Manchester

The city is in the North West of England, between Liverpool and Leeds. It is seen by many as a young, vibrant and cutting edge city, where there is always something happening. The "Manchester brand" is seen to extend well beyond the city's boundaries (covering all of neighbouring Salford and Trafford, as well as districts of other boroughs) and even beyond those of Greater Manchester. This serves to reflect the influence it has on the wider region as a whole.

Manchester is a friendly city as well. Northerners do talk to each other and to strangers. Just compare asking for directions in London and Manchester and the difference is often clear. Locals seem more proud than ever of Manchester and all it offers. Some outsiders may find this fierce pride in their city somewhat "un-British". Positive comments and praise go down a treat with the locals, and with all that has happened, such is often due.

The adjective associated with Manchester is Mancunian or simply Manc. The distinctive linguistic accent of the city's indigenous inhabitants is much more closely related to that of Liverpool with its strong north-Waleian (Welsh) roots than it is to the Lancastrian or Cestrian of the neighbouring cotton towns. However, most locals still consider Manchester to be part of Lancashire, and the rivalry with Yorkshire persists.

Although it has gained the stereotype of being very wet, it is actually less than the UK average.

• 1 Manchester Visitor Information Centre, Manchester Central Library, St Peters Square, M2 5PD, ☏ , fax: +44 161 236-9900, touristinformation@visitmanchester.com. Mon-Sat 9AM-5PM. Has up-to-date lists of places to eat and sleep. The visitor centre has moved close to the town hall. (calls incur a 12p per minute service charge, plus your phone provider's per-minute access charge). (updated Oct 2022)

Manchester was the site of the Roman fort Mamucium (breast-shaped), founded in AD 79, but a town was not built until the 13th century. The old Roman road that ran to the nearby fort of Coccium (Wigan) is mirrored today by the route through Atherton & Tyldesley. A priests' college and church (now Chetham's School and Library and the Cathedral) were established in Manchester in 1421. Early evidence of its tendency towards political radicalism was its support for Parliament during the Civil War and in 1745 for the Jacobite forces of the Young Pretender.

It was not until the start of the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries that this small mediaeval town would build its fortune. The presence of an existing cloth trade, coupled with the mechanisation of spinning in nearby Bolton, created a thriving cotton industry in Manchester. The damp, humid atmosphere was good for cotton spinning since it meant fewer broken threads and reduced the risk of explosions from cotton dust. Water power rapidly gave way here to steam invented by Boulton and Watt and a steam-driven factory was built in Ancoats, immediately north-east of what is now the city centre. By the end of the 19th century, Manchester was one of the ten biggest urban centres on Earth (even before counting the wider population, within 50 miles of the Northern England region, such as Liverpool, Sheffield, Bradford, Leeds, and Central Lancashire).

Whitworth, inventor of the eponymous mass-cut screw thread, also manufactured his equally revolutionary rifled guns in huge quantities at his factory on Sackville Street. After their initial meeting at the Midland Hotel, still one of the city's most luxurious, Rolls and Royce began manufacture of their luxury motor cars in Hulme. Trafford Park, in Trafford, was to become the first industrial estate in the world, housing the Ford Motor Company and much of the pre-wartime aircraft industry, notably the 'Lancaster' Bombers of the AVRO Co.

Manchester's success during the Victorian era and before is evident everywhere you look. Great Ancoats Street was a source of wonder to Schinkel, the neo-classical architect from Berlin. Equally grandiose neo-Gothic buildings line the old Financial District around King Street, and public institutions such as the University and the many libraries are dotted around everywhere. There is even a statue of Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln Square (Brazennose Street, straight across Albert Square from the Town Hall main entrance) commemorating his personal thanks for Manchester's support during a cotton famine created by Britain's refusal to run the Federal blockade of the slave-owning Confederacy during the American Civil War.

Continuing its radical political tradition, Manchester was the home of opposition to the Corn Laws and espoused Free Trade, as well as Chartism and the Great Reform Act. It was instrumental in the establishment of socialism in the UK. Early socialist theorists Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx frequented the city; the former conducted his famous inquiry into the condition of the working class, and the latter sought to draw universal rules from the particular circumstances of the early industrial revolution. Cleaving to a more gently pragmatic English tradition, it was the birthplace of the Trades Union Congress which led to the creation of the Labour Party. It was also home to a number of philanthropists of the industrial age, such as John Owens and John Dalton, who bequeathed large parts of their fortunes to improving the city.

Manchester has also been famous for its influence on the UK music scene. The Madchester movement of the early 1980s, started by Factory Records and Joy Division, led to the creation of the Haçienda nightclub (now demolished after standing empty for many years) and the birth of modern club culture. Manchester has given life to many hugely successful musicians, among them The Stone Roses, The Smiths, The Fall, Joy Division/New Order, The Happy Mondays, Oasis, James, and Badly Drawn Boy.

In the 2020s, Greater Manchester has become one of the preferred destinations for Hongkongers fleeing repressive laws imposed by China, with Salford, Sale and Tameside having a particularly high concentration of them.

Central Manchester is home to two of the largest universities in the UK. The University of Manchester (formed from a merger of Manchester University and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST)) and Manchester Metropolitan University (also known as 'Man Met', formerly the Polytechnic, itself a conglomeration of municipal colleges), as well as the Royal Northern College of Music. There is also a university in Salford, within one mile of the city centre, which is renowned as a European Centre of Excellence in Media. Together they create a body of over 86,000 students living full-time in the city.

Manchester is often named 'best student city'. It is very welcoming to the student lifestyle and many establishments in the centre and South Manchester are geared towards students; eating and drinking in Manchester can be very inexpensive due to the high competition that goes on between these establishments.

However, if you want to be far from students, there are many places that are not frequented by students although you may have to be prepared to pay a little extra. Also, a few places have a strictly 21+ policy so take identification with you. But those places are quite rare. In the student areas of Fallowfield and Withington, some venues operate a student-only policy so production of a student card (or something resembling a student card) is necessary.

Manchester is famous all over the world thanks to its football clubs, including Manchester United (Old Trafford) and Manchester City (Etihad Stadium, Sportcity). Both clubs offer stadium tours every day. Tickets for Premier League games can be hard for tourists to obtain, though cup matches are easier. Tickets to all matches are sold in advance, with no admission available on the day.

Old Trafford is also home to the Lancashire County Cricket Club. despite no longer being a part of the county of Lancashire. Tickets for Lancashire cricket matches are almost always available on a walk-up basis, though there is a discount when purchased in advance.

In 2002, Manchester was the host to the Commonwealth Games and a large area of East Manchester was converted into Sportcity. The centrepiece of this is the stadium. It was used for athletics during the Games, after which it was converted for football and Manchester City moved in. Next door to this is the Regional Athletics Arena, which was used as a warm-up track during the Games. The Manchester Velodrome started off the whole regeneration of East Manchester and formed part of the bid for the 2002 Commonwealth Games (and for Manchester's failed bid for the 2000 Olympics). Britain's great success in the cycling events in the 2012 Olympics owes much to this venue and many of the medal winners are based in and around the city. A BMX centre was added in 2010. Sportcity also includes the National Squash Centre and several tennis courts.

