The best museums in Manchester

Bolton Museum was named the ‘Best Free Museum in the UK’ in 2025 in a chart based on customer reviews and ratings. This year’s big draw is its Reebok and Walsh exhibition which explores the town’s links with the iconic athletic brand. Sneaker-heads can see some of the original designs and learn about the Boltonian brothers who founded the company back in 1958.

With original police cells, a Victorian magistrates’ court and loads of fascinating real-life stories about Manchester police investigations, this museum will delight history geeks and true crime fans. Ex-police officers act as guides so you can get an insider’s account of the front line of fighting crime.

This brilliantly curated museum at Salford Quays does a fantastic job at explaining the geo-political origins of major conflicts – while also telling the stories of the individuals caught up in war. There’s so much to learn here you might want to spread your visit out over a few days.

Winner of Best Museum in Europe in this year’s prestigious European Museum of the Year Awards, Manchester Museum is enjoying a new lease of life since it reopened in 2023. Head there to explore exhibits ranging from macabre artefacts like its famous Egyptian mummies, to intricate artworks like the eye-popping rickshaw in the South Asia gallery. Other highlights include Stan the T-Rex and the Japanese Giant Spider Crab – a nightmarish duo that have been haunting the dreams of Manchester children for decades.

This much-missed Power Hall reopened this month (October 2025) after a six-year closure for renovations. Watch the hypnotic movements of the industrial engines and learn about the Manchester people who kept them running. Elsewhere in the museum, the Operation Ouch exhibition has been a big hit this year – catch it before it ends in January 2026.

You can’t really get much more immersive than this museum which lets you wander the low-lit tunnels and hidden rooms of Stockport’s sprawling air raid shelters. Book onto the once-a-month evening tour to see the full extent of this underground network, including areas not usually open to the public.