Manchester is a great city in the north of England. There’s lots of great things to do, for all ages. And a lot of the best things to do are free! Here’s the top 10 free things to do in Manchester for a day
Manchester is well connected to the rest of the UK by train, and it also has an aiport. It’s also a reasonly ok city to drive to, if you’d prefer to drive. The parking isn’t too expensive. However, once you get to Manchester, you can easily explore the top sights by walking. My list of the top 10 free things to do in Manchester for a day are listed in order of the best way to visit them. If you visit them in order, you’ll get to have a nice walk around the city and see all the top sights on your route.
1. Manchester Cathedral
The first of my top 10 free things to do in Manchester for a day is to visit Manchester Cathedral. It’s an impressive building, situated towards the North of Manchester city centre. You can look at it from the outside for free, and it’s also free to go inside as well. It doesn’t take too long to look around the Cathedral, so it’s a good quick morning activity before moving on.
2. John Ryland’s Library
Heading south from Manchester Cathedral, you can walk to John Ryland’s library in about 10 minutes. John Rylands library is part of the University of Manchester, and it’s another great free thing to do in Manchester. When you first go into the area, you can look at an exhibit that gives some details about the history of Manchester and also some history of the library.
After looking around the museum area, make sure you head up to the third floor. Here, you can go into the main library, which is a really impressive room. It almost looks like a Church, with high ceilings and vaulted windows. The books are in alcoves to each side, and there are some statues in the room as well. Take your time walking through the library to take it all in. It’s a really impressive building.
3. Science and Industry Museum
My favourite museum in Manchester is the Science and Industry Museum. It’s completely free to go in. You can book free tickets online in advance, but it should be ok to just turn up, as long as you’re not visiting at peak busy times.
The Science and Industry Museum gives details about Manchester’s fascinating, and sometimes troubling history. Manchester became a prominent place during the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s and 1800s. It gained its wealth from the cotton trade. Cotton, gathered by slaves from plantations across the world, was shipped into Liverpool. It was then transported by canal, and later by train, into the factories of Manchester. Manchester became a thriving industrial city, with workers flocking to the city to work at the cotton factories. Working conditions and living conditions were poor, with many children working in the factories and many workplace accidents and diseases. I found it fascinating to learn how Manchester rose based on the exploitation of slaves and factory workers – and it gave a new insight into the city. The museum is really interesting with lots of interesting exhibits which bring the history to life.
There’s also a computer section of the museum, which gives details of important computing inventions from Manchester. A highlight of this section is the first ‘computer, nicknamed ‘The Baby’. It’s huge and really complicated, and it’s fascinating to think that in just a few decades, we now have mobile phones that can fit in our pocket with full internet access.
The Science and Industry museum in Manchester has a cafe, and it also has a large indoor picnic area. It’s a great place to stop for lunch on your day in Manchester – and bringing your own picnic to eat in the museum picnic area can help save even more money.
4. Castlefield Viaduct
Only a 5 minute walk from the Science and Industry Musuem is Castlefield Viaduct. This is another free attraction in Manchester, and again brings to life some of Manchester’s industrial history. The viaduct dates back to the time when the canals and trains were vital to Manchester’s industry. The viaduct was disused for a long time, but recently has come under the ownership of the National Trust, who are giving it a new lease of life as an inner city garden space.
There are some steep steps to get up to Castlefield Viaduct, but there’s a lift as well. Once you’re at the top, it’s an easy flat walk along. The area that’s currently been redeveloped isn’t very big – it’s only 330 metres long. But it’s a really beautiful sky garden, with some wildflower areas and other areas with planted flowers. You also get good views down to the canals and across to Manchester’s modern skyscrapers. I thought it was a really nice way of bringing a disused industrial bridge back to life, and giving a tranquil green space in the centre of a busy city.
5. Walk along the canal
Castlefield Viaduct is right next to the canals. So from the viaduct, you can do a lovely walk along the canals up to the next free attraction in Manchester. Follow the canal path East, and then continue following as it heads North. Some parts of the canal feel a bit run down, with a lot of graffiti. I wouldn’t recommend walking along the canals in the dark on your own, as I’m not sure how safe it would feel. And often there isn’t a barrier between the path and the water. But on a sunny afternoon, it’s a lovely walk.
I liked seeing some of the bridges, and also a good view of an old cotton factory. There aren’t too many factories left in Manchester now, so it was interesting to see an example of what would have once covered the city. I even found myself appreciating the graffiti after a while, adding some colour and character to the canal path.
6. Alan Turing Memorial Statue
The next of my top 10 free things to do in Manchester for a day is to see the Alan Turing Memorial Statue. You can turn off the canal path at Sackville Gardens, a small park where the statue is located. There’s a helpful information board next to the statue, which gives details about Alan Turing’s life in Manchester as an important computer scientist, and how he was behind the inventions of modern computers and also de-coding German Enigma machines during WW2. It also gives fascinating details about the end of his life – how he was ‘treated’ for homosexuality, which was considered a crime in the 1950s, and ended up dying from cyanide poisoning, allegedly from a poisoned apple.
7. Gay Village and Canal Street
Next to the Alan Turing Memorial is one of the famous areas of Manchester, the Gay Village. The centre of this area is Canal Street. It’s a lively hub of night-life, and particularly comes to life during Manchester’s annual Pride Festival. However, it’s still a nice place to see in the daytime if you don’t want to sample Manchester’s night life. It’s colourful, with wall murals and flowers along by the canal. You can stop here for a drink, or just take some photos before heading onto the next thing to see in Manchester.
8. St Peter’s Square
Heading West from Canal Street, back towards the very centre of Manchester, you get to St Peter’s Square. This square has an interesting history as the site of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. Here, a large political gathering of working class people campaigning for better rights, votes and working conditions, sadly turned bloody. Manchester magistrates ordered the militia to attack the protesters, resulting in 18 deaths and hundreds of injuries. It’s a reminder of what real life was like for the working class people in industrial Manchester, and how much has changed in the last 200 years.
As well as being an important historical site, St Peter’s Square is a pleasant place to visit. The Manchester Central Library is an impressive building on the square, and there are benches you can sit and take in the views of the busy city.
9. People’s History Museum
Depending how long you’ve spent at the other free things to do in Manchester, you might have time for one more museum. The People’s History Museum is about 10 minutes walk from St Peter’s Square, and is free entry. It tells the story of people’s fight for democracy and workers’ rights over the years.
I enjoyed some aspects of this museum, but I didn’t love it. I felt like a lot of the information was quite politically biased. It was still interesting to learn more about this important aspect of history, and feel grateful for how far things have come since the days of the Industrial Revolution.
10. AO Arena
The last of my top 10 free things to do in Manchester for a day isn’t technically free, if you want to go inside! The AO Arena in Manchester is a huge event space, seating over 10,000 people. You can see it from the outside, but to really get a sense of the scale of the arena you’ll need to buy a ticket to an event that’s taking place inside. I went to an event there when I was in Manchester – I went to see the comedian Michael McIntyre, which was excellent. Tickets to some events are quite affordable, so even though it’s not free to go inside, it can still be a great way to end your day in Manchester.
Hope you enjoy visiting all of my top 10 free things to do in Manchester for a day! If you’re staying in the Manchester area for longer, check out my guide to visiting nearby Blackpool for the day – there are lots of free activities there as well. Or check out my guides to 3 days in and around Manchester, or other places in the UK.
