Rainy days

Tate Liverpool

Albert Dock Art Galleries

Tate Liverpool on the Royal Albert Dock is the northern outpost of the Tate galleries. With an impressive free collection...

The Spa at Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly

Manchester City Centre Spas

A popular option for a good-value spa break, The Spa at Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly is known for its relaxation...

The Beatles Story

Albert Dock Museums

The Beatles are probably Liverpool’s most famous export and it stands to reason that the city has quite a few...

The Walker Art Gallery

Liverpool City Centre Art Galleries

The Walker Art Gallery has housed Liverpool’s world-class art collection for over 130 years and includes everything from Renaissance masterpieces...

John Rylands Research Institute and Library

Spinningfields Historic Buildings & Sites

It’s part of the University of Manchester but you don’t have to be a scholar to enjoy this inspiring space. In...

Inflata Nation Manchester

Trafford Park Activities

This indoor inflatable playground is an excellent way to tire out hyperactive kids on a rainy day and for that...

Manchester Art Gallery

Manchester City Centre Art Galleries

Mosey down Mosley Street between Piccadilly Gardens and St Peter’s Square, and you can’t miss the Greek columns that flank...

Royal Exchange Theatre

Manchester City Centre Theatres

Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre is an exciting clash of modernity and history and the same can be said of its...

Hyde Leisure Pool

Hyde Activities

If you're looking for a pool with a waterslide in Manchester, you've got two options: Grand Central in Stockport and...

The Lowry

Salford Quays Theatres

Flagship arts venue The Lowry was at the heart of 1990s' plans to breathe new life back into Salford Quays....

Pear Mill Vintage Emporium

Stockport Markets

The beauty of this place is that you never quite know what you’ll find, from ancient artefacts to military uniforms...

Pop Boutique Manchester Oldham Street

Northern Quarter Clothing

Family-run independent Pop Boutique was the first vintage store to open on retro clothing hotspot Oldham Street. It's been in...

The British Music Experience

Albert Dock Museums

Head to The Cunard Building, one of the Three Graces that form Liverpool's iconic waterfront to find The British Music...

Kickair

Green Quarter Activities

Kickair, an “indoor freestyle park” behind Victoria Station, is the kind of place that fills kids (and big kids) with...

Goodison Park Stadium Tour

Everton Sports Venues

If you’re visiting Liverpool as an Everton FC fan, make sure the Goodison Park Stadium Tour is on your itinerary. 

TeamSport Go Karting: Manchester Victoria

Manchester City Centre Activities

TeamSport Go Karting: Manchester Victoria is a high-octane experience that'll turn even the mildest contestant into a speed demon.

University of Liverpool Sports and Fitness Centre

Liverpool City Centre Gyms

One of the good things about living in a university city is the sports facilities that go hand-in-hand with a...

Chaos Karts

St John's Activities

Chaos Karts puts you in the driving seat of an immersive augmented reality experience, bringing real-life karting and gaming together.

Manchester Craft and Design Centre

Northern Quarter Arts Venues

Manchester Craft and Design Centre is a fantastic space to stroll around whether you’re there to buy or just to...

Manchester Aquatics Centre

Oxford Road Swimming

Manchester Aquatics Centre is open once again, following an 18-month closure for an extensive refurbishment and upgrade. The new centre...

Sea Life Manchester

Trafford Park Museums

Sea Life Manchester is the city's only aquarium. It isn’t enormous – for something bigger you’d have to travel to...

Ordsall Hall

Salford Historic Buildings & Sites

Ordsall Hall is a piece of Tudor history just a short walk from the contemporary comings and goings of Salford...

Breakout Liverpool

Cavern Quarter Activities

Work as part of a team with friends, family or work colleagues and try to escape the room you've been...

Clampdown Records

Piccadilly Record Shops

The shopfront of Clampdown Records must be one of the most recognisable in Manchester, and not just because it’s been...

Everyman Manchester St John’s

St John's Cinemas

With its red velvet seats, waiter service, and ultra stylish bar and cafe, Everyman Manchester St John’s is a far...

Gallery Oldham

Oldham Art Galleries

Gallery Oldham in the town’s Cultural Quarter features artworks and items from Oldham’s diverse collections alongside newly commissioned art, international...

The Pankhurst Centre

Oxford Road Museums

The Pankhurst Centre is the former home of Emmeline Pankhurst and her family. Open to the public on Thursday and...

