Where to park near the university of Manchester? (Open day tomorrow)

[TomTomThumb]

Any suggestions for a car park close to the Uni, ideally near the maths department?
Everywhere will be busy with train strikes.
Hoping to get there at 9ish.
TIA

ps I am ulez compliant

We dont have ULEZ in manchester! Where are you coming from?

Is JustPark any good to you?
https://www.justpark.com/search?&arriving=2023-09-30T09:00&leaving=2023-09-30T13:00&q=Manchester%20Piccadilly%20Station&coords=53.478107,-2.230035&filters=reservable

Or park at a Park and Ride and get the tram to Piccadilly (assuming trams are running even if trains are not)?
https://tfgm.com/public-transport/park-and-ride

I like the Aquatics Centre car park which you enter on Rumford Street - it’s an APCOA car park and you can pre book a space which takes away a lot of stress for me.

It’s literally a 2 minute walk from the Alan Turing building where I think the Maths department is

If it’s an open day and the trains are on strike, parking near the Uni will be packed out so depending on where youre coming from I’d advise parking out of the city and getting the tram / bus in.

London. Sorry I thought there was a ULEZ!

I'd like to have my car so we can drive around the city for a while to get a feel for it.

So you’ll be coming M1 / M62 then. I’d get off at Junction 17 for Whitefield and jump on the tram at Prestwich - its about 3 mins off the motorway, the tram takes about 15 mins from there. Head to Piccadilly Gardens and the Uni is walking distance from there.

This is a BAD idea! Driving in the city centre is horrendous on a normal day, but when its a Uni open day its even worse - it’s mostly a ring road anyway. It’s a small city centre, very walkable.

I’ve just read the pre booking T&Cs and realised they don’t actually guarantee a space - I must have got lucky! So I wouldn’t do that on a uni open day

Thanks, that looks good. It's £12 for the day which is a bit steep but good to not have to worry about a space.

DOH!

Which parts would you recommend walking around that students would be interested in?

NCP do guarantee a space when you pre book (I believe) - so you could look at NCP Manchester Circle Square

The traffic is likely to be properly grim though…

There are buses - very easy to hop on one along the 'curry mile' between the main uni area and the halls, for instance.

When we visit Manchester we actually often park near the uni and walk into the centre from there - obviously wouldn't do that on an open day!

Which parts would you recommend walking around that students would be interested in?

Depends on the student - the Canal Street 'gay village' is on one side.

What are the cool areas where students typically hang out?

Lots of unis set up specific car parking with complementary shuttle buses to the universities.
See if Manchester have set one up.

Agree with this recommendation. It’s usually not busy and very convenient

Fine but just to warn you driving around the centre of Manchester is horrendous. Bus lanes galore, one ways and increasingly, roads blocked off so only cyclists and pedestrians have access. And sat nab isn’t always updated to show these-as I found out to my cost when visiting my son! For my son’s graduation, I actually parked in Castlefield which is easy to get to from motorways, then walked via Deansgate-Manchester city centre is an good place to walk and university while not next door is an easy half hour walk from that area. But around the university, parking and traffic will be awful-especially with train strike.

Isn't the student supposed to figure that out for themselves?

When I went with my daughter on an open day to Manchester, we did travel on the train, 40 minutes and then the bus.

To be honest, the open day was brilliant and my daughter loved it, as did I. Lot's to do and you may well find little time for extra exploring. She did go to Manchester and chose it above Oxford.

If you do have time then visit the Manchester Museum.

Driving through Manchester is squeaky derriere time. I really don't recommend it.

Well worth it. Another who agrees.

This option is good as well.

Plus you could also visit the Midland Hotel for a coffee/afternoon tea treat. It's beautiful.