Parks and the outdoors in Manchester

16 parks, gardens, beaches and walks in and around Manchester.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

SeeSouth
Baguley Park
Small play area for children surrounded by large grass areas and housing.
SeeCastlefield-Petersfield
Castlefield Viaduct
Victorian railway viaduct transformed into a 'sky park' Advance booking essential. Check website. Open on an experimental basis until summer 2023.
11AM-4PMFree but donations welcome
DoNorth
FC United of Manchester
This breakaway club was formed in 2005 by Man United supporters alienated by Malcolm Glazer's takeover, and it continues to be entirely supporter-owned. They play in Northern Premier League, the seventh tier of English football. Their home ground is Broadhurst Park, capacity 4400.
Match tickets adult £12, concs £7, U18s £3, pay on the gate
EatPiccadilly-East Centre
GoFalafel
A 100% vegan take-away just outside of Picadilly Gardens. Serves freshly prepared falafel wraps, hummous and a choice of fruit juices, smoothies and salads. Most items priced between £3-5. Receives great reviews and can get quite popular during weekends, but is worth the wait.
10AM-10PM
SeeNorth
Heaton Park
Manchester's largest open space and one of the largest municipal parks in Europe. The park is home to a former stately home, vintage trams (run Apr-Oct Sa Su) and golf course.
EatVictoria-Shopping District
Koreana Restaurant
Long established and in the city centre just off Deansgate. A regular stop for Manchester United's Korean football star, Ji-Sung Park.
SeeSouth
Manchester Airport Visitor Park
Located on the south-western side of Manchester Airport, the visitor park is well worth a visit for any aviation enthusiast. It's home to the flagship of the British Airways Concorde fleet, as well as offering excellent views over the airport apron, taxiways and runways.
DrinkVictoria-Shopping District
Marble Arch Inn
Spectacular Victorian show-pub with beer from local Marble brewery. Inside, the pub has a high, glazed ceiling, ceramic walls and a bar that slopes down with the hill. Great beer & food makes the walk here worthwhile.
Sun-Tue noon-10PM, Wed Thu noon-11PM, Fri Sat noon-midnight; food: Sun noon-7PM, Mon-Thu noon-8PM, Fri Sat noon-9PM
SeeSpinningfields-Albert Square
People's History Museum
This little museum down by the river on the border of Manchester and Salford aims to document the way the lives of ordinary people have developed since the industrial revolution. The museum owns many artifacts and documentation from the history of socialism in Britain, not least the building where the Trades Union Congress held its first meeting, on Princess Street, which it now uses as a public archive.
Tue-Sun and Bank Holidays 11AM-4:30PMFree
DoPiccadilly-East Centre
Piccadilly Gardens
Relax and watch the world go by in Piccadilly Gardens - the lung at the centre of the city. The Gardens are also home to the controversial concrete 'Berlin Wall', which houses cafés and seating.
Free
SeePiccadilly-East Centre
Sackville Gardens
This small park in the heart of The Village is notable for its memorial to Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science, whose homosexuality in an age of intolerance led to his suicide. The bronze statue on a park bench bears the legend 'Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime codebreaker, victim of prejudice'. Also in the park is "The Beacon of Hope", an illuminated memorial to those who have died of HIV/AIDS worldwide.
EatPiccadilly-East Centre Not mapped
Bar de Reve
A quiet, chilled, chic gem of Manchester. Serves fresh and fine cuisine to order. It's worth the walk and the money!
Mon-Sat noon-7PM
DrinkPiccadilly-East Centre Not mapped
Manna Manchester
Nice little café with friendly staff on the edge of the landscaped garden. Serves good coffee, sandwiches, drinks, and sweet things. Everything here is both Fair trade and organic, so feel good when you go there!
Mon-Sat 7AM-8PM, Sun 10AM-5PM
SeeCastlefield-Petersfield Not mapped
Roman Fort
Mamucium, Mancunium
Not much survives of Manchester's four Roman settlements, but what is left can be seen in the gardens of Castlefield running from Liverpool Road down to Castle Street. The North Gate of the fourth fort on Duke Street, along with a section of the fort's West Wall, its gatehouse, granaries, and other ancillary buildings from the vicus have been reconstructed and are open to the public.
SeeCastlefield-Petersfield Not mapped
St. John's Gardens
The site of the former St. John's Church has become central Manchester's most beautiful park. Come here in the summer to see the flowers and bring some bread for the hundreds of birds that make St. John's their home.
Open daily during daylight hours
SeeUniversities
Platt Fields Park
Junction of Platt Lane and Wilmslow Road

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Manchester (CC BY-SA 4.0).