Manchester, a City often known for its incredible musical history from electronic to indie, the curry mile, rather rainy days and so much more. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t living up to its rainy reputation on my recent visit but was beaming with sunshine instead, it had been such a longtime since I had spent any time in the City that this bout of sunshine felt like a clean slate and a chance to see the city in a new light, as it hasn’t always been my favourite City.

Some of my first thoughts of being back in Manchester were how many incredibly beautiful buildings there were with a real mix of old and modern happening. Whilst wandering the back streets I got a feel of the streets of New York due to the amount of run down buildings with cool stair wells, many of which seem like they have a real story to tell behind the boarded up windows and make me want to know more about what went on within them.

For this stay I was fortunate to be staying in centrally located City Suite Apartments, close to Manchester Victoria railway station which is a gorgeous station for anyone who appreciates a railway station, another great example of a modern and old mix. The area is classed as Salford as its just over the river but is actually a stones throw from Manchester Cathedral and the city centre, making it easy to access all Manchester has to offer, which is a lot.

Manchester is made up of different areas, all offering something unique, including the incredibly colourful Northern Quarter, The Gay Village, The Civic Quarter, Petersfield, Deansgate, Oxford Road, Castlefield, Picadilly, Picadilly Gardens, Spinningfields and Ancoats to name a few. As this was an impromptu trip I had little planned, so much of my discovery of the City was walking around and taking in the buildings, shops and side streets of some of these areas, which is one of my favourite ways to explore a place and get the step count in too, double bonus.

Due to my central location I spent a lot of time in and around The Northern Quarter, St Stephenson Square, Tibb Street and Picadilly Gardens, as these areas are full of great shops, eateries and streetart, perfect for lots of pavement pounding and discoveries to be made. There were lots of free outdoor ‘streetart’ galleries in these areas too, which brighten up many of the UK City streets. The streetart in Manchester lurks way up high on the buildings, on the shop shutters and in the side streets.

A new addition to Manchester City Centre since I was last there, many moons ago, was the Corn Exchange, full to the brim with delicious eateries and one which I particularly recommend would be Tampopo for its simple and tasty Vietnamese Cuisine, Pad Thai and Vietnamese coffee please. There are many other options available here too and when you’re finished you have a choice of popping into The Arndale Shopping centre, Manchester Cathedral, The National Football Museum, Selfridges or you could nip onto a tram and ride onto another area of the City and explore.

If you wander around the Northern Quarter area there are so many cool spots to see and stumble, depending on what you are into but it’s such a vibrant, diverse area, there is bound to be something. A few of my favourites in this area were the outside seating area of St Stephen’s Square where there are plenty of delicious eateries, close by you’ll find, Manchester Craft and Design Centre, full to the brim with local crafters and designers, the give away is in the name and around here you’ll spot the old fish market walls which are gorgeous to see and highlight the history lurking on the streets of the City.

Manchester is no stranger to a canal and even has it’s very own canal street, I had little time to explore the many canal walks this time but it’s definitely on my agenda for next time.

If you fancy a few days in Manchester soon I’ve included some useful links below.

USEFUL LINKS

www.visitmanchester.com

22 Best Things to do in Manchester according to Time Out

25 Best things to do In Manchester according to The Crazy Tourist

TRAVEL

Trams

Travel by bus

www.tpexpress.co.uk

STAY

City Suites

Easyhotel

YHA

Selina

MUSEUMS

The National Football Museum

Museum of Science and Industry

Manchester Museum

Peoples History Museum

Imperial Ware Museum North

EAT

China Town Restaurants