Manchester

Two days on foot and by Metrolink, with a third in the hills

Two days cover the essentials, and a third buys you the hills to the east. The centre is compact enough that the first day needs no transport at all; the second runs west along the Metrolink to the old docks.

• Day one, on foot: start at the Cathedral and Chetham's Library next door, founded in 1421, then walk down Deansgate to the Gothic reading room of the John Rylands Library. Manchester Art Gallery and the round Central Library on St Peter's Square are a few minutes away. Spend the afternoon in Castlefield at the Science and Industry Museum, built around Liverpool Road station, which opened in 1830 as the first purpose-built passenger station in the world. Eat and drink in the Northern Quarter after dark.
• Day two, Salford Quays: the tram to the Lowry arts centre and IWM North, the war museum facing it across the ship canal, then a stadium tour at Old Trafford. Followers of City should head east to the Etihad instead.
• Day three, the Pennines: the Peak District starts about 30 km east. Glossop and Hadfield are around half an hour by train from Piccadilly, and Edale, at the foot of Kinder Scout, is under an hour. Leeds and Liverpool also make easy day trips.

Match days and big concerts decide hotel prices here, more than the season does. Check the Premier League fixtures before you book, because rooms near Piccadilly and the Quays fill fast on those weekends and stadium tours may not run on match days. With the dates clear, compare Manchester hotels around Piccadilly station for the easiest arrival.

Use park-and-ride, or keep a car for the Peak District and pick one up on the way out. Trains east reach York without a change.

How wet Manchester really is, month by month

The rainy reputation is only half deserved. The city gets about 806.6 mm a year against a UK average of 1,125 mm, and fewer wet days than the country as a whole. What it does have is frequent light rain and damp air, the same humidity that once suited the cotton mills.

October tops the rain table with around 95 mm, and November and December are not far behind. In high summer the thermometer peaks at about 21°C by day, though the hottest day on record hit 38°C in July 2022.

Snow rarely settles in town, but it does on the moors. The Snake Pass and the Pennine stretch of the M62 can close in winter, which matters if you plan to drive over to Sheffield or into the Peak District.

Late May to September is the best stretch for walking the canals and the hills. The Manchester International Festival, held every second year and generally in July, brings new commissions across the city. Manchester Pride takes over the Gay Village around Canal Street on the August bank holiday weekend.

Football runs from August to May, and on derby days the city centre pubs are best avoided. Summer is quieter around the universities: the students leave, and buses along Oxford Road run a slightly thinner timetable. From November the Christmas markets spread across the centre, which makes a cold, short-day visit more fun than it sounds.

Rusholme's Curry Mile and the Northern Quarter's rice-and-three cafés

Curry is the local habit. Rusholme's Curry Mile, a strip of Wilmslow Road south of the universities, packs in so many curry houses that competition keeps standards up; locals talk of the cheap curry where you bring your own drinks.

In the back streets of the Northern Quarter, old-style curry cafés serve rice with a choice of dishes at canteen prices. Chinatown, around Faulkner Street, has Cantonese restaurants and all-you-can-eat buffets that are cheapest early in the day.

Sam's Chop House on Chapel Walks and Sinclair's Oyster Bar at Cathedral Gates are the old favourites for British cooking. The basement food hall at Selfridges is good for a picnic. West Didsbury and Chorlton, out in the southern suburbs, have the best independent restaurants. Try an Eccles cake, the flaky currant pastry named after the town just west of Salford.

Drinking is a serious pastime. The Northern Quarter has the dense cluster of bars, while the Marble Arch Inn on Rochdale Road pours real ale from its own Marble brewery. The Village around Canal Street is the heart of gay nightlife. Friday and Saturday taxi queues in town get rowdy, so walk a street away to flag a cab.

Mancunians talk to strangers, and they like to hear their city praised. Football loyalties run deep. Leave a Liverpool or Leeds shirt at home, and never joke about the 1958 Munich air disaster near United fans. You will hear our kid for a brother or close mate, and mither means to bother someone.