Manchester is a very mixed city. Many races and religions have communities in the city and it has a long history of being more tolerant than most cities to people of any background. The very large number of British Citizenship ceremonies, held in Heron House by the Town Hall each year, is a testament to this. Manchester is also extremely gay-friendly and very liberal-minded. It is very well known as being one of "The Big 3" in terms of sexual diversity along with Brighton and London. The Village is an area concentrated around Canal Street and is very popular with people of all sexualities. It is also home to an annual 12-day Pride festival with the involvement of people of all types; attracting all kinds of people: not just from Manchester but from the entire country and abroad, further reflecting Manchester's unique approach to tolerance and acceptance. Expect to see amongst others the likes of gay police officers, firefighters and health workers in the good-natured parade.

The atmosphere of the village area is very friendly and welcoming, as is Manchester's very large LGBT community, known to be one of the most accepting in the country. Manchester is certainly the most gay-friendly major city by far and has the largest and most visible LGBT community of any major city outside London. Most Mancunians have grown up with a tolerant attitude towards sexuality and it is extremely rare to come across homophobia, making Manchester a very welcoming city for LGBT people.

Manchester has a temperate maritime climate and rarely gets too warm or too cold. The city receives below-average rainfall for the UK. It is not significantly far behind London in terms of the average number of hours of sunlight per day (based on the last 100 years' data from Met Office) though it does have a few more days with rain. However, as a result of relatively mild winter conditions, there is never a period that one should avoid visiting due to extreme weather conditions.

As with any city, it puts on a good show when the weather is fine in spring and summer and there is a lot of al fresco drinking and eating. It does have its fair share of dull, grey days, which can strangely add to its charm for the visitor.

The summer months see daytime highs average around 20 °C (68 °F) and overnight lows averaging around 13 °C (55 °F). On its hottest days the temperatures can reach or surpass 26 °C (79 °F) and not go below 16 °C (61 °F) at night, but these only happen from time to time and are uncommon.

Daylight hours run from 4:45AM to 9:30PM in the summer. Darkness falls just after 3:45PM in the winter, with sunrise not until almost 8:30AM.

Manchester Airport (MAN ^IATA) south of the city is Britain's largest airport outside London, with flights to over 200 destinations, including North America, the Gulf and Far East. Most flights use Terminal 1, holiday charters are usually from T2, and T3 has smaller aircraft on domestic and near-European hops. Train is the quickest way downtown: they run frequently to Manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations, taking 20 min, for a fare of £6.20. Many trains continue direct to other cities: via Warrington to Liverpool, via Preston and Carlisle to Edinburgh and Glasgow, via Huddersfield, Leeds and York to Middlesbrough, Durham and Newcastle, and via Sheffield, Doncaster and Scunthorpe to Cleethorpes. Trains are sparse after midnight but you can use Bus 43 which runs all night, taking 50 min to Piccadilly via the university corridor/Oxford Road. The bus is just £2 for a single fare of any distance. There's also a tram, most useful for the southern suburbs.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport(LPL ^IATA) has mostly budget flights across Europe by Easyjet and Ryanair. There's a coach to the airport from Manchester's central coach station, taking 45 min. There are also several trains hourly between Liverpool South Parkway (the station near John Lennon Airport) and Manchester Oxford Road in city centre.

Manchester city centre is served by two major railway stations, 1 Piccadilly in the south and 2 Victoria in the north.

Piccadilly is the main destination for trains from around the UK, e.g. London, Birmingham, Leeds etc. Victoria has trains from Bradford and local services from elsewhere in North West England.

Trains from Liverpool, Leeds, York, Sheffield and Nottingham often also stop at 3 Manchester Oxford Road which is convenient for the University.

Other stations in the city centre are 4 Deansgate and 5 Salford Central, but generally only local services stop at these stations.

Avanti West Coast operates service between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston. This journey, on the West Coast Mainline, takes just over 2 hours in Pendolino trains that do not need to slow down when going around bends. Prices start from just over £26 each way if booked on-line in advance.

If you are travelling to a major rail station in Greater Manchester from a station outside Greater Manchester you can buy a PlusBus add on ticket which will give you bus (but not Metrolink) travel throughout Greater Manchester for a day. If you have a Railcard, the discount applies to PlusBus as well.

The outer ring road of the Manchester conurbation is the M60. It is accessible from Leeds or Liverpool by the M62 and from Scotland and the south by the M6. From the north and Scotland follow the M6 and then the M61. From the south take the M6 and the M56. The most direct route from the M6 to the M56 and South Manchester is to take the A556 leaving the M6 at junction 19, but it has a 50 mph/80 km/h speed limit for most of its length and can be somewhat congested at busy times of the day. It is signed Manchester and Manchester Airport.

Another route would be to carry on northbound up the M6, taking you directly to the M6/M62 interchange. Here, you would follow signs for Leeds and Manchester North. This can, however, seem a longer way round, but it does also give you access, via the M60 orbital road, to places around the conurbation and is a much better option if you wish to access the northern part of Greater Manchester.

If a little lost in the city centre, follow signs for the inner ring road, as there are signs to most destinations from this road. Parking in the city centre of Manchester can be expensive. Avoid the multi-storey car parks if you can and look for some open-air car parks. There are good ones by Salford Central Station, behind Piccadilly Station and opposite the cathedral.

If you have to use a multi-storey, the one by the Coach Station and the Village is handy. This is fine as a last resort if you have been driving around for an hour, looking for a place to park. There are increasingly more and more double yellow lines, which designate no parking at any time. Ladywell Park & Ride is situated near Eccles (M602, Junction 2); the car park is free and there is a tram station. Similarly, parking at the Trafford Centre (M60, junctions 9 and 10) is free and there are buses to the city centre and Stretford tram station. Details of other Greater Manchester Park & Ride schemes can be found here.

On Saturday from 12:30PM to Monday morning, just over from the city centre into Salford, you can park on a single yellow line (remember that you can never park on a double yellow line) or in a designated space without paying, unlike in the city centre where restrictions apply even during weekends. Streets like Chapel Street, Bridge Street, and the areas around them are a good bet and much safer now with all the new housing developments. There you are just a short walk from Deansgate.

Problems are rare as long as you take the usual precautions and do not leave valuables on display. Try not to put things in the boot (trunk) after a shopping spree if people are watching. Avoid parking under the bridges at all costs, and try the main roads, just off one or next to one of the many new blocks of flats where it is well lit. Watch out on bank holidays around here. Sometimes these are treated like a Sunday in the centre, but people have been known to get parking tickets on the Salford side. If unsure, treat a holiday, on the Salford side, as a normal day of the week or ask a warden if you can find one!

There are several free parking bays for motorbikes around Manchester city centre.

Coaches (long distance buses) run from all over the country and are generally the most reasonably-priced way to get into Manchester. London to Manchester on the coach can take about four hours, but it depends on the time of day and number of stops.

Chorlton Street Coach Station is a coach station in Manchester, close to the centre, between Chinatown and The Village on Chorlton Street. It has mainly services from National Express.

Shudehill Interchange is a bus & coach station located to the north of the city centre and is served by coaches from Flixbus & Megabus. In addition some bus services start from or call here.

• National Express is a comfortable and frequent service which runs 24 hours a day from some cities, including London and Birmingham. services start from Chorlton Street Coach Station.
• Megabus run services to/from London, Scotland. Fares also start at £1, and must be booked in advance online. Megabus services start from the Shudehill interchange.
• Flixbusrun services to/from London, Birmingham, Bristol, Scotland & Paris. Fares vary according to demand and can be booked online. Services start from the Shudehill interchange.

The nearest cruise terminal is Liverpool Cruise Terminal. The independent Bridgewater Canal enters Manchester from the west. The Canal & River Trust Rochdale & Ashton Canals enter the city from the north-east to join the Bridgewater canal at Castlefield. The Manchester Ship Canal can only be used on the Mersey Ferry cruise from Salford to Eastham between April and October.

