Best Western Hotels GB | Alton Towers Hotels

Pick a hotel near Alton Towers and face your inner demons on the “psychoaster” Thirteen, feel what it’s like to fly on Air or plummet deep into the ground on Oblivion. For more chill and less thrill, you can cruise the nearby canals of Staffordshire.

Things to do at Alton Towers

You’ll scream until you’re hoarse on thrill rides like Blade, the pirate ship ride that swings until it’s vertical. Then there’s Nemesis, the inverted roller coaster that spins you round and spits you out like a used rag. Those who like to hang on to their lunch can enjoy upright pleasures on the Water Park’s Lazy River or get into the bubble zone at Volcano Springs. There’s even a spa if being half-drowned in 1,000 litres of cascading water under the Tipping Bucket doesn’t float your boat.

Alton Towers visitor tips

Have a strategy. Save the best rides until near the end of your day when queues will be shorter and the crowds disappear. The rides close only when there are no punters left. If you don’t mind sitting next to a stranger, the single rider queues move much faster. Parent Queue Share passes allow one parent to queue while the other entertains their small children. When the first parent has been on the ride, the second can take the ride and doesn’t have to queue. There are ID wristbands for small children to wear, available from customer services.

Things to do around Alton Towers

You’re in the countryside when you venture out of your hotel near Alton Towers. Just outside Stafford take a stroll through the paths of Doxey Marshes Nature Reserve to see lapwings reeling through the sky while ducks pop up through mirror-calm waters. Go hunting for classy Spode and Royal Doulton tableware at Stoke-on-Trent’s Potteries Antique Centre.

Eat, drink and shop around Alton Towers

The Potteries Shopping Centre in Stoke-on-Trent has all the big-name brands from Accessorize to Wallis. Ceramics fans can enter shopping nirvana at factory outlet shops like the Stoke Shop in Stoke-on-Trent where you can browse the likes of Portmeirion and Royal Worcester china. When hunger strikes, make your way to a Stoke alehouse for a helping of lobby, the traditional Staffordshire stew of meat and veg that kept potters’ stomachs full in hard times. On the second Saturday of the month there’s a farmers’ market in Stafford stuffed with prime cuts from the surrounding countryside, organic herbal nursery products, mouth-watering cheeses and the freshest fruit and veg.