Ah, Manchester. Birthplace of bands like Oasis and The Smiths, rival football clubs Manchester United and Manchester City, and, of course, the most famous fictional Coronation Street. It's got nightlife, brilliant shopping, and a lot of really cool hotels which means if you haven't made your way northwest to spend a weekend here yet, you're definitely missing out. If you're in need of a bit of inspiration for your next day trip, here are 26 things to do in Manchester to give you some ideas.
The Northern Quarter is the place to grab a cocktail. It's full of fantastic independent bars and cafes, as well as some great vintage shops, galleries, record shops and boutiques. It's also got some great restaurants including PLY, which has mouth-watering pizza, and 63 Degrees, a popular family-owned French brasserie. Spinningfields also has amazing restaurants and bars, such as The Alchemist and The Dockyard, while Castlefield is one of the prettiest areas of the city. There's also the vibrant Gay Village which has some of the UK's best clubs, restaurants and bars.
If you like your food simple and served up in front of the TV, then try the Fab Cafe bar for a light snack. Former Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand's restaurant, Rosso, has firmly established itself in the Manchester dining scene for top-notch Italian nosh. Head to Manchester's Chinatown to grab some cheap authentic grub. Elsewhere, Wilmslow Road in Rusholme has earned the moniker, the "Curry Mile", thanks to the huge number of South Asian restaurants in the area.
Manchester has one of the best nightlife scenes in the UK. For a fancy night out, hotel bars like Cloud 23 in the Hilton Manchester Deansgate and Mr Coopers in The Midland Hotel are great for swanky cocktails. If you'd prefer a pub vibe, complete with beer garden, real fireplaces and tiny intimate rooms, try The Briton's Protection. One of the oldest pubs in the city, it has a great range of whiskies. In the Northern Quarter, visit the The Whiskey Jar for a cocktail or three. It's very atmospheric, set in a converted textile mill. The Wharf in Castlefield is also great for real ales and outdoor dining, thanks to their canal side terrace.
If all the bands to come out of Manchester played a gig together, it would produce one amazing set list. In the 1960s, The Hollies and The Bee Gees paved the way for Manchester's musical legacy, while the 1980s saw The Smiths and Joy Division release ground-breaking albums. Then in the 1990s the Madchester movement thrust the city into the forefront of popular culture. A visit to the The Salford Lads' Club is a pilgrimage for many fans of The Smiths, they even have a room dedicated to the band thanks to the iconic photograph on their 1986 album, The Queen Is Dead. Find out more on a Manchester Music Tour – the company was founded by Inspiral Carpets drummer, Craig Gill.
Unsurprisingly given its rich musical heritage, there's no shortage of places to see live music. The huge Manchester Arena has played host to acts like Madonna, The Rolling Stones and Oasis, or try the charity-run Band on the Wall for a bit of jazz. A former Victorian pub, it's been playing live music since the 1930s. If underground dive clubs are more your style, then head to South Nightclub. Clint Boon's Disco Rescue on the Saturday night gives a neat nod back to Manchester's 90s indie heyday.
The cobbled streets, bars and clubs of Canal Street are home to one of the liveliest, biggest and best gay scenes in the country. In August, the streets come to life with stalls, live music and a parade for Manchester Pride. At one end is the Velvet Hotel, which has a bar and restaurant, and at the other end you can grab a drink at G-A-Y nightclub.
Two of the biggest football teams in the world can be found in Manchester - the reds of Manchester United and the blues of Manchester City. The teams, and fans, share a long, fierce rivalry and an illustrious history. Old Trafford has been home to the Red Devils since 1910. The stadium tour also gives you access to the Old Trafford Museum, where you can pretend you're leading out the team as you emerge from the tunnel. If your loyalties are more blue, City's ground at The Etihad also runs a stadium tour where you can host a press conference or sit in your favourite star's seat in the home changing room.
Manchester’s National Football Museum, housed in a suitably spectacular structure – the sloping, six-storey glass Urbis building near Victoria train station –houses some true treasures of the world’s most popular game. Here you can see the 1966 World Cup Final ball, Maradona’s 'Hand of God' shirt, and the only surviving version of the Jules Rimet World Cup trophy. They also display the personal collection of Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000), considered one of the greatest English footballers of all time. You have to pay for the exhibitions, but entry is free.
Built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the National Aquatics Centre is now a community facility, where you can swim, dive or just splash about. For watersports outdoors, visit Chorlton Water Park, the first designated nature reserve in the city. Its large lake is great for sailing, windsurfing and canoeing.
