Manchester: 5 Reasons To Visit!

Okay it's official we love Manchester! I had suspected it for a while but this last visit confirmed it.

We had visited Manchester for pride previously in 2015, we added it in to our Northern road trip in 2015 and again in 2017 with Laura's family. I have also visited a few times for work. Each visit had been brief though and had never really discovered the city and all it has to offer. Now we have visited and explored here are our reasons why we think you should visit:

1) The mix of old buildings and new makes for a really interesting city centre and downtown. The fact that the old buildings are grand, beautifully designed, re-purposed places makes you want to find out the history. From the Corn Exchange to the banks, Spinningfields to Northern Square you can see the original purpose written into the buildings bricks. It gives you a sense of what a thriving city this used to be.....and still is.

The new buildings are still being added. From the Hilton hotel that stands overlooking the city from Deansgate to the newly designed Spinningfields they are worth checking out. The skyline is changing every time we visit.

2) It's walkable. If you plan to explore a city it's always good to know how far apart things are. Well the good news with Manchester is that you can walk around this city easily. What's even better is that it is flat enough to be able to take a pram and rarely get stuck.  We covered 8 miles in one day exploring every part of the city but our legs were fine the next day - mostly likely because it was flat to walk around not because we are super fit :)

3) You won't go hungry. Okay, okay, I know almost every city in the UK has a diverse range of food on offer but for accessibility Manchester wins. From the Alchemist to Almost Famous to Northern Soul grilled cheese restaurant you can stay mainstream or find all kinds of delicious foods in the pop up stalls and alternative areas.  

4) The graffiti. Manchester is jam packed with walls dedicated to the art and with the common association with bees you'll see plenty of them too. Up until the awful bombing in the city in May 2017 it wasn't widely known what the link was. The bee features in Manchester's coat of arms and during the industrial revolution came to mean that the city was 'working together like worker bees'. The symbol stuck and today it can be seen all over the city.

There are plenty of other graffiti pieces to see too if you head to the Northern Quarter!

5) As well as the graffiti bees there are other bees currently swarming the city - first came elephants in Sheffield, then came bears in Birmingham and now Bees in Manchester! Bee in the City is supporting the 'we love Manchester charity'. Over 100 bees have been designed and placed around the city until the 23rd of September. Click the link above for all the details.

Following the trail (on the free maps provided at locations in the city) you are guided to areas you would never find just strolling around. As well as beautiful designs each artist shared a statement about why they chose the design and it's significance to Manchester. From the influential women to the music (think Oasis, Joy Division, Cleopatra, Herman Hermits) to the industrial heritage as cottonopolis to the city's support of LGBT people, it is educational in an unexpected way.

I am sure there is plenty more to discover but after a day we certainly got a sense that the city has an eclectic mix of people, a thriving arts culture and a modern outlook. We didn't even touch on the huge amount of shopping on offer on Market Street and in the Arndale centre. With trams, buses and Manchester Piccadilly train station the city is accessible however you travel. Whatever you do add it to your must see list though. We will bee (sorry couldn't resist) heading back, i'm sure of it!