To think that Manchester is awful?

I lived in Manchester for a few years and didn't enjoy it. I did find that, when having visitors from overseas, there was very little in way of points of interest.

It is a relatively affordable major city, and does have all the amenities you need, but I agree with others that it's not a good destination to visit.

That said, The People's History Museum is great.

Would love to be there now tbh

Northern quarter, king street, area behind Albert square, isn't deansgate fancy now too ? (Haven't been for a while)

If you spend ages in Piccadilly gardens then not sure what you expected. It's notoriously shit

Most of the posts are about the amazing food, coffee shops and bars. Not exactly conventional tourist fodder when you’re dragging kids around.

I live on the outskirts of the Manchester, a short tram ride away and I agree with you. For a day out in a city we prefer to go to Liverpool or Leeds. If you don't have anywhere specific to visit, it can seem like you're just faced with monotonous high rise buildings with very little character. There are a few nice places to walk around on a sunny day, such as around Castlefeld bowl and Deansgate locks, but very little else if you are looking for beautiful or historic buildings. The Northern Quarter used to be quite grungy and you could see quite a bit of character in the old pubs and shop fronts but in the last few years that area has been developed quite a lot too, making it feel like it's lost it's character in my opinion.

Just go to the Korean shop in the Arndale. It’s quite something. And then for a meal at Erst

Friend and I had the best 3 days there earlier in the year. First time we'd been.
Look up aswell as down. There is some amazing artwork on walls for starters!
OpenTable is a good app for food if you don't know somewhere.
I didn't feel unsafe anywhere in Manchester (and ate some amazing food too 😂)

I'm not keen. I imagine it's great to live there as a student with great live music etc. But for a daytime wander, it's a bit meh. It's also not the cleanest of places, feels a bit uncared for (and a few characters wandering around).

Where have you ended up? Manchester is wonderful! Of course it has its less attractive places like any other city ...

I think you have hit the nail on the head. DD visited twice for university open days and found it too big and too busy.

However, we went over for a day trip to visit a couple of clothes shops (Uniqlo and Lucy and Yak) and had a great day out. We lunched in a really nice noodle bar (can't remember the name, but I would go back)

Well it is a city as it has a cathedral. It's only got tourists these days!

It was me and that's exactly what I meant - thank you @BishyBarnyBee 😊

You can't really compare Chester with the likes of London and Manchester!

Funny that because I don't.

Elisabeth Gaskell’s house on Plymouth Grove? Yes it’s a rubbish time to be down that side of town because the students are off. You could’ve walked easily to Whitworth Art Gallery or Manchester Museum. Or got the bus back to the actual city centre and gone to many nice places there. Don’t judge Manchester by Plymouth Grove - I imagine it’s been going downhill since Elizabeth lived there herself 😁

Manchester is great!

Give over 🤣
Ready to bottle the league again are we?

I lived there for a couple of months in the 90s. I HATED it. Like really hated it. The sense of violence was constant. I also had to put up with numerous northern men proclaiming to be a "northern bastard, me". And my boyfriend was irish who had to put up with much abuse while there.

I am ready accept it very well may have changed in the last 30 years. But there many other cities in the uk that I would rather spend my time. (Shame because I love the accent.)

@Sausagenbacon

I agree, I went for a gig but struggled to find things to do otherwise, museum was shut too

i think the post was implying that it's not really a city, rather than not touristy.

I bloody loved Manchester when I went recently. Such a great vibe

The tram system is great - wish we had one in my town

You aren’t in the city centre as many have said!

Agree with some of the comments about not being the best for tourists, stuff is a bit spread out so you can’t really just wander from place to place. But there is absolutely loads going on and the restaurant/bar/cafe scene is great. If you know people there it’s a bit better to be shown around.

Grew up near there, got many a fond memory of being in the city. Personally prefer it to Liverpool.

Yeah I'm not sure why people are saying there isn't much to do?! It's got a tonne of museums, art galleries, libraries, history.... There's probably no better city in the UK (or Europe!) if you love music and / or football...

The Manchester Museum, Peoples History Museum and MOSI are all fantastic. Whitworth Art Gallery. And Manchester Art Gallery are great too.

Salford Quays and Media City is brilliant for a morning out. Love being down by the Quays on a sunny weekend morning - it's so lively and has such a nice vibe to it. Same with Castlefield.

The NQ is great for browsing vinyl stores, cool little coffee shops and obviously, Afflecks Palace!

Chinatown is a bit gritty but you can get some really decent food in the basement restaurants (if you're prepared to endure bad service, formica tables and plastic cutlery for amazing food)...

Right, I'm stepping away for a coffee and to calm down - I feel like I'm defending my child 😂

I love the comment that Chester isn't a tourist city 🤣 it's full of tourists!