If you've been inspired by Sir Chris Hoy or Laura Trott, visit the National Cycling Centre and have a go on an indoor Olympic-standard track. Over 12s can try a taster session in the Velodrome, and spend an hour learning the skills needed to ride the banked sides.
The Science and Industry Museum is free to visit, and you can spend several hours seeing a working cotton mill or experiencing a Victorian sewer (smells and all), if you're visiting for the first time. For dinosaurs and mummies, the Manchester Museum has live animals to play with, like frogs and lizards, in their Vivarium. Working class history is showcased in the democratic People's History Museum, which showcases political objects involved in the struggle for equality in Britain. On Tuesdays, you can visit the Greater Manchester Police Museum to find out more about the history of the force from the Peelers up to the present day. The Imperial War Museum North is housed in a futuristic, aluminium-clad building in Trafford Park, and looks back at the effect war and conflicts have had on the people of Britain. The interior has been designed to be purposely unsettling, just like war, and the AirShard entrance is exposed to the elements (it's actually a straight tower, but looks like it is leaning).
The campaign that brought women the vote began at No 62 Nelson Street – now the Pankhurst Centre. Home to Emmeline Pankhurst, who lived there with her family; she hosted the first ever meeting of the Women’s Social and Political Union there. The museum, which pays tribute to the fight for women to become equal, is only open on Thursdays and Sundays.
Manchester Cathedral dates back to the fifteenth century, though its Gothic lines have been hacked about too much to have any real architectural coherence. Actually, it’s surprising it’s still here at all: in 1940, a 1000lb bomb all but destroyed the interior, knocking out most of the stained glass, which is why it’s so light inside today.
The Angel Stone is all that remains from an early Saxon Church (c700) and was found embedded in the South Porch of the current cathedral in Victorian times. A £2.9m visitor centre was opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 2002, and in the basement you can see the remains of a medieval hanging bridge, only discovered during excavations in the 1880s and now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
While they contain endless book-shaped treasures, you'll mainly marvel at the buildings they're housed in. The Grade I listed John Rylands Library, part of the University of Manchester, is famous for its neo-Gothic architecture and was built in 1900. The fine oak panelling inside comes from Gdansk, and the exquisite Reading Room was built 30ft above the street so as not to disturb readers when the horse-drawn traffic passed over the Deansgate cobblestones . It's undergone a £17m refurbishment, but the original fixtures and fittings have been preserved. You can see some fine collections of books and other items in its exhibition gallery for free. Manchester is also home to Chethams Library - the oldest public library in the English-speaking world (1653). But the building its housed in is even older, as it was built in 1421 for priests to live in. As well as the unique furniture in the beautiful Reading Room, they have a collection featuring works once owned by Henry VIII and the Renaissance playwright and poet Ben Jonson. Its free to visit, but as it's run by an independent charity, they welcome donations to help its upkeep.
The largest "theatre in the round" in the country is Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre. With an interior designed to resemble a lunar space craft (weighing in at 150 tonnes), no seat is further than nine metres from the stage, which has seen Helen Mirren, Tom Courtenay and Maxine Peake tread its boards. The Palace Theatre in Oxford Street first opened in 1891 as a music hall venue, and shows West End musicals as well as opera and ballet. There's also the Contact Theatre – run by the charity Contact – which aims to give opportunities to the next generation of creatives, so expect a dynamic and diverse programme. The Opera House has been a theatre, cinema and then bingo hall, before moving back into theatrical productions in the 1980s. Expect West End shows and plays on their regional tours, along with comedians, cabaret and "audience with...." evenings.
Manchester has a great blend of large shopping centres, independent shops and boutiques. There's two Selfridges in Manchester, one in the Trafford Centre and the other in Exchange Square. You can find more high-end shopping in Harvey Nichols, which is close to the National Museum of Football and the Royal Exchange. Don't forget to pop into the bar for a glass of champagne. You'll find all your high street favourites in the Trafford Centre - which also has a cinema, adventure golf and LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre. It's five miles out of the city centre, but you can drive, get the bus, train or tram there. If you're staying central, the Manchester Arndale centre has more than 200 shops, or Deansgate's Barton Arcade is like stepping in time as you shop, as the bright, airy Victorian glass and iron structure, built in 1871, has been significantly restored. Visit Affleck's Palace, on Church Street, which has tattooists, vintage clothing and jewellery among its stores.
