The latest guided walks leaflet has been released. You can find it at www.visitmanchester.com/document/bb%20guide.pdf

www.visitmanchester.com

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

This is a new free portal for mp3 downloadable audio walks, trails and tours. Currently covering the UK, they will soon be expanding to worldwide coverage. There are some great town, city and nature walks and trails as well as historic properties.

www.audioguide2go.com

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

If you're feeling lazy but still want to have a look around the city centre, take the number 2 free bus. It goes in a loop around the city centre so you could hop on and off because they go every 10 minutes or so during the daytime. There are two other free routes (1 and 3) but they are not as good for sightseeing as No 2.

You can catch it from outside Victoria station, Oxford Road station and various stops along the route (for example Hulme street near the BBC, anywhere along Deansgate, by Marks & Spencers at the bottom of market street).

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

I recommend the work of artist Liam Spencer. He is a local artist whose work showing impressionist views of modern Manchester has been exhibited in the Lowry and Manchester Art Gallery. While you would need to check local listings for his exhibitions - there have been Spencer shows once or twice a year in the last few years - there are a few places you can find his work - not all of them totally obvious.

Manchester Art Gallery on Mosley Street has a couple of his panoramic paintings in its permanent collection, and the Lowry in Salford also has some of his work. Spencer's work has been reproduced in some limited print formats and is available from Wendy Levy Contemporary Art in Didsbury. While there, it would be worth a meal at the The Lime Tree restaurant in nearby West Didsbury, which also has a panorama painting of Salford Quays but the most unlikely place you would see a Spencer work is the reception to the Accident and Emergency section of North Manchester General Hospital in Crumpsall, which has a huge panorama of the hospital itself, at a worryingly low height given the agitated states I've seen some of the clientele in. Let's hope your visit to Didsbury's bars and restaurants doesn't cause you to visit the final stop on my Liam Spencer tour!

www.liamspencer-art.co.uk Also: The Lime Tree Restaurant - 8 Lapwing Lane
Didsbury; Tel:0161 445 1217. Wendy Levy Fine Art - 17 Warburton Street, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 6WA; Telephone: 0161 446 4880; www.wendyjlevy-art.com/; North Manchester General Hospital: Delaunays Road, Manchester, M8 5RB; 0161 795 4567.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

This imposing building on the edge of the Salford Quays is made up of huge shards designed to represent a globe fragmented by war. Architect Daniel Libeskind, who also created the Jewish museum in Berlin, knows how to make an impact with his stark aluminium design and dramatic angular lines.

Inside, exhibitions centre around a timeline and feature traditional artifacts alongside interactive material, with giant screens and surround sound films bringing the harsh realities of war to life. There's a good section on the role of women at war, but perhaps, most harrowing is the collection of letters sent home from soldiers on the front line.

Climb or take the lift to the top of the air shard which shoots up from the main building for an impressive view of Manchester's cityscape and beyond.

Free admission
Open 10-6
Trafford Wharf Road, Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1TZ
www.northiwm.org.uk

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Walk with eyes raised to take in the Victorian confidence of the buildings of the world’s first industrial city. Italian Renaissance palaces, Dutch gables, Greek temples, Gothic pinnacles – they’re all here. End up open-mouthed in Alfred Waterhouse’s town hall in Albert Square.

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

A brilliant, FREE and (for not much longer!!)largely undiscovered night in the heart of the city that caters to all good music tastes. Be it discerning pop, funk, cosmic disco, electric-soul, hip-hop, acid RnB, country and good old rock 'n' roll, the DJs seem to provide it all in one breathless set!! Highly recommended.

Font Bar
New Wakefield Street (off Oxford Road by Thirsty Scholar)
They post their irregular dates on:
www.myspace.com/weetabeat

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends