Where to Stay in Manchester, England

What is Manchester known for?

Manchester is known as the historic centre of the cotton trade, the city once nicknamed Cottonopolis at the heart of Greater Manchester. Its mills shaped the region. The Science and Industry Museum and the People's History Museum tell that industrial story, while the Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth Art Gallery hold its art.

The National Football Museum draws crowds to the old town. Chetham's Library keeps the oldest reading rooms in the North West.

What are the main landmarks in Manchester?

Manchester's landmarks gather across the old centre and the university quarter. The Manchester Art Gallery and the Whitworth Art Gallery hold the city's art, while the Science and Industry Museum and the Manchester Museum tell its story. Chetham's Library keeps the oldest reading rooms in the North West.

The National Football Museum and the People's History Museum sit near the centre, and the Roman fort of Mamucium marks the city's beginnings. Gorton Monastery stands east of the core.

What is the history of Manchester?

Manchester grew from the Roman fort of Mamucium on the ground between the Pennines and the Cheshire Plain, and took its market charter in 1301. The early town gathered around the crossing of its rivers, small and provincial for centuries. Then came cotton.

The mills of the industrial age turned the town into the centre of the cotton trade, the place nicknamed Cottonopolis, drawing workers from across the North West and beyond. Canals and railways were cut to carry the trade. With the mills came movements that shaped the country, recorded now at the People's History Museum and the Pankhurst Centre, where the campaign for the vote took root.

Chetham's Library had already kept its reading rooms open since the seventeenth century. Manchester spread outward from the old core as its trade grew, and institutions such as the Science and Industry Museum and the Manchester Museum came to hold its record. The looms fell silent.

The city they built still stands below the Pennines, west of the hills and north of the Cheshire Plain.

Where is Manchester?

Manchester stands in Greater Manchester in North West England, on the flat ground between the Pennines and the Cheshire Plain, with the city of Salford pressed close against its western side. Hills rise to the north and east. The Pennines wall the horizon.

Beyond the built-up area the plain and the moors spread across the North West, and the Cheshire Plain opens gently away to the south. Salford lies just west.

What is the climate of Manchester?

Manchester has a mild, wet oceanic climate, shaped by the hills that ring it. Winters are cool and grey, with long spells of rain rolling off the Pennines and low cloud hanging over the city. Summers are warm and changeable.

Rain is a steady companion. When the clear days come, the moors of the Pennines stand out sharply above the plain, and the Cheshire Plain opens green to the south.

How do you get to Manchester?

Manchester is reached by air, rail, and road across North West England. Its international airport sits south of the centre, on the ground toward the Cheshire Plain. Trains run in from every direction.

Motorways ring the city and cross the region toward Salford and the wider North West, and the main rail lines that once carried the cotton trade still meet in the centre below the Pennines.