Tourist attractions in Manchester

Old Trafford has staged Manchester United's home games since the club's first match on the ground on 19 February 1910, and locals still call it the Theatre of Dreams. The stadium stands in Trafford beside the Bridgewater Canal, a short Metrolink tram ride from the city centre. Guided tours walk visitors down the players' tunnel, through the dressing rooms and out beside the pitch, while the museum charts the club's history through trophies, shirts and memorabilia. Tours run on non-matchday dates and pause when United play at home, so a slot is best booked in advance.

Location: Sir Matt Busby Way, Trafford, Manchester

Access: Ticketed stadium tour and museum, advance booking recommended

The Etihad Stadium has been Manchester City's home since the summer of 2003, a year after it opened as the main venue of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. It rises on the Etihad Campus in east Manchester, where spiralling corner towers and cable-stayed masts carry the roof over the sky blue stands. Behind-the-scenes stadium tours open the ground to visitors, and the club's training ground and academy sit just across the road on the same campus. The Etihad Campus Metrolink stop, right beside the ground, is a short tram ride from Piccadilly.

Location: Ashton New Road, Etihad Campus, Manchester

Access: Ticketed stadium tour, advance booking recommended

Manchester Cathedral has stood beside the River Irwell since the fifteenth century, its broad Gothic nave lined with carved choir stalls and stained glass. General admission is free every day, with an optional donation towards upkeep. A few steps away, the medieval Chetham's Library has occupied its sandstone buildings since 1653 as the oldest public library in the English-speaking world, though its reading rooms can only be seen on a pre-booked guided tour. Together they mark the historic heart of Manchester, a short walk from Victoria station and the Northern Quarter.

Location: Victoria Street, Manchester

Access: Free general admission; Chetham's Library by pre-booked tour

The John Rylands Library turns heads on Deansgate with a neo-Gothic reading room that opened in 1900, built by Enriqueta Rylands in memory of her husband. Admission is free and no booking is needed to step inside, where the vaulted Historic Reading Room, carved stone and stained glass feel closer to a cathedral than a library. Its collections range from medieval illuminated manuscripts to one of the oldest surviving fragments of the New Testament. Now part of the University of Manchester, it sits at the southern end of Deansgate, an easy walk from St Ann's Square and Castlefield.

Location: 150 Deansgate, Manchester

Access: Free entry, no booking required

Castlefield marks the spot where Manchester began, when Roman soldiers built the fort of Mamucium here around AD 79. A reconstructed gatehouse and ramparts stand near the canal basins, where the Duke of Bridgewater's canal, opened in 1761 to carry coal from Worsley, became the first canal built in Britain. The basin anchored Britain's first Urban Heritage Park, designated in 1982, and its towpaths, iron bridges and converted warehouses are free to wander at any hour. Cafes and bars now line the water, and the Science and Industry Museum sits a few minutes away.

Location: Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester

Access: Free, open-air conservation area

The Science and Industry Museum fills the buildings of Liverpool Road station, which opened in 1830 as the world's first railway station at the end of the line from Liverpool. Its galleries trace Manchester's industrial story through working steam engines, textile machinery and displays on computing and flight. General admission is free, and reserving a free timed ticket online in advance is recommended. The museum stands in Castlefield at the western edge of the centre, where the historic station and warehouses are being restored as part of a long-term project.

Location: Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester

Access: Free general admission; free timed ticket recommended

The Northern Quarter threads independent shops, record stores, cafes and street art through former Victorian warehouses on the north-eastern edge of the city centre. Afflecks, an indoor market of independent traders set in an old department store, has filled Church Street since 1982, and the walls around Stevenson Square carry some of the city's boldest murals, repainted regularly by visiting artists. Vintage clothing, small galleries and late-night bars give the district its creative character, and it all sits within a short walk of the cathedral and Piccadilly station. The streets are free to explore at any time.

Location: Oldham Street and around, Manchester

Access: Free to explore, open streets

The National Football Museum fills the glass wedge of the Urbis building in Cathedral Gardens, telling the story of the game from its grassroots beginnings to the modern international stage. Shirts, trophies, historic footage and interactive galleries let visitors test their skills and trace football's roots in England. The museum moved to Manchester in 2012 and stands beside the cathedral and the Printworks, a short walk from Victoria station. Entry is free for residents of the city of Manchester, while other visitors buy a ticket, with the last admission in the late afternoon.

Location: Cathedral Gardens, Todd Street, Manchester

Access: Ticketed; free for City of Manchester residents

Imperial War Museum North occupies a striking aluminium building by Daniel Libeskind, its three jagged shards standing for conflict on land, water and in the air. Inside, galleries and a wraparound audiovisual show explore how war has shaped people's lives across the past century. The museum sits on the waterfront at Salford Quays, part of the regenerated docks that also hold MediaCityUK and The Lowry arts centre across the footbridge. Entry is free and no booking is needed, and the Quays are a short Metrolink tram ride from the city centre.

Location: Trafford Wharf Road, Salford Quays, Manchester

Access: Free entry, no booking required

Manchester Art Gallery displays three centuries of paintings, sculpture and design for free on Mosley Street, in grand neoclassical rooms designed by Charles Barry. Its collection is strongest in Pre-Raphaelite art, alongside Dutch masters, Victorian works and a growing body of contemporary pieces. The gallery traces its roots to the Royal Manchester Institution, founded in 1823 and handed to the city council in 1882. It stands in the heart of the city between St Peter's Square and Piccadilly Gardens, open through the week with no admission charge.

Location: Mosley Street, Manchester

Access: Free general admission

St Ann's Square is the pedestrianised heart of Georgian Manchester, a paved precinct of independent boutiques and cafe terraces laid out around the early eighteenth-century St Ann's Church. On its northern side stands the Royal Exchange, the grand former Cotton Exchange whose glass-domed Great Hall now wraps a theatre staged in the round inside a futuristic steel-and-glass module. The square draws seasonal markets and street performers through the year, and it links the shopping streets around Deansgate with the cathedral quarter. The square is free to wander, with the Royal Exchange Theatre ticketed for performances.

Location: St Ann's Square, Manchester

Access: Free public square; Royal Exchange Theatre ticketed