Hotels in Manchester

Manchester was the world's first industrial city and has spent the past three decades converting that inheritance into something else entirely — red-brick mills turned into bars, canal basins into apartment districts, and a warehouse economy into music, football and media.

The Northern Quarter carries the independent shops and record stores, Ancoats has become the food destination, Castlefield preserves the Roman fort and the oldest canal network, and Spinningfields holds the business district. Two of world football's biggest clubs are based here, and the free-entry museums — the Science and Industry Museum, the Whitworth, the People's History Museum — are genuinely good.

The city is compact enough to walk and cheaper than London, with direct trains to Liverpool in 35 minutes and the Peak District within an hour. Rain is a genuine feature of the climate rather than a joke, so pack accordingly.