Bionic Seven

Northern Quarter Clothing

Head to Port Street on the edge of the NQ to find Bionic Seven, a vintage clothing shop where every...

Gone Fishing Vintage

Northern Quarter Clothing

With its extensive collection of Stone Island and CP Company, Gone Fishing Vintage on Oldham Street is a must-visit for...

Lane 7 Deansgate

Manchester City Centre Activities

With its glowing neon graffiti, low lighting, and hip hop soundtrack, Lane 7 in the Great Northern on Deansgate looks...

Paws Yoga

Castlefield Activities

Two things that are guaranteed to release endorphins: puppies and yoga. Paws Yoga combines the two, and was the first...

Bolton Museum

Bolton Museums

Bolton Museum is much more than just your standard local history-focused collection. Because of its links with the cotton trade, this...

Gorton Monastery

Gorton Historic Buildings & Sites

Its proper title is Manchester Monastery but most people in the city know it as Gorton Monastery. This Grade II...

Albion Farm Shop and Cafe

Saddleworth Farm Shop

Head to the hills above Oldham to find this food-lover's gem. Like many proper farm shops, Albion Farm Shop and...

Splash World

Southport Activities

Splash World in Southport is an inclusive family-friendly water park. It offers a range of attractions but is perhaps more...

Gravity MAX Liverpool

Liverpool City Centre Activities

Home to two floors of immersive activities, Gravity MAX is Liverpool’s biggest multi-entertainment venue.

Slim Chickens Trafford Centre

Trafford Park Restaurant - American

Popular for cheap eats, Slim Chickens Trafford Centre is one of the mall's better options with everything cooked to order...

Point Blank Shooting Liverpool

Cavern Quarter Activities

Point Blank Shooting is a virtual shooting range and bar. Designed to see if you're a sharpshooter, the many levels...

White Rose Manchester

Manchester City Centre Clothing

White Rose doesn’t describe itself as a vintage store but it certainly feels like one. It’s a charity shop that...

Sandcastle Waterpark

Blackpool Swimming

Sandcastle Waterpark is almost as much of a part of Blackpool’s South Shore scenery as the Pleasure Beach with primary-coloured...

Museum of Liverpool

Albert Dock Museums

The Museum of Liverpool on Pier Head is an eclectic and diverse collection of Liverpool stuff and stories. Part of...

Waterworld

Stoke-on-Trent Activities

Waterworld is Facebook-famous - everyone's been and everyone raves about it. It's not cheap but when you compare it to...

Pace Health Club & Nu Spa

Green Quarter Spas

The Pace Health Club & Nu Spa sits inside the Park Inn by Radisson hotel, on the edge of the city...

King Pins Trafford Palazzo

Trafford Park Activities

King Pins Trafford Palazzo markets itself as ‘the crown jewels of bowling’, but to be honest, they’re selling themselves short....

DNA VR

Manchester City Centre Activities

DNA VR is a virtual reality arcade with three different gameplay options. You can communicate with your friends through the...

Point Blank Shooting Manchester

Manchester City Centre Activities

Point Blank Shooting is an interactive virtual shooting range designed to test yours and your teammates quick-draw skills.

Science and Industry Museum

St John's Museums

The Science and Industry Museum celebrates 250 years of innovation. Galleries showcase Manchester inventions, bring the noise and the danger...

Roxy Ball Room Manchester Deansgate

Manchester City Centre Restaurant - Bar

One of two Roxy Ball Room venues in Manchester, the Deansgate bar is an ideal "adult playground" perfect for parties....

Knoops Manchester

Manchester City Centre Cafes

Knoops Manchester is a chocoholic’s dream. Rather than just ordering a hot chocolate, choose the percentage, the origin and the...

Manchester Cathedral

Manchester City Centre Historic Buildings & Sites

Nestled at the end of Deansgate, tucked away behind the main shopping district of Manchester city centre, lies the Grade...

Junkyard Golf Manchester

Manchester City Centre Activities

Junkyard Golf is Manchester’s original crazy crazy golf. There are imitators and imposters but this was the city’s first day-glo,...

Breakout Manchester High Street

Manchester City Centre Activities

Breakout Manchester is a live escape room centre on High Street in Manchester. You are locked in a room with...

