Manchester travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Manchester, planned over three days
Best time to visit Manchester
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring sweet spot with lighter evenings, gig season in full swing and reliable Peak District walking. Best in late April and May.
Peak event season with Parklife in June, open air gigs in July and Village Pride in late August. Long light, festival prices.
Many locals' favourite season. Warehouse Project opens, literature and food festivals run, and moorland colour peaks. Best September to early October.
Christmas Markets to late December, then January is cheapest, quietest and darkest. February brings Chinese New Year in Chinatown.
What's on
- Manchester Jazz Festival Mid to late May
Ten days of gigs across small venues and free stages in the centre.
- Parklife Mid June
Dance, rap and pop festival at Heaton Park with about 82,500 people a day and no camping.
- Castlefield Bowl Sounds of the City July
Open air gigs at Castlefield Bowl through July.
- Manchester Village Pride August bank holiday weekend
Community rooted successor to Manchester Pride in the Gay Village. Book hotels far ahead.
- The Warehouse Project September to New Year
Season of club nights at Depot Mayfield, peaking through autumn.
- Manchester Food and Drink Festival late September / early October
City food and drink festival centred on Cathedral Gardens.
- Manchester Literature Festival October
Bookable literary festival across city venues in October.
- Manchester Christmas Markets early November to 22 December
Large city centre markets across 10 sites. Go midweek and go hungry.
- Chinese New Year in Chinatown February
Dragon parade and street food in one of the UK's largest Chinatowns.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Manchester
John Rylands Library
A cathedral like Gothic library where the vaulted reading room makes the building itself the main exhibit.
Northern Quarter
Independent shops, records, street art and coffee in the neighbourhood that best explains Manchester's self image.
Afflecks
Four storey indoor market of independent traders covering vintage, vinyl, tattoo studios and alternative fashion.
Piccadilly Records
The main record shop of the Northern Quarter crawl and a first stop for music led shopping in Manchester.
Vinyl Exchange
Long running second hand record shop, the deep crates stop on the Northern Quarter record crawl.
Manchester Craft and Design Centre
Makers working and selling in the old fish market building, a calmer creative stop on the Northern Quarter crawl.
Manchester Museum
The UK's largest university museum, with Stan the T. rex, Egyptian collections and a vivarium of live frogs.
The Whitworth
Art gallery in its park with textiles, modern art and a glass walled cafe looking into the trees.
Where to stay in Manchester
King Street / St Peter's Square / Deansgate-Spinningfields
first trip, best overall base
Walking distance to the main museums, halls and restaurants in the best lit and most populated part of the centre.
Northern Quarter / Ancoats
food, music and independent Manchester
Base here for evenings of gigs, bars, records and restaurants, with Ancoats calmer and more residential than the Quarter.
Castlefield
calm, canals and couples or families
Quieter at night with the prettiest walking in the centre, still 10 to 15 minutes on foot from everything.
Salford Quays / MediaCity
families, Old Trafford football and space
Modern waterside hotels at lower prices by the Lowry and Imperial War Museum North, but quiet at night.
Think twice about
- Piccadilly Gardens and the Piccadilly station approach
Open drug dealing and use, aggressive begging and an intimidating feel after dark. Walk through by day, route around it late at night.
- Bottom end of Oldham Street and streets behind Piccadilly Gardens
Same issues as Piccadilly Gardens in a quieter, less lit form. Fine to pass through, not a place to base.
- Britannia hotels in Manchester
Sachas on Oldham Street and the Britannia on Portland Street draw consistently the worst cleanliness, maintenance and safety reviews in the centre.
- Moss Side
Lived in neighbourhood with little visitor accommodation and weaker late night transport back to the centre.
Best restaurants in Manchester
Skof
Tom Barnes's tasting menus in a relaxed former warehouse, Manchester's top table.
Mana
Open kitchen tasting menu restaurant that ended Manchester's 42 year wait for a star in 2019.
Higher Ground
Produce driven bistro and wine bar cooking sharing plates from the team's own farm, with natural wine.
Erst
Small Ancoats restaurant for fire and fermentation leaning small plates and natural wine, an essential booking.
The Sparrows
Tiny railway arch restaurant for spatzle and continental dumplings with a serious Central European wine list.
El Gato Negro
Great-value tapas across three floors of a King Street townhouse, the reliable pick for a mixed group.
Hawksmoor Manchester
The city's best steak cooking in a former Victorian courthouse, with Sunday roasts that book out.
Winsome
Thoughtful modern British cooking with sharing pies and house cured meats in a warm open kitchen room.