Transport in Greater Manchester is overseen and co-ordinated by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) who use the branding "Bee Network" (Information: 0161 244 1000).

Bee Network operates a multimodal journey planner which is a great help in planning getting around the Greater Manchester area. Bee Network sell a number of tickets which are valid for multiple operators, such as the1-day Bee Bus tickets are £2.50 for children and £5 for adults. If you are planning to do a lot of travelling in one day, these might be your cheapest option. If using Metrolink There are tickets for single people and family tickets. The cheapest off-peak fares are after 9:30AM. For Smartphone users there is a "Bee Network" app available for Android & iPhones which has journey planning tools and the availability to purchase some ticket types.

Dotted around the city centre on main streets including Deansgate, Oxford Road, and Market Street, are the pedestrian-level street maps. They are usually placed in normal advertising hoardings, which can make them difficult to spot from a distance. The maps have been updated with different colours for each district area of the city centre. Your position is marked by a dark circle. They cover the whole centre down to the university district and also central Salford up to Salford University. You can obtain a similar map from the tourist information centre or download one from here.

Most smartphone owners use Google or Apple Maps but if you are more "Old School" A-Z maps are still available. These street maps, in book form, are available from newsagents or bookshops and, depending on size, cover everything from the city centre to the whole Greater Manchester conurbation.

Manchester city centre's many attractions are easily reached on foot, and walking provides the perfect opportunity to take in the architecture of the city. There are various pedestrianised streets across the city centre such as Thomas Street, Market Street.

Manchester contains a wide network of segregated cycle lanes which make crossing the city easy and quick by bike. The most notable cycle lane is on Deansgate Road and provides a safe way to travel across the city. Starling Bikes is the official provider of bike share across the city centre and has multiple bike sharing docking stations across the city centre and Oxford Road corridor. You can hire the new bikes through the Starling Bank Bike app. Some of the bikes include e-bikes. The app also lets you check availability of bikes at each docking station.

Pay attention to tram tracks in the street, and when crossing them, approach them from as close to perpendicular as possible, otherwise your tires can get caught in the groove next to the rail.

Unless a car is absolutely essential, you should avoid bringing a car into Manchester as there are severe traffic queues across the city centre.

City Centre parking is expensive: during the day, you can typically expect to pay up to £6 for two hours inside the inner ring road.

However there is often free (or cheap) parking in suburban or out-of-town shopping areas; for example, various tram/train park and ride locations across the city which enable you to park for free and take public transport into the city centre.

Bus services in Greater Manchester have been now moved to a franchise model under the unified Bee Network., with Bee Network buses branded in yellow, although some old operator-liveried buses remain with Bee Network vinyls. The Bee Network site provides information and timetables for all buses in Greater Manchester whether part of the Bee Network or run by another operator. TfGM operates a travelshop at Shudehill Interchange where timetables, maps and information for all Greater Manchester services can be found.

Piccadilly Gardens bus station is generally for services to the south of Greater Manchester along with Wigan and Bolton. Shudehill Bus Station has services to the north of Greater Manchester. Other services leave from street stands in the Piccadilly and Northern Quarter areas.

The South Manchester corridor that begins with Oxford Road and Wilmslow Road is the most-served bus route in Europe. Buses connect the centre with the universities and Rusholme, as often as every one minute. The main routes which serve the corridor are the 42/42A/42B/42C (towards Stockport, Reddish, Woodford and Handforth Dean respectively) and the 43 (towards the airport). The 142 and 143 shadow the portions of the 42 and 43 route providing extra frequency between the city centre and East/West Didsbury respectively. All the mentioned buses leave from the Piccadilly Gardens interchange in the city centre. Due to heavy traffic congestion, buses divert to avoid Wilmslow Road in Rusholme on Friday and Saturday nights after 8PM. Services via the corridor are moderately reduced over the summer period (July and August) as the student demand is much lower.

The number 43 bus runs 24/7 to the airport, every 10 minutes during weekday daytimes and every 30 minutes at night (as of 2024). Train services from Piccadilly Station also serve the airport regularly, other than between 1AM and 4AM. Buses to the Trafford Centre include the Route 250, from Piccadilly Gardens to the Trafford Centre and the Bee Network-operated 100, from Shudehill, via Blackfriars (the stop is just off Deansgate) and Eccles, to the Trafford Centre. The quickest, most direct option is the Diamond-operated X50 bus route (which also extends to RHS Bridgewater). They run every 30 minutes daily and takes 30 minutes. There are other bus services from Central Manchester to The Trafford Centre and additional services from other towns and suburbs in the conurbation. Metrolink trams also now serve the Trafford Centre.

Bus tickets can be purchased directly from the driver. Single Journey fares are capped at £2 for adults and £1 for children. A 1-day Bee Bus Adult pass costs £5 (Anybus & Tram pass off-peak costs from £6.00) (January 2024). These tickets can be used on any Bee bus and details of prices are available at their website. Adult passengers can use "tap & go" with a contactless bank card. There is video showing usage here.

If arriving in Manchester by train from outside Greater Manchester PlusBus tickets are available, see By train. Contactless credit and debit cards can be used directly at ticket gates, eliminating the need to buy a separate ticket.

Within the city centre, two free buses operate 7 days a week. Both buses start from Piccadilly station. As of 2024, Route 1 runs a circular route towards the south and west of the city centre passing Deansgate(-Castlefield) stations, every 10 minutes M-Sa from 7AM, until 7:30PM, every 10 minutes on Sundays and public holidays, between 10AM and 6:30PM.

Route 2 runs a circular route towards the North of the city centre, linking Piccadilly, Shudehill bus interchange, Victoria railway station); this route operates every 10 minutes M-Sa from 7AM to 7:30PM (from 10AM on Sundays and public holidays, until 6:30PM). Areas on the fringes of the city centre (such as Spinningfields, Petersfield, Oxford Road Corridor, Millennium Quarter) are now easier to access from other parts of the city. Due to the volume of pedestrian priority around areas such as Deansgate, traffic in the city centre is often slow at peak times.

Most bus services see their final service depart between 11PM and midnight, with some quieter routes earlier. Only the Oxford Road corridor from the city centre receives 24/7 bus service (route 43, supplemented by routes 142 and 143).

On Friday-Saturday and Saturday-Sunday nights, night buses additionally operate to Stockport (192 via Stockport Road, 203 via Hyde Road), Hyde (201), Ashton-under-Lyne (216 and 219), Chorlton (86) and Burnley (X43) A few routes operate an extended route on one or more of their night bus services: the 86 extends from its usual Chorlton terminus to Sale, and the 219 extends to Stalybridge and Glossop.

Manchester Metrolink trams all run through central Manchester via St Peters Square, Deansgate / Castlefield and Cornbrook, except for the yellow line. The lines then fan out:

Trams are identified by their destination on the tram front only; colours are only shown on maps and not on the tram. To pick the correct tram for your destination, find the final destination on the map; for example for a tram to Crumpsall from the city centre (yellow/green lines), look for a tram towards Bury. When inbound to the city centre trams will also show their route across the city centre where appropriate.

On Mondays to Saturdays each coloured line operates a 12-minute frequency (15 minutes on Sundays), timed for an even 6-minute service on the doubled lines, as of 2024. Some lines (green, grey and orange) only operate at peak hours: M-F 7AM-8PM and Sa AM-6:30PM. Light blue line services to Eccles only call at MediaCityUK if stated on the tram front (Eccles/Ashton via MediaCityUK); in normal circumstances this happens only when the orange line is not in operation on evenings and Sundays.

