Manchester: Canals, music and cheap nights out

Manchester was the first industrial city in the world and has spent the past thirty years rebuilding on top of that, which is why glass towers stand directly behind brick warehouses and canal basins. It is markedly cheaper than London, the big museums are free, the music history is real rather than marketed, and the moors of the Peak District start about an hour away by train.

Getting Around

• Metrolink trams cover the city and the suburbs, including the airport and both football grounds
• The centre is compact, and walking between the main areas takes twenty minutes at most
• Piccadilly is the main station for trains south and east; Victoria serves the north
• Trains to Edale and the Hope Valley put you in the Peak District in about an hour

What to See

• The Science and Industry Museum, on the site of the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station, free
• Manchester Art Gallery and the John Rylands Library, a neo-gothic reading room that looks like a cathedral, both free
• Castlefield, where a Roman fort, canal basins and converted warehouses make the best walk in the centre
• The Northern Quarter for record shops, bars and street art, and the part of town most worth wandering
• Football: stadium tours at both clubs, and the National Football Museum in the centre

Music and Nights Out

• The music history runs from Factory Records and the Hacienda to whatever is on this week, and the venues matter more than the plaques
• The Northern Quarter and Ancoats are where most nights start
• Gig tickets and drinks both cost noticeably less than in London
• Match days change the mood of the whole city, and the trams with it

Where to Eat and Stay

• The Curry Mile in Rusholme for South Asian food, and Chinatown in the centre
• Ancoats for the newer restaurants, the Northern Quarter for cheap lunches and coffee
• Hostels and budget chains cluster around the Northern Quarter and Piccadilly
• Staying a tram stop or two out is cheaper and barely less convenient

Give it an afternoon in the Peak District. Manchester is one of the few big cities where you can be on open moorland an hour after leaving your hostel, and back in time for a gig.