Roxy Ball Room Manchester Arndale

Manchester City Centre Activities

With its ten pin bowling, pool tables, beer pong, and shuffleboard, Roxy Ball Room Manchester Arndale will keep you entertained...

Red Brick Market

Baltic Triangle Markets

If you love thrifting, vintage clothes, handmade jewellery, secondhand vinyl, charming curios, retro homeware, old comics, and the like, you...

The Crystal Maze Manchester

St John's Activities

It’s a dream come true for kids of the 90s: a chance to show off your skills on the legendary...

Urban Playground Manchester

Manchester City Centre Activities

Urban Playground Manchester is the place to go for an adrenaline-fuelled, ultra-competitive night out. Located in Manchester Arndale, it brings...

Franco Manca Trafford Centre

Trafford Park Restaurant - Italian

Franco Manca is one of the London big boys of the sourdough pizza revolution. Franco Manca Trafford Centre continues its...

The Resonance Centre

Clayton Therapeutic Services

If you're interested in exploring holistic therapies and alternative ways of treating stress, The Resonance Centre in Clayton is well...

Newsham Scream Park

Tuebrook Activities

Once an orphanage and later an asylum, the derelict Newsham Park Hospital has been attracting ghost hunters and urban explorers...

Tenpin Manchester – Printworks

Manchester City Centre Activities

As the name suggests, TenPin Manchester - Printworks is a bowling alley in the Printworks. It’s family-friendly by day and...

ODEON Manchester Trafford Centre

Trafford Park Cinemas

ODEON Manchester Trafford Centre is the shopping mall’s only multiplex with 20 screens including a massive IMAX screen. It’s enormous...

MeetspaceVR Manchester

Trafford Park Activities

MeetspaceVR Manchester is a virtual reality, immersive experience in a huge warehouse at Trafford Park. It's a place where you...

Nerf Action Xperience

Trafford Park Activities

If you love charging around waving a Nerf blaster with foam ammo popping all around you, then you’re going to...

Harbour Health and Fitness Club

Princes Dock Gyms

The Harbour Health and Fitness Club is part of the Crowne Plaza Liverpool hotel but you don't have to be...

The World of Beatrix Potter

Windermere Museums

The World of Beatrix Potter is always handy to have up your sleeve if you’re in the Lake District and...

Stockport Air Raid Shelters

Stockport Museums

Stockport Air Raid Shelters were the largest purpose built air-raid shelters in the country, originally designed to provide shelter to...

Salford Lads Club

Salford Historic Buildings & Sites

Boxing has been taught at Salford Lads Club since it opened back in 1903. The founders, the Groves brothers, wanted...

Victoria Baths

Victoria Park Historic Buildings & Sites

Only open on Wednesdays (and closed entirely during the winter months), Victoria Baths isn’t fully geared up as a visitor...

TeamSport Go Karting: Trafford Park

Trafford Park Activities

TeamSport Go Karting: Trafford Park has 450 metres of adrenaline-fuelled GP circuit and a new fleet of Biz Evo3 adult...

The Ship & Mitre

Liverpool City Centre Bars

The Ship & Mitre is an imposing pub with some lovely Art Deco touches both inside and out. There are...

HOME

Manchester City Centre Arts Venues

With five cinemas, two theatres, a bookshop, and over 500 sqm of gallery space, HOME is one of Manchester’s biggest...

Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway

Ravenglass Activities

The seven-mile, narrow-gauge Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a spectacular way to explore this corner of the Lake District. It...

Oxygen

Media City Activities

Oxygen is the 13th UK park from the runaway active play juggernaut. Inside it’s brightly-coloured with trampolines and crawl-throughs almost...

Liverpool Central Library

Liverpool City Centre Libraries

Liverpool Central Library looks like another example of impressive Victorian architecture at first (the city is full of them) but...

The Whitworth

Oxford Road Art Galleries

Any art lover’s trip to Manchester would not be complete without a morning or afternoon spent gazing at the walls...

Imperial War Museum North

Salford Quays Museums

This quayside location in Trafford Park was bombed heavily during WW2 so it’s especially appropriate that it was chosen as...

King Pins Manchester Arndale

Manchester City Centre Activities

King Pins Manchester Arndale is ten-pin bowling royalty, and not just for the good customer service, clean, fresh decor and...

Radar Festival

Trafford Park Festivals

Radar Festival is a three-day celebration of boundary-pushing rock and metal held at Victoria Warehouse. It’s a relative newcomer to...