See Bee Network tram page for fare deals, service updates and travel planner; you must buy your ticket before boarding or see below for contactless options.

The Metrolink system, when used to its optimum, can provide good value for money. If you are going to be using it for more than one journey in a day, one option is to buy is a 1-day Travelcard (either peak, if travelling before 9:30AM on weekdays, or off-peak if travelling at other times) as return tickets are no longer issued. 7-day, 28-day, and annual travelcards are also available. However, Metrolink can work out expensive for short peak-time journeys. The contactless card option (below) is a good alternative for adult passengers.

If you are an adult passenger with a contactless bank card see paragraph below this one first. Tickets must be purchased in advance from the automated vending machines available at each station, or you can buy travel cards from the Bee Network smartphone app. Every ticket machine has a map of the system on it. Choose the required destination followed by the required ticket type on the touch pad and then insert your money or debit card. Ticket machines can be operated in English, French, German, Spanish or Polish. Tickets do not have to be validated on board but must be produced if requested by Metrolink staff.

Visa & Mastercard contactless debit, credit cards & mobile payment can use "tap & go" (one card or device per passenger). You must “tap in” and “tap out” on the yellow smart readers on each platform at the start and end of your journey. If your card reports transactions to your phone instantly, you’ll notice that 10p is debited when you first “tap in” in a day, the rest of your charge will be debited in the next few days once it’s known how much you’ve travelled in the day; daily fare caps apply. Failure to buy a ticket or “tap in” before travel can lead to a £100 fine. If you fail to "tap out" you will be charged a £4.60 incomplete journey fare. When you first "tap in" you should see a Green Tick OK on the display if your card is working. Full instructions here. (Now available for use in conjunction with buses where you "tap in" only on the bus)

A zonal fare system applies, with the City Centre being “Zone 1” and surrounded by concentric Zones 2 to 4. Passengers must be in possession of a ticket valid (or validated bank card) in all the zones they are travelling through, for example, Manchester Airport and Bury are both in Zone 4, but travel between them involves travelling through Zones 3, 2, 1, 2, and 3, therefore you need to have either a single ticket for Zones 1+2+3+4 (£4.60 in 2023) or a 1-day Anytime travelcard (valid M-F before 9:30AM) (£7.10 in 2022) or a 1-day Off-peak travelcard (valid M-F after 9:30AM, and all day at weekends and public holidays) (£4.90 in 2022) for zones 1+2+3+4. Two- and three-zone tickets involving travel in Zone 1 are more expensive than ones that do not. Certain tram stops are on the border of two zones, and for ticketing purposes can be considered to be in either zone, so only a ticket for the smaller number of zones needed to reach them is needed. Single-ticket journeys must be completed within 2 hours of buying the ticket. If you buy a ticket using a smartphone you must be able to display it if requested, so make sure your battery won't run out before your ticket does, otherwise, you will be liable for the £100 standard fine.

Peak fares apply Monday - Friday before 9:30AM (except public holidays). Unlike the trains, there is no evening peak period.

Off-peak Family Travelcards are available, covering groups of 1-3 children (under 16) travelling with 1 or 2 adults. Weekend Travelcards are valid from 6PM on Friday until the last tram on Sunday (2022: Adult £6.80, Family Weekend Travelcards: £9.50).

Full details of all Metrolink zonal prices can be found here.

‘Bee Card’: Transport for Greater Manchester has a ‘tap & go’ contactless system for Metrolink & Bus. The Smart Readers are installed at each stop, but are only used with concessionary passes and when using debit/credit cards. It will be expanded to all public transport within the boundaries of Greater Manchester.

Use the following Zone 1 (aka MANCHESTER CTLZ) stations for:

• Victoria — for the Main Line Railway Station, Urbis, Chethams Library, Manchester Cathedral visitors' centre, The Triangle and the Northern half of Deansgate.
• Exchange Square - for Arndale Shopping Centre, Royal Exchange Theatre, Urbis, Chethams Library, Manchester Cathedral visitors' centre, The Triangle and the northern half of Deansgate
• Shudehill — for Bus Interchange, The Printworks, Manchester Arndale and parts of the Northern Quarter.
• Market Street — for the main shopping area, including parts of Manchester Arndale and Affleck’s Palace.
• Piccadilly Gardens — for bus station, Coach Interchange from Chorlton Street Coach Station, Chinatown, the Gay Village, Manchester Art Gallery, Cube Gallery and parts of the Northern Quarter.
• Piccadilly — for Rail Interchange and Metroshuttle and Oxford Road Link buses. Manchester Apollo is a 10-minute walk from here.
• St. Peter's Square — for Oxford Road Station, Central Library, the Library Theatre, Bridgewater Hall, the Midland and Radisson Hotels, Manchester Art Gallery, the Town Hall and Albert Square. Buses down the Oxford Road corridor to the Palace Theatre, the Green Room, Dance House and Contact Theatres and to the universities and beyond.
• Deansgate-Castlefield — for Rail Interchange from Deansgate Station, Manchester Central (exhibition centre/conference & concert venue), Beetham Tower, Great Northern, MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry), the southern half of Deansgate and the beautiful and vibrant canal side area of Castlefield.
• New Islington - for Hope Mill Theatre & New Islington basin area.

Other interesting destinations:

• MediaCityUK (Zone 2) — Around 15 minutes from the City Centre on the MediaCity/Eccles line. The closest station to the Lowry, Lowry Outlet Mall and Imperial War Museum North, the MediaCityUK home of the BBC, and University Of Salford. Cross over the Manchester Ship Canal/River Irwell by one of the footbridges to visit the Imperial War Museum or ITV's Granada studios
• Etihad Campus (Zone 2) — Next to Manchester City Football Club's Etihad Stadium, this stop is particularly handy for football matches as well as the concerts and exhibitions that the stadium plays host to. (If you are going to the academy stadium, where Manchester City Women and Manchester City Academy play, alight at Velopark as it is much closer and not as busy. It is also closer to some parts of the south stand and the east stand but doesn’t really have the matchday buzz)
• Heaton Park (Zone 3) — Around 10 minutes from the City Centre on the Bury Line. Alight here for Manchester's chief parkland. This is the biggest municipal park in the country and a great day out in summer. It has seen much investment of late. Inside you will find a pet zoo, tramway museum, boating lake, stables and golf centre with pitch and putt. The former stately home Heaton Hall is in the park and is open to visitors in the summer months.
• Old Trafford (Zone 2) — Around 10 minutes from the City Centre on the Altrincham Line. For Manchester United Football Club and the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club.
• Stretford (Zone 2/3) — Around 10 minutes from the City Centre on the Altrincham Line. Take care at night.
• Ladywell (Zone 2) — Around 15 minutes from the City Centre on the Eccles Line. There is a large, free car park for the Park and Ride service to Salford Quays and the city.
• Chorlton (Zone 2) — Around 15 minutes from the City Centre on the Manchester Airport and East Didsbury Lines. This area of South Manchester has lots to do in summer including the Unity Festival in Chorlton Park, the Big Green Festival, and the Chorlton Arts Festival. Many creative people such as artists, writers and actors have come to live in Chorlton. Until 2009 Chorlton was the location for the Cosgrove Hall animation studios where the children's series Chorlton and the Wheelies and Dangermouse were created. Parts of the area are used by film crews for TV locations, such as The Second Coming.
• Altrincham (Zone 4) - For food-related experiences and a nice market.
• Bury (Zone 4) - East Lancashire Railway. Preserved steam (and diesel) trains most weekends and other days in school holidays. Excellent fine dining trains on Sundays.

