Manchester questions

The centre of Manchester - the areas around Piccadilly Gardens, Arndale and St Peter's Square, are fine as places to stay. They're connected to Manchester Airport by tram.

The airport has on-site hotels as well that are easy to reach from the terminal. If you're not intending to spend any time in Manchester it may be best to just stay up the airport, especially if you're picking up a car.

Rick Steve’s guides are not meant to be comprehensive. There are other guide books which will include Manchester. Or just search it online.

Central Manchester is perfectly safe.

As the airport is several miles south of the city centre, alternatively you could look at staying in some of the upmarket areas near the airport, such as Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Didsbury or Handforth. There are plenty of local cafes and restaurants here and they are a short taxi ride away.

Booking.com is the best place to look for accommodation.

The Townhouse Hotel is really nice.

Been to Manchester several times, the city centre is safe but I like to avoid Piccadilly Gardens which has a lot of homeless.

For hotels, look at Premier Inn, there’s several. I like the one on Portland Street, but they’ll be fine

I've also been to Manchester many times. The most recent was two months ago.

What time do you arrive and what time do you depart? That will have an effect on what I suggest.

From the airport into the center of town, you will have two rail choices......the tram that will take you to Piccadilly Gardens or the train that will take you to Manchester Piccadilly. There is a different tram that goes between Piccadilly Gardens and Manchester Piccadilly. It takes less than 5 minutes.

There are three free city buses that go around the city center if you want to get a feel for the city:

https://tfgm.com/public-transport/bus/free-bus

All three routes start from Manchester Piccadilly

You probably won't find many B & B's and Inns in the center of Manchester. But lots of hotels.

Thanks for the replies.
This will be late September, early October. We land at noon, and were thinking of spending 2 nights to see a couple of museums before going on to the rest of the trip. If someone has been there recently, is Manchester Airport small enough that it does not have the long lines that many of the bigger city airports have?

Manchester is a cramped airport at the best of times.

I flew into the airport in May and the lines at immigration weren't bad. Two other international flights came in at the same time but the lines seemed to move.

The last time I departed was in January 2020 on a domestic flight. The gate areas were small so it was very crowded. I don't remember what security was like but I'm guessing things have changed.

f you are staying for two nights and want to see some of the museums, they are probably the ones in the center of town. I'd suggest staying near Manchester Piccadilly, Piccadilly Gardens or the Northern Quarter. This way, trams or buses will take you wherever you need to go. You can pay for buses and trams with contactless payments.

Manchester Airport is the UK's 3rd largest and recently T2 has been a subject of aignificant rehab and extension, which due to the pandemic has only just come fully on stream and airlines are now moving into it. During the pandemic operations have been concentrated on T1 with T3 completly shut. All the terminals are connected by interlinked skywalks and both the train and tram run directely in the heart of the airport.

Manchester itself is vibrant and lively city centre, Piccadilly Gardens has been subject of a major refurbishment and most of its previous ill are no longer and as mentioned up thread it has one of the best connected public transport networks of any city in Blighty.

There are plenty of attractions in walking distance or a short tram ride depending on ones interest the wonders of both Peak District and Pennines are short rides away. It is very worthy of a visit and far more friendly and welcoming than London.