The top nine places for students to visit in Leeds this Easter break

While most people get chance to go home for four weeks, sometimes staying over Easter can be a long time. However, The Tab has got you covered as we’ve created a list of where to visit in Leeds that’s totally student friendly. Of course, we have no doubt you’ll be studying for the upcoming dreaded exams and writing dissertations, but you have four weeks to check out these place and make all your friends want to come back to Leeds early.

Ikea

Ikea is only a 17 min drive from the Parkinson building and is the place in which you can pretend you have the greatest house and bedroom ever. You can wander through and plan out your dream house (with the money we will obviously earn from graduating from uni.) Ikea is also the perfect place for a game of hide and seek – there are uncountable hiding places. It’s also a chance to see what everyone means when they say that they had an ‘Ikea meal’. By this, they mean meatballs, chips, gravy and cranberry sauce (not ketchup). It’s a meal that pays off after you’ve finished going around the whole of Ikea – you know that you deserve it.

Cottage Road Cinema and Hyde Park Cinema

With both cinemas located not in the city centre, each one provides an old-fashioned charm about watching a movie. (Plus, Cottage Road even provides authentic ticket stubs.) Both play the latest movies released and offer friendly student prices of about £6 to watch a film. Cottage Road is located near Woodies (the first stop of the Otley run), and Hyde Park cinema (funnily enough) is located in Hyde Park. Yet don’t be put off by the distance as both are easy to get to and more fun than just going to Vue.

The Leeds Library

Leeds library is hidden within a row of shops near Leeds Trinity. Yet this unique library is definitely unknown and underrated. It’s a chance to look studious to everyone who’s gone on holiday, and it’s a great place to look for books that don’t relate to a degree. Plus, it will make people question which library you are in, as it is just as fancy as Brotherton. Once you’ve visited the Leeds library, you can also sneak in some revision while you’re there, so you don’t have to feel guilty about not doing any work. It’s also a surefire way to make your friends question how you got a seat in the library later on when exam season hits.

Meanwood Park

Meanwood Park is somewhere to visit when the sun is shining. It provides a countryside feeling instead of being in the busy city centre. It’s definitely got fewer students sitting on the grass there than Woodhouse Moor Park (Hyde Park as we all know it). There are cafes nearby and leads onto Meanwood Valley Trail if you fancy a hike.

Kirkgate Market

This is the place to go if you want to bag yourself some absolute bargains from fruit and veg to Yorkshire pudding wraps. Located near John Lewis, it’s open every day of the week apart from Sunday’s. The market stalls are inside and outside, and it’s definitely the best place to go for your weekly food shop, such as bowls of fruit for just one pound.

Trinity Kitchen

Trinity Kitchen is the place to go with a group of friends when you can’t decide on what to eat. Everyone gets to go to the food stand that they want, then you can all meet at a table. It provides different cuisine such as Vietnamese and Greek food, and you can get your lunch sorted for under £10.

St. John’s Church

No, I’m not talking about the shopping centre next to Morrisons. St. John’s is actually the oldest building in Leeds city centre and definitely worth a visit. The last church service was held in the 1970s, and now the church is open to all on Fridays and Saturdays 11-1. It’s a great way to see the history of Leeds and take some photos.

Royal Armouries Museum

Royal Armouries is open daily and admittance to the museum is completely free. Plus, catching the bus 28 leads you straight there. The museum is filled with weaponry used in the past and a chance to stage some battle re-enactment photos, and its position alongside the dock is perfect for the insta. You even have the opportunity to fire a crossbow, and there is a range of other events that the museum is holding over Easter.

York

If you fancy leaving Leeds for the day, York makes a great day out. Only half an hour away on the train, York is entirely different to Leeds. It’s got all the shops and restaurants like any city centre but also cobbled streets and a massive cathedral. Definitely, a place to get some edgy photos knowing you can return back to Leeds later. The best part is that if you pick the right times on the train, you can get there and back for a fiver.