For anyone who wishes to combine tram travel with sightseeing, there is a book by local author Barry Worthington called The Metrolink Companion which gives a detailed description of what to see as you journey along all of the lines.

Taxis are considerably cheaper than in London. As a general rule, you should be able to get anywhere you need to go within the core of the city for £5-10. Because of the nature of the tight local authority boundaries within the conurbation, taxis easily cross these, and there are few problems as long as your journey stays within Greater Manchester. As a general rule, taxis are required to put the meter on for journeys within the M60 ring road (and sometimes a little farther). If you are to travel farther, it is best to agree on a price in advance. You may flag down only the black cabs (London-style Hackney carriages): other taxis must be booked in advance over the phone and are marked with the yellow Manchester City Council sign on the bonnet and the firm's phone number (again on a yellow strip) on the sides. These are often called minicabs or private hire cars.

Avoid rogue mini cabs at all costs. Even if the car has a Manchester City Council plate or one from one of the other metropolitan boroughs, you are not insured if the cab was not booked in advance. There are taxi ranks in the city centre, staffed by security/logistical staff during busy periods. These ranks are serviced only by black cabs, but there are also private hire taxi/minicab companies that you can walk to and then wait (inside or usually outside) until a car becomes available. The online taxi App Uber is now becoming more predominant in the city, and you should be able to request an Uber taxi within 10 minutes from anywhere in the city. Bolt also offer a cheaper alternative than Uber.

Local rail services run regularly and to most places in the surrounding area and beyond. All trains pass through either Piccadilly or Victoria, but you may wish to call or visit the website of National Rail Enquiries (+44 345 748 4950) to find out which one before setting off. If you plan to take several off peak journeys within Greater Manchester, you could consider a "Rail Ranger" ticket, which, as of October 2022, costs £7.70 per day for adults and £3.85 for children under 16 (accompanied children under 5 are free). This is a large area and means you could travel as far north as Bolton and Rochdale, as far south as the airport and Stockport, as far west as Wigan and as far east as Glossop. They also include free travel on the Metrolink within the central zone. These can be bought at ticket offices or on the train.

Off-peak hours are between 9:30PM and 4:01PM then after 6:29PM. Be aware of the late afternoon/early evening peak.

TfGM has a "London tube-style" map of the Greater Manchester rail network, including Metrolink. As all Manchester stations now have either automatic ticket barriers or ticket inspectors before platform (track) access, you will need to purchase a ticket first. In most stations there are both ticket machines and ticket windows. All the train operating companies have web sites and smart-phone apps which sell tickets for any of the train operating companies. e.g. NorthernTrain services from Piccadilly serve the airport all night.

As you would expect from such a cosmopolitan city, Manchester has a huge selection of restaurants and eateries that serve a vast array of cuisines. Look hard enough and you will be able to find any type of international and British food. It is also worth exploring some of the suburbs for superb, small independent bistros and restaurants. West Didsbury and Chorlton are noted for their large number of great eateries. If you can get there, the quaintly named and somewhat trendy village of Ramsbottom, just north of Bury, directly north of Manchester, is said to be "the new Chorlton", in regards to restaurants, and the place to eat. The usual, well-established UK chains like Café Rouge, Pizza Express, and Nando's are all to be found in Manchester city centre and out of town too.

There are hundreds of kebab and pizza shops on Oxford Road and in Fallowfield and Rusholme. In Rusholme, in particular, locals speak of the £10 curry, where if you bring your own drinks into the curry house, you should leave with change from a ten-pound note.Some of the cheapest, long-established curry cafés, though, are still to be found in the back streets of the Northern Quarter and Central Deansgate offering a novel twist on the traditional British café.

There are plenty of all-you-can-eat buffets in Chinatown for less than £10. Prices tend to change with the time of day and likely demand. If you eat earlier in the day, you can have a full all-you-can-eat meal, including soup, starter, and dessert for around £5. Salford is also a good option to look for Chinese food, as a particularly high concentration Hongkongers have settled there.

Sam's Chop House on Chapel Walks is popular with visitors looking for a British dining experience (not an easy feat in the UK's big cities), as well as Sinclair's Oyster Bar at Cathedral Gates. Many hotels offer menus that tend towards national dishes.

Amongst the enormous range of Cantonese restaurants in Chinatown, the Great Wall at 52 Faulkner St offers authentic, reasonably priced food, including many one bowl/plate dishes (Roast pork and roast duck in soup noodle is particularly popular). The only downside is that the service charge increases the bill.

Rusholme's Curry Mile is, as the name suggests, home to a lot of Indian restaurants! Due to the high concentration of curry houses, and all the competition, you should be able to get a really good curry in just about any restaurant.

Also upmarket is a new venture by the side of the Museum of Science and Industry. This is Akbar's on Liverpool Road and they claim, on the side of buses, to be "probably the best Indian restaurant in the North of England". Also popular in town are the two EastZEast; the original is under the Ibis Hotel, behind the former site of the BBC building (now a car park), and the new, very luxurious one is on Bridge Street, opposite the Manchester Central Travelodge, off Deansgate. Look out for the doorman at the riverside location. There they also offer free valet parking to all guests. These two are classy but not overpriced. Some have claimed the menu could be a little more adventurous, in view of all they seem to have invested. The riverside branch seems popular for Asian weddings, lately, which must say something about the quality of the venue.

Also just off Oxford Road on Chester Street is an Indian restaurant which has won lots of awards Zouk Tea Bar & Grill. They have a good mix of people dining there and it is open for lunch as well as evenings.

Further out, Moon in Withington and Third Eye in Didsbury, both in south Manchester, are excellent. Individual takes on traditional dishes are served alongside local specialities, and cost about £6 a dish.

In Chorlton, you should be able to find Coriander Restaurant, Azid Manzil and Asian Fusion. They are all on Barlow Moor Road.

• YO! Sushi A sushi bar with conveyor belt in the Arndale Centre (1st floor), Piccadilly Station (1st floor) and Trafford Centre Selfridge's store. They also serve many hot rice and noodle based dishes as well as desserts.
• Sapporo Teppanyaki Manchester's flagship Japanese restaurant offering Teppanyaki cuisine with a contemporary twist and sushi known for being at its culinary best. The restaurant prides itself in offering a unique and at times highly dramatic dining experience through the established Teppanyaki chefs and their combined culinary skills.

During the period leading up to Christmas from November, there is a Christmas Market stretching from the Town Hall towards St Ann's Square and New Cathedral Street. By the Town Hall section there is a spectacular range of international cuisine. Those not to be missed are the crepes (£3.50-4.50 each, but they are really large) which are some of the best in Europe and the paella (£4.50 a box) which is genuinely Spanish. Other popular stalls include German hotdogs and Dutch pancakes. There is also a stall selling German salamis. If you go there nearer Christmas, you may be able to get a bargain packet of 7-8 salamis for just £10.

Search out the upmarket restaurants in the city's top hotels (including the Lowry Hotel, the Midland, SAS Radisson, and the Hilton, Deansgate). Less grand, but very popular, is the restaurant in the Malmaison hotel, by Piccadilly station. The Market Restaurant, in the Northern Quarter, is long established and has an excellent reputation. Heathcote is well represented with a place off Deansgate whilst the Grill on New York Street (which, as its name suggests, is on New York Street) provides good, honest food in modern surroundings. Abode at 107 Piccadilly is also believed to have brought something new to the Manchester dining scene.