Best coffee in Manchester
Ezra & Gil
Big, bright Northern Quarter coffee shop, a good finish to the Afflecks and record shop crawl.
Foundation
Roastery cafe in the Sevendale House arcade, an easy pit stop on a Northern Quarter shopping crawl.
Outdoor things to do in Manchester
National Cycling Centre
Coached taster sessions on the Olympic standard velodrome track, steeper and harder than it looks on television.
Chill Factore
The UK's longest indoor real snow slope for lessons, lift passes and a rainy day group activity.
Heaton Park
One of Europe's largest municipal parks, with a lake, hall, tram rides and 600 plus acres of green space.
The Mere Golf Resort
James Braid designed parkland course around a lake with a resort hotel and spa, the Cheshire trophy round.
Mottram Hall
Hotel golf course with spa on site and golf break packages that undercut The Mere for a mid range round.
Shrigley Hall
Elevated parkland course above the Cheshire Plain on the Peak District edge, with hotel and spa on site.
Withington Golf Club
Friendly 18 hole parkland club course known for its three hole finishing stretch and easy weekday tee times.
Davyhulme Park Golf Club
Visitor welcoming 18 hole parkland course with an Art Deco clubhouse and cheap midweek green fees.
Best hotels in Manchester
Stock Exchange Hotel
Small luxury hotel in the former stock exchange, with a rooftop terrace and Tom Kerridge's grill downstairs.
King Street Townhouse
Boutique luxury hotel with a rooftop pool and spa terrace overlooking the Town Hall.
The Lowry Hotel
The city's classic five star with large rooms, river views and a spa, five minutes from Spinningfields.
Kimpton Clocktower
Characterful large hotel in a Victorian railway insurance palace with a clock tower and The Refuge bar.
The Midland
Grand Edwardian railway hotel by St Peter's Square, best booked on a deal or with a room upgrade.
Motel One Manchester Royal Exchange
Reliable design budget chain in the best possible location by King Street and the Royal Exchange.
YOTEL Manchester Deansgate
Compact, modern and well run budget hotel in the Deansgate sweet spot, the cheap pick that keeps the base.
ibis Styles Manchester Portland Street
Clean and predictable budget chain stay on Portland Street, priced well outside event dates.
Is Manchester expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | £80 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | £160 a person |
| Splurge | £400 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Chetham's Library: a few days ahead
- The Warehouse Project: weeks ahead
- Co-op Live: weeks ahead
- AO Arena: weeks ahead
- Aviva Studios: weeks ahead
- National Cycling Centre: weeks ahead
- The Mere Golf Resort: a few days ahead
- Skof and Mana need weeks to months for weekends. Erst, Higher Ground, Winsome and The Sparrows need days to a week.
- Premier League match tickets usually need membership and general sale is limited. Build around the stadium tour and museum instead.
- Warehouse Project, Parklife and big arena shows sell out on announcement. Join mailing lists rather than relying on resale.
- Special exhibitions and Chetham's Library tours are timed and capacity limited. Book those specific slots.
- Hotel prices are event driven and can triple. Check football and arena calendars before fixing dates and book cancellable rates.
Is Manchester safe?
- Route around or briskly through Piccadilly Gardens and the station approach after dark.
- Keep phones and bags secure in crowded nightlife streets, markets and tram stops.
- Football days change crowd patterns and tram crowding around grounds. Away fans should not wear colours in home team pubs.
- Take care on unguarded canal towpaths at night and after drinking.
Manchester travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The Printworks and Deansgate Locks are chain bar nightlife complexes. Drink in the Northern Quarter or Ancoats instead.
- Piccadilly Gardens is a transport interchange with grass, not a sight. Do not picnic there or book a garden view room.
- The Curry Mile is an experience, not automatically the best curry in Manchester. Pick a place before you go rather than following the touts.
- Unofficial football ticket resale is a scam and touting risk. Use club sites only.
Getting around Manchester: public transport and more
- Walk first. The centre is compact and flat, about 25 minutes from Piccadilly station to Castlefield.
- Learn the Metrolink tram. Contactless tap on and tap off, with the centre in Zone 1 and lines to the Quays, Heaton Park and the airport.
- Piccadilly is the main station for London, Liverpool, the Peak District and the airport. Book long distance trains ahead.
- Do not drive in the centre. Parking is expensive and one way systems are hostile, and tram and train cover most excursions.
- Trams stop around midnight to 1am. Budget for a licensed taxi or private hire after arena and Warehouse Project nights.
Who Manchester suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Manchester your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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