Mini-break in Manchester

[dopamineexplosion]

I have a hospital appointment in the Alexandra Hospital in Stockport, Manchester on a Friday in March. I was wondering about making it into a mini-break as I'd love to see Manchester. I have a sleep disorder though so me and my partner need a room each - air bnbs have been good in the past but it's not always clear how central they are if it's a city. We'd like to be somewhere central that's nice to wander round and with nice restaurants. Is there a way we can do this without it being phenomenally expensive? We found a lovely air bnb online for about £400 for 3 nights but I'm not sure it's actually that near anywhere to eat having looked at the location now. And I'm not sure we'd want to spend that much more. Is there such a thing as an air bnb that's central with 2 bedrooms for around this price? My other quirk is that I'm not keen on leather sofas!

Are no cheaper options for central Manchester coming up on Airbnb or Vrbo? Where was the lovely one you've mentioned? You could stay further out and get the tram in but Mancunian trams are quite slow, I find...we're not talking tube levels of frequency or speed!

For walkability, I'd look at Northern Quarter, around the universities, or Deansgate Locks maybe. Or Canal St/the gay village.

Where (roughly) is the AirBnB? Pretty much anywhere inside or just outside the inner ring road is walkable from anywhere else inside it.

It's SK3, near Stockport/Cheadle. Near the hospital but maybe not as good for getting into the city centre? I hadn't looked on Verbo actually - they're better at telling you what's city centre by the looks of things...thanks for that suggestion - I haven't been anywhere in ages so am useless at the research!

How about a 2 bed apartment at Staycity? It's an aparthotel next to Picadilly so you would be centrally based.

Stockport is not near manchester. Its a train ride - 15 mins ish.

Which weekend is it? If you hit a weekend when there’s a football match on then hotel prices go through the roof. Cheadle is a nice suburb but it’s by no means the city centre! Are you driving because if so, staying in the centre might be an issue for parking.

The Alex is Stockport but only just; it's pretty much south Manchester. You could try to find an AirBnB in Didsbury Village, which is nearby and has nice restaurants, cafes etc, and also allows very easy access to the city centre on the tram (Metrolink). Will you have a car?

If you didn’t want the city centre itself west DIdsbury could be a good option. Loads of cute air bnbs, close to your hospital appointment and easy to get to the city centre on the bus or tram. An Uber to the city would be about £10.

Didsbury itself has loads of nice bars and restaurants you could walk to. But it’s definitely ‘nice suburb’ rather than in the city centre

Have a look at Motel One, Manchester City ctr. Great location, lovely, reasonably priced too! It's a German chain I believe. We stayed there, as it was fairly cheap I wasn't expecting much but would 100% recommend on location and a lovely hotel.

https://www.google.com/travel/hotels/s/6dPeoZ2TBuSAbR978

Cheadle is a fair bit out and not all that easy to get to Manchester transport wise - just buses and not many. .
Didsbury is a good call.

Oh God yes I wouldn't stay in Cheadle. (I was thinking you were meaning that Hulme or Fallowfield or similar were a bit far out!)

Fallowfield wouldn't be a bad shout actually - very studenty but you might get lucky, and you could walk into town at a push. Loads of buses going into town from there too.

We're going by train so no car - I'll look into Didsbury or the Motel One. Verbo does have some decent options by the looks of things although I wouldn't mind getting a train into town. Just not sure about my partner as he has time to kill in the morning while i'm still sleeping - we're such a complicated couple!

I'll check out Staycity too...

Yes I'd say it would work well to base yourself in Didsbury because you can access the Alex from there by bus (actually you could walk it, it's only about a 20-25 min walk from Didsbury to Cheadle, but not a particularly pleasant one along a busy road). And then you can easily travel into the city centre from Didsbury by tram or bus. As I say, Didsbury itself has some nice restaurants, or you can walk to West Didsbury which is probably even better for independent shops, bars and restaurants.

I've booked a Premier Inn in Manchester (princess st) in April. I have called ahead and requested interconnecting rooms. It was £109 total for both rooms.

That's a great deal Invisimamma! For our dates the rates weren't anywhere near as good but DP has also had several bad nights in Premier Inns and so is understandably not that keen on them. I've always had great sleeps in them though so this is frustrating!

I've ended up booking somewhere on Airbnb on School Street for 3 nights. It looks lovely and it's only a short walk into the very centre of town. Excited to see Manchester!