Church Street Market has been a city fixture for more than a 100 years, selling clothes, fruit & veg and second-hand books, as well as street food. Piccadilly Gardens also holds a weekend arts and crafts market.
Manchester Art Gallery was launched in 1823 as the Royal Manchester Institution for the Promotion of Literature, Science and the Arts, becoming the MAG in 1882, and has a fine collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. The galleries, café and shop are all free to enter.
The choristers in Manchester Cathedral are trained at Chetham’s School of Music. This fifteenth-century manor house became a school and a free public library in 1653 and was turned into a music school in 1969. There are free recitals during term time, and you can visit the oak-panelled Library with its handsome carved eighteenth-century bookcases. Along the side corridor is the main Reading Room, where Marx and Engels beavered away on the square table that still stands in the windowed alcove. There’s no public access to the rest of the complex, except to Stoller Hall, a 500-seat concert hall that had its grand opening in 2017. Looking for Manchester holidays? We've got a huge selection of fantastic options for you to have a look through.
Piccadilly Gardens has undergone a huge redevelopment to become a major public space in the city, hosting live concerts and events, particularly in the summer. It has fountains as well as grassy areas to sit and have a picnic on, and is surrounded by listed buildings, cafes and restaurants. Didsbury St James Conservation Area is a great place to see some of Manchester's finest buildings, including The Church of St. James. Or Fletcher Moss Park, Didsbury has beautiful botanical gardens to visit, while Heaton Park is a Grade II listed open space. One of the largest conservation areas in Manchester is in Castlefield, where the Roman's built a fort they called Mamucium.
In Manchester, you're never very far away from the network of canals that helped turn Manchester into an industrial powerhouse. The Canal & River Trust have a list of places you can visit in the Manchester area.
You can hire your own boat or jump on a guided cruise of the waterways to find out more. City Centre Cruises will take you out on either the LS Lowry or the Emmeline Pankhurst. You can even have Sunday lunch or afternoon tea onboard.
Although it's the home of ITV's Coronation Street, one of the most popular places to visit in the city centre is Albert Square (also the fictional home of its arch soap rival, Eastenders). The Victorian Gothic, Grade I listed Manchester Town Hall dominates the public square, but The Albert Memorial is equally striking (and listed), with its ornate spire. It's one of several public statues in the area.
The city's cultural calendar is pretty packed throughout the year - and in the summer time in particular, when the festivals come thick and fast. The Manchester International Festival (MIF) takes place every two years in venues across the city, check out their website to find out the upcoming dates. They offer a critically-acclaimed performing and visual arts programme. Heaton Park hosts music festival Parklife, one of the biggest festivals in the UK. At Castlefield Bowl, an open-air amphitheatre, Sounds of the City has live music over three weekends in the summer, featuring some of the most acclaimed artists. However the major annual event in the city, usually held over the August Bank Holiday, is Manchester Pride. Manchester's Gay Village is the hub of the colourful celebrations of the LGTBQ+ scene in the city.
Manchester is fast gaining a reputation for its Christmas markets, with around ten city centre markets to choose from. The chalets arrive in the middle of November, and finish just before Christmas Eve. Along with all the gifts, there are bars and street food. The Christmas Lights usually have their big switch on at the start of November, with a celebrity pushing the button in Albert Square.
Deansgate cuts through the city centre from the Rochdale canal to the cathedral, its architectural reference points ranging from Victorian industrialism to post-millennium posturing. One landmark is the Great Northern mall, flanking Deansgate between Great Bridgewater and Peter Street. This was once the Great Northern Railway Company’s Goods Warehouse, a great sweep of brickwork dating back to the 1890s, originally an integral part of a large and ambitious trading depot with road and rail links on street level and subterranean canals down below.
We've already put together a list of the coolest hotels in Manchester to get you started. We’ve also got plenty of other hotels in Manchester to stay at, whatever your budget.
Manchester offers a variety of activities for adults with all different interests. From exploring museums and galleries, like the Whitworth and Manchester Art Gallery, to catching live music at venues like the O2 Apollo or Band on the Wall. The city is famous for its vibrant nightlife, with numerous bars and clubs in the Northern Quarter and Deansgate, and a diverse food scene which can be experienced at places like Mackie Mayor and Altrincham Market. For sports fans, tours of Old Trafford or the Etihad Stadium are musts.
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