Northern Quarter
Nightlife and independentsRed brick warehouses, record shops, street art and the best bars. Noisy at night and central.
Manchester city guide
Things To Do In Manchester
The first industrial city in the world, now the best night out in England outside London, with two enormous football clubs and a music history it will not let you forget.
9
Hostels in the city
5.9
Average, from 4,462 reviews
1830
The world's first passenger railway opened here
£4.50
A pint in the Northern Quarter
2
Premier League clubs
Industrial, musical, and cheaper than the capital
Manchester industrialised first and hardest — cotton mills, the world's first passenger railway in 1830, and Engels writing about its slums while working in his father's factory here.
What it does now is culture and nightlife. Joy Division, The Smiths, the Haçienda, Oasis: the city has spent forty years being important to music and is entirely willing to discuss it.
The Northern Quarter is where the independent scene sits, Ancoats is the former mill district now full of restaurants, and the two football clubs pull people from across the world.
It is about half London's price for beds and drinks, the centre is genuinely walkable, and the museums — like London's — are free.
Two or three days.
Where to stay
A compact centre with distinct quarters, all within twenty minutes on foot.
City centre and Deansgate
First-timersAround the town hall and the library: transport, shops, the John Rylands and everything walkable.
Ancoats and New Islington
FoodThe former mill district east: the best restaurants in the city and a canal-side feel.
Salford Quays and MediaCity
Value and the waterA tram ride west, with the Lowry, the Imperial War Museum North and cheaper beds.
Orange labels are neighbourhoods, dots are the 9 top-rated hostels. Map © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Things to do
Things to do in Manchester
The Science and Industry Museum sits on the site of the world's first passenger railway station and is free — it covers the cotton industry, the engines that drove it, and the city's claim on the modern world.
The John Rylands Library is a neo-Gothic reading room that looks like a cathedral and is free to walk into. It is the best building in the city.
The Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth are both free, and the Whitworth sits in a park with a good café.
For football, both clubs run stadium tours at £25 to £35 — Old Trafford and the Etihad — and actual match tickets are difficult and expensive, particularly United.
The Northern Quarter is best simply walked: record shops, murals, vintage stores and Afflecks, an indoor market of small independent stalls across four floors.
More on things to do in Manchester
Free things
Free things to do in Manchester
The museums are free: Science and Industry, the Manchester Museum, the art gallery, the Whitworth and the Imperial War Museum North at Salford Quays.
The John Rylands Library and the Central Library's domed reading room cost nothing and are both worth going in for.
The Northern Quarter's street art changes constantly and Afflecks is free to wander.
Castlefield, the Roman fort site turned canal basin, is free and is where the city's canal walks start.
The People's History Museum, covering two centuries of British democracy and protest, is free and unusually good.
Food and drink
Eating and drinking in Manchester
Ancoats has the serious restaurants, the Northern Quarter the affordable ones, and the Curry Mile in Rusholme is two kilometres of South Asian restaurants and dessert shops that is worth the bus.
A pub main is £13 to £18 and a plate in the Northern Quarter £9 to £14.
Manchester's Chinatown is one of the oldest in Europe, and the city does a good line in bakeries and brunch.
A pint is £4.50 to £6, noticeably below London, and the local breweries — Cloudwater, Track, Marble — are among the best in the country.
Mackie Mayor, a restored market hall, is the reliable place to take a group with different tastes.
More on food and drink in Manchester
Nightlife
Going out in Manchester
The best in England outside London, and much cheaper. The Northern Quarter has the bars, the Gay Village along Canal Street is one of the biggest LGBTQ+ scenes in the country, and the student areas around Fallowfield are enormous in term time.
Clubs run to three or four, and the city's electronic scene has a direct line back to the Haçienda that people here take seriously.
A pint is £4.50 to £6 and cocktails £9 to £12.
Warehouse venues in the old industrial buildings are the distinctive thing, and Manchester keeps producing them faster than they close.
Two universities and around 100,000 students shape the whole calendar — term time is louder and cheaper.
Getting around
Getting around Manchester
The centre is walkable end to end in half an hour, and free Bee Network bus loops circle it.
The Metrolink tram covers the rest, including Salford Quays, the airport and Old Trafford, at about £3 to £5 a journey with day caps.
The airport is 20 minutes by tram or train for around £5.
Trains reach London in two hours ten, Liverpool in 50 minutes, Leeds in an hour and York in an hour and a half. Book ahead — walk-up fares to London can be four times the advance price.
The bus network has capped single fares under the Bee Network, which makes it unusually cheap for England.
Costs
What Manchester costs
About half London for beds and drinks. Dorms are £18 to £32, a pub main £13 to £18, and a pint £4.50 to £6.
A day is £45 to £80.
