Affectionately dubbed the “London of the North,” Manchester is often regarded as Britain’s second capital city, with a history of grit, glory and grandeur. Cotton mills first put it on the world map in the 18th century, when Manchester became Europe’s first Industrial Revolution-era boomtown. Although badly damaged by the Blitz in World War II and the deindustrialization of the 1970s and 80s, the city’s later recovery and urban renaissance earned its own nickname: “The Manchester Miracle”.
Mancunians, as the city’s inhabitants are known, are fiercely proud of their history and the city’s transformation into one of the British Isles’ great cultural and sporting capitals.
In the hometown of two of the world’s most famous football teams, awash in historic sights, unique museums and one-of-a-kind cafes and boutiques that reflect the local culture, you won’t run out of interesting things to do in Manchester.