Harvey Nichols, the upmarket department store, has a traditional-style restaurant and cocktail bar at 21 New Cathedral Street, with views onto Exchange Square, and is hard to beat if you like rubbing shoulders with Manchester's wealthy set. When the store is closed there is a dedicated entrance and lift at the side of the building. Their afternoon tea is worth a try, but you may prefer the older style version at the Midland Hotel or a new take on the theme at the Lowry Hotel.

At the top of King Street, in what was once Karim's Indian restaurant, the footballer Rio Ferdinand has invested heavily into Rosso an upmarket Italian, which has so far had good, if not excellent, reviews in the local press which praised the décor and very professional waiters more than the food.

The Armenian restaurant, very long established, hidden in a basement on Albert Square (by the Town Hall) is good, and full of atmosphere. It's to the left with the Town Hall facing you.

There are the usual chains to be had on Deansgate, but try to search out El Rincón de Rafa, hidden away behind Deansgate, near St. John's Gardens. This is an authentic Spanish restaurant, established for many years, and popular with Filipinos, Spanish and people from the Americas, based in the city. It is a stone's throw from the Instituto Cervantes.

On Deansgate, opposite the Cervantes Centre at number 279, is Evuna another Spanish tapas establishment. This newish venture has had very good reviews.

In common with a number of provincial towns and cities, Manchester now has its own branch of "Pâtisserie Valérie"; that of Soho fame! It is on Deansgate, opposite House of Fraser, on the corner of St Ann's Street. Gets very busy, but well worth the wait for a table. Service is attentive and the choice is exceptional.

Leckenby's, on King Street, near the House of Fraser (Kendal's) car park entrance, is a welcome addition to the Manchester cafe scene. This more traditional cafe/tea room is open even quite late into the evening and offers a pleasant, upmarket alternative to meeting up in a pub. There are other tearooms, in the Northern Quarter, and even one on Richmond Street in the Gay Village.

Manchester has a diverse nightlife and can offer a wide range of night-time activities. It has a vibrant and varied nightlife scene, including numerous clubs as well as a huge range of drinking establishments from traditional pubs to ultra-chic concept bars. Very high-profile, of late, is the Cloud 23 bar on the 23rd floor of The Hilton, Deansgate. A bit pricey, but with attentive table service, and worth it for the views alone. By the way, the personnel is very friendly and won't kick you out if you just want to have a look - you can go up for free. To avoid the sometimes 2-hour long queues, try it during the week. The bars in The Radisson Blu and The Aurora Hotel are also upmarket. For other upmarket venues (there are some very discreet ones catering for the most privileged in town), your hotel concierge should be of help in pointing you in the right direction.

For a slightly more quirky place to have a drink, The Temple of Convenience is aptly named as it is a converted underground public toilet in the city centre. The bar receives many high reviews although it's quite small and may be crowded. Famed for its musical past, the University of Manchester Student's Union on Oxford Road hosts almost nightly gigs in its four venues on Oxford Road ranging from local unsigned bands to international superstars. The Manchester Apollo in Ardwick is a slightly bigger venue having boasted appearances from Blondie to Kasabian. Smaller bands can also be seen at a range of excellent venues in the city including the Night and Day, in the Northern Quarter, and Albert Hall just off Deansgate, O2 Ritz & Gorilla near Oxford Road.

The club scene in Manchester is varied with the dance-orientated clubs you'd expect from a city setting alongside indie, rock, and gay clubs. For the commercial dance music fan, the "place to be" would be Deansgate Locks (four bars and a comedy club in a converted railway complex) in Peter's Fields where the clubs and bars can be expensive, but are always full of fashionable types and members of the local student population. More eclectic dance music styles are played at The Phoenix, both on Oxford Road.

The offerings for fans of rock music are fragmented. Satan's Hollow (off Princess St), with its every-night-is-Halloween decor, plays pop-punk and emo on Tu, F and Sa. If you are interested in Rock and Metal paired with cage dancers and a lap-dancing lounge, try the monthly Caged Asylum night at the Ruby Lounge, the self-proclaimed craziest place to be in Manchester at 28-34 High Street. For fans of indie and alternative music, there are a whole host of new exciting clubs opening. Any late evening walk up Oxford Road should enable you to collect a variety of fliers for club nights. The Friday edition of The Manchester Evening News has a good listings section, which is handy for the weekend. Papers are handed out free of charge Thursday and Friday, at various points in the centre and at some newsagents.

The Retro Bar on Sackville Street, hosts live acts upstairs and a club downstairs with playlists that include Blondie, The Ramones, and Le Tigre. Joshua Brooks on Charles Street is also another club where you can expect a mix of indie, electro, punk, and rock in a budget-friendly, student atmosphere. Weekly, Smile at the Star and Garter^{[dead link]} near Piccadilly Station is something of a local indie institution with a great playlist. It sells out very early and can often be unbearably busy as a result of this. Saturdays also play host to Tiger Lounge near the Town Hall. This plays more in the way of lounge alongside experimental and indie sounds.

If you want to hear music by Manchester bands like The Stone Roses, visit Fifth Avenue on Princess Street, often brimming with students — unsurprising when you see the cheap drinks prices! They also feature themes such as toga and foam parties. The other, rival centre club for indie music is 42nd Street, just off Deansgate. It plays a mixture of classic and modern indie, 1960s pop, and 1970s funk and soul.

To enjoy Gay Manchester, it is probably best to visit Canal Street with its concentration of bars and clubs and visit places that appeal along the way. Just off Canal Street, the most popular gay clubs are Essential, a multi-floor super-club open until the early hours (sometimes as late as 8AM), Cruz 101 (Manchester's longest-running gay club) and Poptastic, a two-room pop and indie club held at Alter Ego every Tuesday and Saturday night. Although entry can be expensive, this is usually reflected in a reduced-price bar inside the club. For bars, try the cocktail lounge Socio Rehab in the Northern Quarter (ask a taxi driver where it is) and Tribeca on Sackville Street (in the popular Gay Village). Trof, a funky student bar in Fallowfield. It has a second venture, Trof North, on Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter.

Although there are still plenty of cafés and traditional pubs in Manchester, bars and restaurants with much more bohemian and cosmopolitan feels to them are now dominating. The better traditional pubs include:

• Lass O'Gowrie at 36 Charles St.
• Salisbury at 2 Wakefield St off of Oxford Road.
• Peveril of the Peak. Behind The Bridgewater Hall at 27 Great Bridgewater St.
• Britons Protection, 50 Bridgewater St. Behind the stage door entrance of the Bridgewater Hall. It is here where many a poor mug "took The King's Shilling" and found himself press-ganged into the army. Largest selection of whisky in the city. 
• Sinclairs. This is just by the Harvey Nichols store at 2 Cathedral Gates.
• Grey Horse Inn, 80 Portland St.  
• The Old Wellington Inn, the oldest pub in Manchester. It was opened in 1552, and is in the fantastic Tudor-era Shambles Square. Along with Sinclair's the whole place was moved a couple of hundred yards down the road at number 4, as part of the development of New Cathedral Street, after the IRA bomb of 1996.
• The Marble Arch Inn, 76 Rochdale Rd. Real ale brewed by their own brewery Marble and cask ale from micro-breweries nationwide. 

Comedy wise, Manchester has a fair number of offerings: The Frog and Bucket at 96 Oldham Street offers student-friendly prices and The Comedy Store^{[dead link]} at 1a-3 Deansgate Locks is the largest comedy venue in town.

