current summer deal that lets kids go for half price. That would still make the total over £70. This offer is only available when booking online at least 5 days in advance too. £70 is still steep for this, in our opinion! You can have a full family day out at Gulliver’s Kingdom in Matlock Bath instead – often for a lot less too as they run frequent offers.
Enjoy the views from Heights of Abraham for free
If you’re a money savvy family like us and all have able legs, then you can simply walk up the Heights of Abraham for free using the available public footpaths instead. It’s a little bit steep at times but doesn’t take very long.
We did this walk during the first heatwave back in May and that made it more difficult than it would have been in normal weather conditions as the paths are quite open to the weather during some parts of the walk. There are some shaded woodland parts too.
When you walk up like this without buying a ticket, you obviously do not get access to the site at the top but, from what we could see, we didn’t miss much. I have since had a closer look at the Heights of Abraham estate online and have confirmed that purchasing a ticket to get entrance would have been a waste of money for our family. We’re very happy with our decision to walk up for free instead!
Or visit High Tor right opposite Heights of Abraham for stunning views (completely free!)
Just opposite Heights of Abraham – very close to where you get on the cable cars if you are riding up, there’s a path that leads up to High Tor which is a great option to Heights of Abraham.
This path is steep at times too but full of adventure and offers plenty of stops to catch your breath whilst enjoying the views from viewpoints next to the path. I would confidently say that this side offers even better views as you can see down into the valley straight down to Matlock Bath.
The many lovely viewpoints along the way to the top are on very exposed cliff edges though so if you are doing this walk with kids, keep them close.
Another reason that I prefer this side, is that there’s plenty for kids and grown-ups to explore on the way up and down too.
There’s also a High Tor and the Heights of Abraham circular walk starting from Matlock Bath if you want to do both (for free) in one day. Some of the High Tor walks have an option to walk along an exposed clifftop path called Giddy Edge. This section is not suitable for young children or anyone who’s not comfortable with heights. It is a path that can be dangerous and should only be attempted by sensible older children and adults. We did not do the Giddy Edge section but we did have a peek at it from where we were standing!
