Manchester

Free, 10.00-17.00 daily, built on the site of Liverpool Road station, the oldest surviving passenger railway station anywhere. Reserve a free ticket. Parts of the site are shut for restoration and the Air and Space Hall has closed permanently.

In the Urbis building at Cathedral Gardens, Wednesday to Sunday 10.00-17.00 with last admission at 16.00. City of Manchester residents are asked to book a time slot online.

Sunday to Thursday 09.30-16.00, Friday and Saturday to 17.00. The stadium tour runs about 70 minutes and has to be booked in advance. Both close completely on home matchdays, so check the fixture list first.

Red brick north of Piccadilly: record shops, Afflecks, independent coffee and the densest bar strip in the city. Ten minutes on foot from the station.

A Roman fort, canal basins and cast-iron railway viaducts stacked on top of each other, with the Science and Industry Museum in the middle. Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop.

Avanti West Coast to Manchester Piccadilly, averaging 2 hours 10 minutes. Piccadilly is a ten-minute walk from the Northern Quarter, so you do not need a taxi.

Direct trains into Piccadilly, plus long-haul routes that let you skip London altogether. The airport is on the same rail spine as Liverpool and Leeds.

The tram network reaches Old Trafford, Salford Quays, MediaCity and the airport. Tap a contactless card on the platform reader, or buy from the machine.

May to September, when the roof terraces open and the football season is either just finishing or just starting.

January and February. Hotel rates collapse, the museums are free anyway, and the city is built for indoor days.

Match weekends for United or City, and the run of student arrivals in late September, when beds vanish.

Science and Industry Museum on Liverpool Road, free, and the 1830 warehouse and station buildings around it.

Walk the Castlefield canal basins under the viaducts, then north along Deansgate into the centre.

Eat in the Northern Quarter, where the warehouses hold most of the independent kitchens.

National Football Museum at Cathedral Gardens, or a tram out to Old Trafford for the stadium tour.

A gig at Band on the Wall on Swan Street, then the Northern Quarter bars until they close.

Half an hour by train, and a completely different city: waterfront, Georgian terraces and a rivalry Manchester takes seriously.

The first British national park, and its northern edge is under an hour away. Trains from Piccadilly to Edale drop you at the start of the Pennine Way.