Doctor Duncan’s

Liverpool City Centre Bars

Doctor Duncan’s is named after Britain’s first Medical Health Officer, William Henry Duncan, who was born and raised in Liverpool....

Manchester Museum

Oxford Road Museums

Manchester Museum reopened in February 2023 following a £15m transformation to make it more inclusive and more imaginative in how...

Openswim UK

Sale Swimming

If you want to go swimming at Sale Water Park, the safest way is with Openswim UK. They hold casual...

Legoland Discovery Centre Manchester

Trafford Park Activities

Legoland Discovery Centre is Manchester’s ultimate Lego playground. If your children like building and creating with those brightly coloured blocks,...

Thrift Shop Manchester

Manchester City Centre Clothing

Thrift Shop Manchester is an off-shoot of the nationwide Cow vintage brand, aimed at stylish folk who want cheaper togs...

Manchester City Stadium Tour

Beswick Sports Venues

Even if you’re not a Blue you can’t help but be impressed with the scale of the Etihad Stadium in...

Immersive Gamebox Manchester

Manchester City Centre Activities

Put down those phones, switch off your screens, and, er, stand in front of another one . . .  but...

Chill Factore

Trafford Park Activities

With 180m of downhill skiing and snowboarding, Chill Factore is the UK’s longest indoor real snow slope. And though you can’t...

Manchester Academy of Gymnastics

Salford Activities

Manchester Academy of Gymnastics offers gymnastics to adults and children, boxing for anyone over ten, and parkour.

ReMarket

Piccadilly Clothing

Remarket, a Manchester-grown multi-vendor vintage store, opened up on the thoroughfare between Piccadilly Gardens and Piccadilly Station in autumn 2024.

Manchester United Museum & Stadium Tour

Old Trafford Sports Venues

Even if it's not a match day, there's plenty happening at the iconic Old Trafford stadium. The best way to...

Manchester Central Library

Manchester City Centre Libraries

Officially, The Lowry is the most visited attraction in Greater Manchester, but only because the official list for some reason...

Suzy Loves Milo

Northern Quarter Clothing

Fans of Japanese fashion and popular culture flock to Suzy Loves Milo, a tucked-away vintage clothing and lifestyle store just...

Play Factore

Trafford Park Activities

Play Factore is like a super-sized version of the traditional indoor play centre. It’s enormous; crawling through tunnels, clambering through...

Manchester Poetry Library

Oxford Road Libraries

Whether you're a reader, a writer, a rhymer or a free-verser, you'll find plenty to inspire you at the Manchester...

Manchester Literature Festival

Manchester City Centre Festivals

Manchester Literature Festival has grown considerably in size and stature since it debuted back in 2006. Held annually in October,...

USwim Salford Quays

Media City Swimming

The idea of voluntarily getting into the oily, cone-strewn waters of Salford Quays would once have filled us with horror....

Dunham Massey

Altrincham Parks & Gardens

Dunham Massey is one of the National Trust’s most visited properties, bringing in over half a million people in 2023....

Chatsworth

Hathersage Historic Buildings & Sites

The classic vista of the grand 17th century house overlooking the River Derwent is the most famous image of Chatsworth,...

iFLY Manchester Indoor Skydiving

Trafford Park Activities

If you like the idea of skydiving but not so much the idea of jumping out of a plane, this...

NQ64

Northern Quarter Activities

Return to your youth and relieve the stresses and strains of adult life by whacking baddies Double Dragon-style or jumping...

Greater Manchester Police Museum

Northern Quarter Museums

Greater Manchester Police Museum is housed in an 1879 police station with original cells and charge office. Downstairs, you can...

Dog Bowl

Manchester City Centre Activities

Dog Bowl is a bar, restaurant and bowling alley with five full-length ten-pin bowling lanes. It's tucked under the arches...

Love Lane Brewery

Baltic Triangle Restaurant - Global

The name Love Lane Brewery comes from the craft beer, first brewed in a converted railway arch at Liverpool’s Love...

Archie’s Trafford Centre

Trafford Park Restaurant - American

Archie’s Trafford Centre is another of the eye-popping pink burger and shake sites from the wildly popular Manchester mini-empire. The...

Coast to Coast

Trafford Park Restaurant - American

Coast to Coast is a casual American restaurant at the Trafford Centre. If you’re looking for something that feels more...