Manchester's shopping district is one of the most diverse shopping districts in the UK and the majority of city centre shops are within reasonable walking distance of each other (15 minutes at most) and most are served by a metroshuttle service. Even in the most upmarket stores you are treated in a friendly manner. The Arndale Centre is a large 1970s city-centre shopping precinct with 280 stores. Although renovated, the place retains some of its 1970s concrete charms and still some of the infamous yellow tiles that are a testament to the urban planning of that era. It is connected via link bridge to the Marks and Spencer and Selfridges department stores adjacent in Exchange Square.

There are large shops aimed at bargain hunters, including the largest Primark in the country, which is great for a bargain and much loved by visiting cabin crews, and an Aldi food hall on Market Street (just off Piccadilly Gardens). The Millennium Quarter (at the back of the Arndale Centre) is now quite smart and good for shopping. There's The Corn Exchange, an upmarket shopping centre based in the beautiful old Corn Exchange, worth a visit for the building alone and Selfridges, spread across 5 floors with its large Louis Vuitton concession and fantastic food hall in the basement. You will find everything from sushi to fine chocolates, kosher foods, to a juice bar, etc. Harvey Nichols, opposite the Triangle, offers luxury fashions and produce to Manchester's rich and famous. The centre of Manchester's shopping area has traditionally been St. Ann's Square, and there are many shops nearby.

King Street and Spring Gardens to the immediate north of the city centre offer a Vivienne Westwood store (a local girl, from the nearby Peak District), Joseph, DKNY, Emporio Armani and Collezione; these catering for, amongst others, the city's Premiership footballers, soap stars (Coronation Street has been produced in the city since the early 1960s), and the many media types who can also be found in the area.

Deansgate has a fair number upmarket stores, as do some of the roads off it. The House of Fraser store, considered by many to be the top people's shop, (still known as "Kendals" to most Manchester people and "Kendal Milne's" to an even older generation) is on Deansgate and has been on roughly the same site since the mid-19th century. It is somewhat old school and the eating places are worth a visit. There is a champagne bar, on the third floor. One of central Manchester's few quiet green squares is just behind the store. This is Parsonage Gardens. Deansgate is also home to Ed Hardy, the General Store, Edwards as well as some high-end restaurants.

Just off Deansgate is The Avenue a luxury designer shopping destination in the Spinningfields district of the city centre. It is the home to stores such as Flannels, Mulberry, Emporio Armani and Armani Collezioni, Brooks Brothers, Ermenegildo Zegna, Oliver Sweeney and Joseph. Combined with cafés and restaurants this is a top retail and leisure venue in the city centre. There is also an outlet mall at The Lowry, in Salford Quays, near the Media City: UK development which houses the BBC's northern presence and Salford University's school of Media and Performance.

The Trafford Centre is a huge out-of-town shopping centre and accessible by car, taxi, bus or tram. It was linked to the Metrolink tram system in March 2020. Dubbed by many a Temple to Consumerism, it is one of the largest, and possibly the grandest of such centres in Europe. It has its own branches of Selfridges, Debenhams and the best of Greater Manchester's two John Lewis stores. The other is in suburban Cheadle. The centre is spectacular, luxurious, and 'posh' inside and out. Look out for the biggest chandelier in Europe, near the Great Hall! The cinema is also one of the best in the area and has even hosted some UK premières in the past. The centre is now also linked to an annexe offering homewares and furniture, built in an Italianate style around a very large outdoor fountain. With supermarkets and DIY outlets nearby, Mancunians can buy everything in this area without venturing into the city or any other town centre.

• Merchandise from the football clubs Manchester United and Manchester City is available from many locations including dedicated superstores in Old Trafford and Sportcity, respectively.
• Afflecks Palace in the Northern Quarter is "an emporium of eclecticism, a totem of indie commerce," and a shopping arcade in a five-storey Victorian building, featuring a range of more than 50 independent stalls catering to a young alternative crowd. It's a lot of fun: strange costumes, lots of goths, punks, and teenagers. Saved from closing in 2008, it is now known as "Afflecks".
• The Northern Quarter is Manchester's answer to Soho, and there is a mishmash of stores which sell music, art, and clothing. More and more bars and cafes are opening too. At night look out for the illuminated, public art attraction on top of the Church Street car park. It is lit from 9PM to 1AM.
• Every Christmas time, continental style Christmas markets take place in Albert Square, in St. Ann's Square, and along both New Cathedral Street and Brazennose Street. You can buy all the usual Continental and British Christmas curios as well as various foodstuffs. Good fun and very atmospheric at night when it's all lit up.
• Also at Christmas, into the new year, there are open air skating rinks in Spinningfields as well as a snow slide and other attractions at Piccadilly Gardens. There is also a winterbar at the Spinningfields location.
• The small but perfectly-stocked food section of Harvey Nichols has a particularly fine wine department. Wines range from relatively inexpensive to the highest levels, e.g. Château Latour, vertical ranges of Petrus, Vega Sicilia, etc. They are still remarkably good value in context, e.g. 1990 Krug Clos de Mesnil 1990, one of the greatest Champagnes ever made and incomparably finer than the footballers' wildly overrated Crystal is about £150 cheaper than usually quoted elsewhere.
• There is a flower market at the Market Street corner of Piccadilly Gardens Thursday through Saturday from 10AM-6PM. Some food stalls and craft stalls can be found there too.
• Also hunt out the Craft and Design Centre, in the old Smithfield Market Building, in The Northern Quarter. The complex is full of artist studio space and boutiques, as well as a cafe.
• There are regular events in Albert Square, St Ann's Square and on New Cathedral Street, all year around, where you can buy art, listen to music and sample foods from far and wide.
• If catering for yourself, there are several Sainsbury's Local stores around the city centre, at Oxford Road, Mosley Street, Quay Street, Bridge Street, Piccadilly Station. Tesco Metro supermarkets can be found on Market Street (the largest supermarket in the centre), on Piccadilly and on Quay Street, which is near the Sainsbury's and Granada TV. M&S food outlets are within the M&S store next to Selfridges, and there are also M&S Simply Food stores at Piccadilly Gardens and within Piccadilly Station. You will find increasingly popular Co-op food stores near both Victoria, by the movement's headquarters, opposite the Arndale Market, at Piccadilly Gardens and just outside Piccadilly station. For more upmarket food products, Harvey Nichols has a deli and foodhall as does Selfridges. There is a Waitrose store opened near The Avenue development in Spinningfields. At the other end of the spectrum there is the Arndale Market and a large Aldi store in the Arndale Centre, which is, in common with most UK outlets, much more upmarket than the stores in Germany. This is also accessible from Market Street. There is also a Lidl and a Tesco on Oxford Road near Manchester Royal Infirmary.
• For something a little bit different, the Manchester Arndale Market features many food stalls, including a rather large fish store and a butchers. Chinatown has many specialist shops and the landmark Wing Yip superstore on Oldham Road in the Northern Quarter is excellent for everything oriental.
• There are various other mini-markets and late night stores around the city centre and in Piccadilly station. There are three 24-hour Spar's, one in Piccadilly gardens, one on Piccadilly station approach and the third opposite the former site of the BBC Studios on Oxford Road. Just out of the centre is a large Sainsbury's, in Regent Retail Park, Salford, an Asda store in Hulme, and a Tesco Extra hypermarket in Cheetham Hill.
• Free copies of The Manchester Evening News are given out around the city and at the airport on Thursday and Friday, as well as inside and outside some selected newsagents in town. There is a charge of 70p for the other days of the week including Saturday's edition. This is very good for listings, especially on a Friday, with the City Life pull out section. The free Metro newspaper is handed out in the mornings. This too has some listings. Online sites such as Live-Manchester.co.uk also provide Manchester gig listings, information about theatre shows and arts and museum exhibitions.

