Get Outside with Bradford 2025

Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor

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Get Outside with Bradford 2025

3-20 July 2025

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

An image of a large man made pool with fountains in front of a historic building with a clock tower
VisitBradford.
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Bradford 2025 is in full swing, with cultural happenings blooming all over the city and the wider district. Below are just some of the ways in which you can experience the larger scale public commissions. These free, site-specific works are designed for the outdoors and show how world-class talent and local perspectives can combine to create remarkable experiences for everyone.

Step into the moorland above the city with the newly commissioned visual artworks that form Wild Uplands, a collection of site specific pieces from internationally renowned artists. You can explore these while listening to Earth & Sky, a sound walk created by Opera North, combining new music, field recordings and the works of Bradford born Frederick Delius. You can also watch the city transform with BD Walls, an ever growing open air gallery of new large scale street art.

To get between all these outdoor happenings, check out the walking trails of Bradford on Foot, 25 curated routes showing off the best of the city and surrounding area.

Scroll down to find out more.

Our top picks

Wild Uplands

Wild Uplands, 24 May–12 October 2025, Free entry - Find Out More

Inspired by the surrounding landscape four new large scale public art commissions will embed themselves into the Bradford moorlands this summer.

The landscape of a grassy hills covered in pink shrubs and a sky full of clouds.
David Lindsay

Earth & Sky

Earth & Sky, 24 May–12 October 2025, Free entry - Find Out More

Opera North soundtrack your journey through the uplands with three new commissions and a homage to Bradford born composer Frederick Delius. Using state of the art geolocation technology you can listen to a curated soundscape that transitions as you do, through the moor.

A woman wearing a long green jacket and a speckled dress stood infront of a wall.
Tom Arber

Bradford on Foot

Bradford on Foot, 21 May–18 October 2025, Free entry

Get outside with one of the 25 specially devised walking trials in and around Bradford as part of city of culture 2025. Whether you’re looking to get into nature, connect to the local history or find accessible ways to enjoy the city outdoors, there’s something for everyone and it’s all completely free.

Bradford on Foot
Courtesy Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. Image credit: David Lindsay

Where to go near Get Outside with Bradford 2025

Threshold is an artist-led project space for sculpture, located in the front garden of a traditional back-to-back house in Burley, Leeds. Exhibitions are open for all to view. Encounter sculpture on your daily walk, or way to work or school.
Leeds
Event venue
Threshold Leeds

Threshold is an artist-led project space for sculpture, located in the front garden of a traditional back-to-back house in Burley, Leeds.

The Engine Room Notice Board
Southport
Event venue
The Engine Room

The Engine Room is a creative community hub in Southport’s Wayfarers Arcade, offering co-working space, cultural events and collaborative opportunities for artists, freelancers and educators.

Leeds
Gallery
The Mill Gallery

The Mill Gallery is an artist-run space in Leeds, supporting emerging artists to develop and showcase their work authentically.

Church congregation at St George's Church in Leeds
Leeds
Place of worship
St George’s Church

St George’s is a lively city centre church in Leeds with three services every Sunday and a midweek programme that includes groups, courses and events. We’re here to help people

Picante
Liverpool
Restaurant
Picante

Picante is a sun-soaked Mexican restaurant at the trailblazing Cains Brewery Village in Liverpool.

Miru Mill
Manchester
Event venue
Miru Mill

Miru Mill is an event space and micro-factory based at Churchgate Mill in Stockport.

Spa
iglu sauna

An authentic and affordable sauna and cold plunge experience in Hebden Bridge, in a beautiful outdoor setting amongst the trees.

Salford
Restaurant
Kallos Cafe & Wine Bar

Kallos is a Greek restaurant and wine bar in Salford, serving up exquisite dishes throughout the day and evening.

Symmetry Room
City Centre
Museum
Museum of Illusions

Museum of Illusions Manchester is part of the global Museum of Illusions Group, the largest and fastest-growing chain of private museums in the world.

What's on: Festivals

Three men sit next to each other. One's head is bandaged, one holds a torch and one wears a sleepmask.
Until
CinemaManchester
Wes World at HOME

Take a trip back into the world of Wes Anderson this May as HOME present a series of the acclaimed auteur’s most beloved films alongside The Phoenician Scheme.

From £7.95
Four young female dancers in folk costumes, one looking at the camera
ActivityCathedral Quarter
Góbéfest

Góbéfest, Manchester’s original international urban folk music and dance festival, is back with a killer line up and the best of Central Europe.

Free entry
The Herds, The Walk Productions
FestivalsManchester
MIF25: THE HERDS

Manchester International Festival 2025 kicks off with an awe-inspiring outdoor spectacle as THE HERDS take to the streets of Manchester, Rochdale, and Wigan.

Free entry
FestivalsCity Centre
MIF25: Festival Square

Festival Square is the beating heart of Manchester International Festival 2025, returning to its riverside location once again.

Free entry

Culture Guides

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Eclectic as ever. You'll find inventive reworkings, world-class contemporary dance and Greater Manchester's inaugural Improv Festival in our guide.

Laura Ellen Bacon, Into Being, 2025. Photo © India Hobson, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Exhibitions in the North

Willow weaving, textile collages, digital arts and ecology - all this and more in our exhibition top picks this month

portrait of Lorsung in a dark shirt with dark hair and dark round glasses
Literature Events in the North

We've got laughs and we've got leftfield on the live literature radar this month. Something for everyone, from poets playing with form to short story writers looking long.

Sextile
Music in the North

Open air clubs, new festivals and long-awaited gigs. The North West's live music scene is heating up this spring. 

Classical Music in the North

Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region's most cherished orchestral forces and venues.