Things to Do in Manchester
Prices, opening hours, best times to visit and the stuff nobody tells you, everything you need for a first trip to Manchester, England, plus one pigeon's opinions on all of it.
Manchester ran the first passenger railway on Earth, gave the world two of football's biggest clubs barely three miles apart, and turned a record label into a whole music scene named after the city itself. This is the proper guide to things to do in Manchester, what things actually cost, when to go, and which bits are worth your time. Four main stops below, plus a quiz at the bottom to see if you were paying attention.
Old Trafford & the Etihad
I asked in the quiz which two football clubs share this city, and it's Manchester United, playing at Old Trafford, and Manchester City, at the Etihad Stadium, their grounds sitting barely three miles apart. Both run stadium tours daily on non-match days, walking you through the dressing rooms, the tunnel and the trophy rooms, and both have dedicated museums covering their respective club histories in proper depth.
Old Trafford's tour includes the Munich Tunnel, a genuinely moving tribute to the 1958 air disaster that killed several of the club's players, and both stadiums close their tours entirely on home match days, worth checking the fixture list before planning a visit around either.
Hours Daily except match days, check current schedules
Address Old Trafford: Sir Matt Busby Way, Manchester M16 0RA; Etihad: Ashton New Road, Manchester M11 3FF
The World's First Passenger Railway
The answer to the second quiz question: Manchester is widely credited as the birthplace of intercity passenger rail travel, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened in 1830, exactly the date the quiz hint mentioned, running to Liverpool and cutting a journey that once took 12 hours by canal down to under two hours by steam. Liverpool Road Station, its Manchester terminus, is the oldest surviving passenger railway station building in the world, and it's now home to the Science and Industry Museum, free to enter, with exhibits spanning the city's railway, textile and computing history.
The museum's Revolution Manchester Gallery includes a replica of Baby, the first computer able to store and run programs, invented at the University of Manchester in 1948, a nice reminder that the city's history of firsts didn't stop with the railway.
Hours Generally daily 10am-5pm, check current times
Address Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester M3 4FP
Official site scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk
Madchester & Factory Records
I asked in the quiz what the music scene launched partly by Manchester's Factory Records was nicknamed, and it's Madchester, mashing the city's own name with a word for chaos, the late 1980s and early 1990s scene that gave the world bands like the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. The Hacienda, the legendary nightclub Factory Records owned and operated, has since been converted into apartments, but its site in the city centre remains a genuine point of pilgrimage for music fans passing through.
The Northern Quarter, Manchester's independent music and culture district, still carries a good deal of that spirit today, record shops, street art and live venues that grew out of the same scene the Hacienda helped launch.
The John Rylands Library & Manchester Cathedral
A genuinely stunning neo-Gothic library on Deansgate, built in the late 19th century and holding one of the finest collections of rare books and manuscripts in the country, free to enter and one of the more unexpectedly beautiful interiors in the city centre. Manchester Cathedral, a short walk away, is the widest cathedral in England, free entry, and sits right beside the medieval Chetham's Library, the oldest public library in the English-speaking world, also free to visit.
Both are good, quieter counterpoints to a day of football and music history, and both sit close enough to the city centre to fold naturally into a wider walking day.
Address John Rylands Library: 150 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EH
Best time to visit Manchester
Manchester works well year-round, its major attractions, the Science and Industry Museum, the John Rylands Library, both stadium tours, are all indoor or partly indoor and hold up in any weather. May to September gives the most reliable weather for exploring the Northern Quarter and Castlefield on foot, and match tickets, if that's part of your trip, are worth booking well ahead given how competitive both clubs' home games can be. For the full month-by-month breakdown, see our Best Time to Visit Manchester guide.
Getting around Manchester
Manchester's city centre, the Northern Quarter, the John Rylands Library and Manchester Cathedral, is compact and walkable. Old Trafford and the Etihad both sit a short tram or bus ride from the centre rather than within comfortable walking distance. Manchester Piccadilly station sits right in the city centre. If you're mapping out exactly how to spend your time, our 24 Hours in Manchester and 2 Day Manchester Itinerary guides lay out an hour-by-hour and day-by-day plan.
Keeping an eye on costs? Manchester on a Budget covers what's free and where the tourist markup actually is. Travelling as a couple? Manchester for Couples covers Cloud 23 at sunset and Castlefield's canals. And once your dates are set, Where to Stay & Eat in Manchester breaks down the neighbourhoods.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Manchester worth visiting?
- Yes, particularly for football fans, with two major Premier League clubs and their stadium tours barely three miles apart, and for music history through the Madchester scene and the Northern Quarter that grew out of it.
- How many days do you need in Manchester?
- Two days covers a stadium tour, the Science and Industry Museum and the Northern Quarter comfortably. Add a third if you want to properly do both stadiums or catch a match.
- Is Manchester expensive?
- Moderate. The Science and Industry Museum, the John Rylands Library and Manchester Cathedral are all free; stadium tours and match tickets are the main costs, and match tickets in particular can be pricey and hard to come by.
- What is Manchester famous for?
- Old Trafford and the Etihad Stadium, home to Manchester United and Manchester City; being the birthplace of the world's first passenger railway in 1830; and the Madchester music scene launched in part by Factory Records.
That's everything I've got.
A note before you plan around this: prices, opening hours, booking requirements and admission details in this guide were correct at the time of writing, but venues change these often and sometimes without notice. Always check directly with the attraction or its official website before you travel or build a schedule around a specific time or price.
Before travelling to any destination featured on this site, please also check your government's latest travel advice, as safety situations, entry requirements and travel warnings can change.