There are thousands of hotel beds in Manchester, ranging from 5-star establishments to bed and breakfast, via youth hostels and serviced apartments. Most accommodation is focussed in the east of the city centre with easy access to the InterCity Piccadilly Station. If in doubt, consult the tourist office, in Piccadilly Gardens. See City Information section for contact details and address. Despite its obvious industrial heritage, Manchester is home to a great number of very fine hotels, including the grand old Midland Hotel, where Rolls met Royce and the Hilton Manchester Deansgate, housed in the 47 story Beetham Tower (both in Castlefield - Petersfield).

Manchester Airport is also home to several hotels, which offer easy access to both the airport itself and Manchester City Centre. For those on smaller budgets, there exists a great number of smaller, chain hotels, throughout the city, including the seemingly ubiquitous Premier Inn and others of its ilk, offering clean, pleasant accommodation for lower tariffs.

Self-catering apartments in Manchester are now becoming popular alternatives to 'traditional' hotel stays. There are thousands of self-catering apartments available throughout the city centre and outskirts - providing accommodation for up to 8 people at a time, for stays of anything from one night to 1 year. You can expect noisy neighbours at weekends. Take care of the place you are staying in as, according to the local press, there have been some horror stories of people being charged for breakages, etc., for which they were not responsible.

There are various serviced apartment options for business travellers around the city:

• La Reserve Aparthotel, Ducie St

If you're uncomfortable around thousands of intoxicated young people, then you should probably avoid Friday and Saturday night taxi queues in the city centre. You should also avoid any conflict with door staff at bars, clubs and pubs.

All pubs, bars and clubs are best avoided on days where the Manchester derby football match is taking place. Relations between the two sets of supporters have never been amicable, to say the least, but things seem to have deteriorated. What starts out as "banter" quite commonly gets out of hand. Wearing a Liverpool or Leeds Utd shirt while you are in Manchester may also draw some unwanted attention to yourself. If you do attend a football match at Old Trafford, or watch a game with fans in a pub, be careful not to raise the issue of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, especially if you are openly identifying as a supporter of a rival team. While the disaster was more than 60 years ago, "Munich chants" and related slurs still cause deep anger and hostility, and could provoke a violent response. Similarly, talking about "oil money" around Man City fans - or accusing them of "buying success" - will cause hostility. As a general rule, on match days, if you want to openly show support for Man Utd, do so in the areas around Old Trafford in Salford and the Quays, and if you want to do the same as a Man City supporter go to the Etihad. If you want to openly support a rival club from another city (especially Liverpool or Leeds), go to those cities!

Persistent begging is an irritation in Piccadilly. There is also a problem with people walking up to you with a story like "I've lost my wallet and need 50p for the bus home". These people often say the same story for years. This is usually a ruse to get money from you or, in some cases, in the hope that you will get a wallet/purse out of your pocket so it can be stolen.

Piccadilly Gardens has become a place where drug addicts and dealers gather, with the open sale of drugs leading to a nasty atmosphere and gang activity. While the area is always very busy - being in between the main Piccadilly train station and Arndale shopping centre - and you are unlikely to be a victim of crime yourself here, quite violent crime can happen at any time. Most of this is between drug gangs or the ever growing groups of homeless people (drawn to the area by the easy access to drugs) but scary things do happen here. In January 2020 several people were hospitalised after a series of armed robberies and muggings during the same evening, while in February 2020 two people were stabbed outside the Travelodge hotel at lunchtime in what the police said was a ‘targeted attack’.

It is often impossible or impractical to avoid this area: it is a major transport interchange for the city, and several attractive areas (like Chinatown and the Northern Quarter) border here. The police tend to have high visibility in this area but they cannot be everywhere at all times. The best advice is to be very cautious in this area, especially with mobile phones and money. The city council regularly puts on events in the area (like street markets) to try to encourage a more salubrious atmosphere, and given the sheer number of people who have to pass through this area every day you will likely find no trouble here, but be careful. Attempting to buy or take drugs here will bring you into contact with dangerous criminals or the police, so do not be tempted to do that under any circumstances.

Sellers of The Big Issue magazine are not beggars. The magazine is published by the Big Issue in the North, a social enterprise, and sold to the homeless for resale on the streets. All of the vendors are genuinely homeless and are forbidden from begging whilst selling the magazine. Vendors can be found around the city and visitors may want to buy a £3 copy. Please buy only from badged, official vendors.

Manchester is generally quite a safe place, especially in commercialised and tourist-oriented areas. If you wander into a less desirable area you should be very wary of street gangs hanging around.

Should you encounter a group that looks suspicious, either avoid them all together and walk the other way, or try to walk past them quickly (at a distance if possible) and behave in a way that they do not perceive as disrespectful or confrontational. This can include eye contact or accidentally brushing past them with your shoulder.

Most of the areas in Manchester where tourists venture are safe. The following areas are very much "off the beaten path", with little to tempt the average visitor. Nonetheless, should you choose to go, then caution would be advised:

• Longsight. This is a somewhat rundown residential area in the shadow of the city centre, which has as yet avoided the gentrification of nearby Hulme.
• Moss Side. This area constitutes the heart of Manchester's African and Caribbean community and is worth a visit if you are looking for something different. It is an area that has been associated with gang related violence but is no worse than other inner-city areas in Manchester, with such crime having been greatly reduced by police and community efforts. It is adjacent to some pleasant parks, including the small Whitworth Park and larger Platt Fields Park. Catch the Caribbean Festival of Manchester in Alexandra Park every July/August.
• Parts of Hulme but this young, trendy, regenerated area would be of interest to many with its new town houses, quirky architecture and blocks of flats and is next to the centre.
• Cheetham Hill. Avoid at night; but, during the day, this suburb, to the north of Victoria Station, is a lively, colourful mixture of cultures: Jewish, Asian, and newer arrivals to the city from various parts of the world! The shopping area around "The Village" is very much like an inner London high street.
• Wythenshawe. Much of this is a vast public housing district. The area out towards the airport should be avoided.
• Ordsall. This area is on the up and following the example of Hulme with lots of new developments.
• Parts of East Manchester, particularly Beswick and the residential streets of Openshaw.
• Salford. Unless you have good reason, do not wander too far, on foot at least, over the river Irwell into Salford from the city centre. With the great number of new residential developments in the area, it has improved. The straight route from Manchester centre, via Salford Cathedral along Chapel Street to Salford University, is very safe up to Pendleton.

Manchester city centre has 5G from all UK carriers.

_FreebeeMcr Free Wi-Fi is available free for 30 minutes on the streets and _BusybeeMcr is available in public buildings.

Make best use of the free Wi-Fi available at:

• Home, 2 Tony Wilson Place - art gallery, theatres, cinema, bar.
• Oklahoma Café, 74 - 76 High St - organic, vegetarian and fair trade coffee shop.
• The Castle Pub, 66 Oldham St - traditional pub.
• Revolution, 90-94 Oxford Rd, M1 5WH - trendy vodka bar. The Wi-Fi is also reachable from the Starbucks on the other side of Oxford Rd.
• any Wetherspoon pub, e.g. The Waterhouse 61-67 Princess St or The Moon Under Water, 67-78 Deansgate.

Free Wi-Fi is available on most trains & stations, although you will need to register.