Things to do in Manchester right now
Manchester has made peace with its weather. Its best museums are free and a few minutes apart, its food halls and music venues fill the evenings whatever the sky is doing, and when the sun does come out the canals, the parks and the Peak District trains are right there. This list is re-ordered for the weather and the time in Manchester right now.
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Science and Industry Museum
Castlefield
Working engines and the world’s first passenger railway station, free to enter.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Northern Quarter
Northern Quarter
Record shops, street art, coffee and the bars that define a Manchester night out.
Mostly under cover. Free.
- Free
- In and out
- Half a day
- Fine in rain
Mackie Mayor
Northern Quarter
A restored Victorian meat market turned food hall, with long tables and a dozen kitchens.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. On today.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
John Rylands Library
Deansgate
A neo-Gothic cathedral of a library on Deansgate, free to walk around.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Manchester Art Gallery
City centre
Pre-Raphaelites, Lowry and a strong programme of contemporary shows, free, in the centre.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Manchester Museum
Oxford Road
Dinosaurs, Egyptian mummies and a vivarium of live frogs, free, on the university campus.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
HOME
First Street
Five cinema screens, two theatres and a free gallery under one roof.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Gallery free; cinema and theatre ticketed
The Whitworth
Whitworth Park
A glass-walled gallery that opens onto its own park, with a strong textile collection.
Mostly under cover. Free.
- Free
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
Old Trafford stadium tour
Trafford
Behind the scenes at Manchester United’s ground, from the dressing room to the dugout.
Mostly under cover.
- Over £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
Imperial War Museum North
Trafford Wharf
Libeskind’s shattered-globe building with hourly 360-degree projections, free.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
People's History Museum
Spinningfields
The national museum of democracy, from Peterloo to the present, free by the river.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
The Lowry
Salford Quays
Theatres, a free Lowry gallery and the quayside at MediaCity.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Gallery free; shows ticketed
Chetham's Library
Cathedral Gardens
The oldest public library in the English-speaking world, where Marx and Engels worked.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Guided tours; book ahead
National Football Museum
Cathedral Gardens
The story of the game in a glass wedge by the cathedral, with penalty shoot-outs to try.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Free for Manchester residents
Chinatown
City centre
The second-biggest Chinatown in the UK, for dim sum, hotpot and late suppers.
Mostly under cover.
- Under £10
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
Etihad Stadium tour
Eastlands
Manchester City’s stadium tour, with the tunnel walk and the trophy room.
Mostly under cover.
- Over £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
Central Library
St Peter’s Square
A circular 1930s library with a domed reading room, free and warm on a wet day.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Manchester Cathedral
Cathedral Gardens
A medieval church with the widest nave in England and carved misericords worth finding.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Manchester Craft and Design Centre
Northern Quarter
Two floors of makers’ studios in a Victorian fish market, free to browse.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Trafford Centre
Trafford Park
A vast, over-the-top shopping centre with a cinema, a Sea Life aquarium and Legoland Discovery inside.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Free to enter; attractions ticketed
Ancoats
Ancoats
Old mills turned into the city’s best neighbourhood for dinner and brunch.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
The Bridgewater Hall
Lower Mosley Street
Home of the Hallé orchestra, with concerts most nights of the week.
Comes alive in the evening.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Castlefield and the canals
Castlefield
Roman fort, Victorian viaducts and canal basins with bars along the water.
Wet right now, so save this for a dry spell.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
Heaton Park
Prestwich
Six hundred acres of parkland with a hall, a boating lake, a farm and a tram stop at the gate.
Wet right now, so save this for a dry spell.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Peak District from Edale
Day trip
An hour by train to the start of the Pennine Way and the climb up Kinder Scout.
Wet right now, so save this for a dry spell.
- Under £10
- Outdoors
- A full day
Free; train fare
Fletcher Moss Botanical Garden
Didsbury
Rock gardens and a riverside walk in Didsbury, the south side’s favourite Sunday.
Wet right now, so save this for a dry spell.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours