Located on England’s culturally distinct northwest coast, Manchester is a lively, bustling city that is defined by its place in history as the hub of Britain’s cotton industry during the Industrial Revolution. Manchester grew from an average sized settlement in 1750 to become one of the most important industrial cities in the world. So significant was the city that by the time of the Industrial Revolution 100 years later, Manchester had been dubbed ‘Cottonopolis’.

And it is this period of incredible growth and industry that dominates the feel of the city and forms the basis of many of its great attractions with numerous buildings, exhibitions and museums relating to this incredible boom period.

But modern day Manchester is also a very progressive city that is leading the way in urban regeneration with eye-catching buildings such as the Urbis centre. Manchester is also proud of its status as a style icon and the city has a well deserved reputation as a great place to shop, with plenty of independent shops as well as big name retailers.

Manchester Visitor Information Centre
Lloyd Street
Tel: 0871 222 8223.
Website: www.visitmanchester.com

This is the only Visitor Information Centre in the city centre and it is located in the Town Hall Extension, just a couple of minutes' walk southwest from Piccadilly Gardens. There are more Visitor Information Centres at other places of interest in Greater Manchester including at the airport (see Getting There by Air), Altrincham (tel: (0161) 912 5931) and Salford (tel: (0161) 848 8601).

As part of a citywide initiative, many of the museums and galleries have free admission so there are no tourist discount passes currently available.