Peak Season:
The summer months from June to September are the most popular time to fly to Manchester, as this is when weather is most favourable and most festivals and other outdoor events take place.
The Great Manchester Run takes place in May and the city fills with running enthusiasts and their supporters as well as sponsors and camera crews. Beware that it is a very busy time and flights as well as accommodation prices are likely to rise so if you’re planning to visit during the event, make sure that you book them well in advance to get the best deals.
Off Season:
The colder and wetter months of winter are Manchester’s least busy in terms of tourism, which is reflected in cheap flight deals and accommodation prices and availability. Early autumn and late spring are good off peak periods to visit, as the weather is relatively pleasant and peak season crowds have either yet to arrive or have already left. This also tends to be the cheapest time to book your flights.
Manchester Literature Festival takes place annually in October and allows audiences to experience high quality live literature from internationally renowned authors and exclusive performances which have been specially commissioned.
If you want to visit one of the UK’s most vibrant and lively cities, then Manchester should be at the top of your agenda. Not only is it home to some of the most famous football clubs in the world, but you’ll find plenty to see and do including art, history, music, universities, nightclubs and festivals.
Once a manorial township, Manchester’s booming textile manufacturing industry during the Industrial Revolution saw it transforming into one of England’s major urban centres, reflected in nicknames such as “Cottonopolis” and “Warehouse City”. After the prosperity brought by the cotton mills, Manchester established itself as the financial centre of the region and has remained one of Northern England’s most thriving cities.
There are plenty of sights around the city centre. The Royal Exchange has some of the top theatres in the country and the City Art Gallery. Spinningfields is a modern and upmarket area which features designer boutiques and classy restaurants, while the nearby Manchester Arndale shopping centre is also great for shopaholics. Castlefield, on the other hand, has hip bars and picturesque canals.
Sports fans flying to Manchester have a lot to choose from. Sportcity, just two miles east from the centre, contains the biggest concentration of sporting venues in Europe, including the Regional Arena, Manchester City’s football stadium and a velodrome. On the other side of town to the west, Trafford is home to Manchester United’s stadium and Lancashire County Cricket Club.
Greater Manchester is home to more students than anywhere else in Europe, so unsurprisingly there is a large and exciting nightlife. Canal Street is renowned for its buzzing atmosphere and gay scene, while Fallowfield is busy with plenty of cheaper options. Food fans should head to Rusholme to visit the Curry Mile, a mile-long stretch packed with curry houses and other eateries.
Although rainfall may occur at any point during the year, the summer months of July and August are usually warmest and driest, and the winter months of December, January and February the coolest and wettest.
Manchester’s city centre is compact enough to reach most of its attractions on foot without difficulty. However, the city has an excellent public transport system managed by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE), which includes buses, trams and trains.
The city centre is served by a free bus service called Metroshuttle which links major rail stations, car parks, shopping centres and businesses, and proves extremely useful for visitors and locals alike. You can get on these buses at transport terminals at Piccadilly, Oxford Road, Deansgate, Salford Central and Victoria among other places. Relatively cheap bus services in North and South Manchester are also available for those wishing to travel further out.
Manchester’s mass transit tram system is known as Metrolink and covers much of the metropolitan area, including Harbour City, Victoria, Market Street, Piccadilly, Old Trafford and St Peter’s Square.
The Greater Manchester rail network offers services from Manchester Airport (MAN) to the city centre as well as between locations within the city and from the city to other parts of the country.
Select the airport or region closest to you to compare the prices of cheap flights to Manchester
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