The museums are free, which covers most of the daytime. The real costs are stadium tours at £25 to £35 and gig tickets, since the city is a major touring stop.
Trains are the other variable — book weeks ahead and London is £25 to £40, book on the day and it can be £120.
More on costs in Manchester
Safety
Staying safe in Manchester
Manchester is a normal big city: fine in the centre, with ordinary care needed late at night.
Phone theft and pickpocketing happen in the Northern Quarter and Piccadilly Gardens, particularly at closing time.
Piccadilly Gardens and the streets around the station have a visible street drinking and drug problem, and while it rarely affects visitors it is worth knowing about.
Matchdays change the city entirely — trams and pubs near the stadiums are packed, and rival fans are kept apart for a reason.
Use licensed taxis or an app rather than anything touting outside a club. Emergency number is 999, or 112.
Day trips from Manchester
The Peak District starts half an hour away, and three cities are within ninety minutes.
The Peak District
England's first national park: gritstone edges, Kinder Scout and villages, with trains straight from the city.
Liverpool
The Beatles, two cathedrals and a waterfront, and a city that will talk to you.
Chester
A complete circuit of Roman and medieval walls, plus black and white Tudor rows.
York
Roman walls, a Viking past and one of the great Gothic cathedrals.
Leeds
Victorian arcades, a good night out, and the Yorkshire Dales beyond it.
What's on
What is on while you are there
Christmas markets, a Pride weekend and a constant touring calendar.
Staff pick
23–25 October
Westlife
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31 October
Korn
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12–13 November
Muse
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19 Nov – 31 Dec
Northern Lights Festival
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5 October
Avatar - The Last Airbender
Avatar – The Last Airbender live event features a full orchestra performing music from the beloved animated series, paired with scenes from the show.…
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7 October
Hans Zimmer
Witness the musical genius of Hans Zimmer in a spectacular live performance that showcases his most memorable compositions. From epic film scores to intimate…
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9–10 November
Noah Kahan
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13 November
OK Go
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Hostels
Where to stay in Manchester
A decent scene in and around the Northern Quarter and the centre, at well below London prices. Live from Hostelworld.
YHA Manchester
Dorms from £22 a night
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a&o Manchester City Centre
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Malacuna Manchester
Dorms from £19 a night
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Rahman Hostel Manchester
Dorms from £22 a night
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Trivelles Eccles
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Oddfellows Arms Accommodation Limited
Dorms from £25 a night
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Birchfields Guest House
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Structure Wellness
Dorms from £59 a night
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Piccadilly Central
See dates and bookWhen to go
May to September for weather, term time for the city at full strength.
Jan
Cold, dark and wet. Cheapest beds
Feb
Still grey. Students back and the bars busy
Mar
Improving slowly
Apr
Showery. The Peak District greens up
May
Excellent. Long evenings and everything open
Jun
The best month. Parks and canal terraces
Jul
Warm and wet in equal measure. Festival season
Aug
Pride at the end of the month. Students away
Sep
Superb. Term restarts and the city refills
Oct
Autumn, good value, gig season in full swing
Nov
Dark and wet. Christmas markets open
Dec
The Christmas markets are among the best in England
Bar height is temperature. Colour is how busy it gets:
quiet
busy
peak
Average highs. Manchester's rain reputation is deserved — it falls on roughly 150 days a year, spread throughout, so plan for it rather than around it.
What your trip will cost
Pick how you travel. Per person per night, in pounds.
Museums are free, so the doing line is mostly gigs and stadium tours. Gig tickets sit outside these figures.
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- Beds—
- Food and drink—
- Getting around—
- Doing things—
Manchester travel questions
The ones we get asked most.
Is Manchester worth visiting?
For two or three days, and it is the best night out in England outside London at roughly half the price. The museums are free, the centre is walkable, and the Peak District is 45 minutes away by train.
Can I get a football ticket?
Difficult and expensive, particularly at United, where general sale tickets are rare. Stadium tours at £25 to £35 are the reliable option, and both grounds do them.
Is it cheaper than London?
About half for beds and drinks. Dorms £18 to £32, a pint £4.50 to £6, and a day around £45 to £80.
What should I do about the rain?
Bring a coat and stop planning around it. It rains on roughly 150 days a year, spread evenly, and the museums, market halls and pubs are all indoor by design.
Where do I go out?
The Northern Quarter for bars, Canal Street for one of the biggest LGBTQ+ scenes in the country, and the warehouse venues for clubs. Things run to three or four, and pints are £4.50 to £6.
How do I get to the Peak District?
Trains from Piccadilly to Edale or Hathersage take about 45 minutes and cost around £12. It is England's first national park and it starts remarkably close to the city.
When should I visit?
May, June or September. December has Christmas markets that are among the best in England, and term time — roughly September to June — is when the city is at full strength.
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