CRL

Charleroi

MAN

Manchester

A sisters' weekend, a concert and a city of red brick

Duration

3 nights

Date

Nov. 2024

Flight

1h25

Manchester wasn't really a destination to begin with: it was a concert. My sister wanted to see Zayn live, and that's how we ended up landing in Manchester one Friday evening in November 2024, for three nights.

We came away with far more than a concert: a city with an industrial character I really liked, and Christmas markets popping up all over the centre.

✓ Visited in November 2024

Manchester

01Getting there

We flew from Brussels South Charleroi with Ryanair, late on the Friday afternoon: 6:10pm departure, 6:35pm arrival — both local times: with the one-hour time difference, it's actually 1h25 in the air. Back on the Monday at lunchtime.

Return flights for two, priority and 2 cabin bags€194.94

P2 car park at Charleroi, outdoor, near the terminals, 3 days€77

✎ Without priority, Ryanair only allows one small bag that fits under the seat. For a weekend with a concert outfit to pack, the upgrade is worth it.

✎ From Manchester Airport, the train reaches Piccadilly station, right in the centre, in around twenty minutes.

02Where we stayed

Malmaison Manchester

Piccadilly · 3 nights · £480.81 for a double room

Perfectly placed a stone's throw from Piccadilly station and Piccadilly Gardens: the whole centre is walkable from the hotel.

✎ The "£1.20 tourist tax per night" line on the bill isn't a mistake: Manchester was the first city in the UK to introduce a visitor charge, in 2023 — £1 per room per night, plus VAT.

03The concert

On Sunday 24 November 2024, Zayn was playing the O2 Apollo Manchester, a venue housed in a former 1930s Art Deco cinema. It was the second night of Stairway to the Sky, his very first solo tour.

The context made the evening a particular one. Liam Payne, his former One Direction bandmate, had died on 16 October, less than six weeks earlier. Zayn had postponed his American dates but kept the UK tour going — and, as in Leeds the night before, he closed the Manchester show with a tribute to Liam, just days after his funeral.

I really liked the venue: it's laid out like a theatre, and its sloping floor means everyone, even standing in the pit, can see the stage from anywhere. It was a beautiful concert, a tribute to Liam, even if it was short — barely more than an hour on stage. It isn't necessarily the music I listen to, but the experience of a concert is always something different.

2 tickets, "Stardust" VIP package, standing£250

Service and facility fees£31.20

Order processing fee£2.75

Souvenir ticket£2.95

Total for two£286.90

✎ The song "Stardust", which gave our VIP package its name, is the very one Zayn dedicated to Liam throughout the tour.

✎ In the UK, fees are almost always added on top of the advertised ticket price: here, nearly £34 on two £125 tickets. Budget an extra 10 to 15%.

04Wandering the centre

The shopping streets & the Arndale

The whole centre is pedestrianised and lined with shops, and the Arndale is one of the largest city-centre shopping malls in the country. Part of the centre was rebuilt after the 1996 bombing, which devastated this district.

The Printworks

Hard Rock Cafe, IMAX cinema, restaurants

The former Withy Grove printing house, built in 1873, became in the 20th century the largest newspaper printing works in Europe. Converted into a leisure complex, it was refurbished in 2024 with a 1,000 m² digital ceiling — the largest in Europe — that animates the whole central street.

Piccadilly Gardens

The city's main square, a meeting point and tram and bus hub — and one of the Christmas market sites.

Afflecks

Northern Quarter

A multi-storey building given over entirely to alternative culture since 1982: vintage clothes, designers, records, tattoos. The true independent heart of the city.

05The cathedral & the university

Manchester Cathedral

Gothic, mostly 15th century, damaged in the 1940 Blitz and again in the 1996 bombing. When we visited, part of the nave was hosting a big vintage clothing sale, among the pillars and stained glass — quite an unexpected sight.

The University of Manchester

This is where Rutherford first split the atomic nucleus in 1917, and where the first stored-program computer ran in 1948 — the machine Alan Turing went on to work on.

✎ Right next to the cathedral, Chetham's Library, founded in 1653, is the oldest public library in the English-speaking world. Marx and Engels worked there together — their reading table is still in place.

06An industrial city

What I loved most was the city's industrial side: the red brick, the old warehouses, the neon signs on stone façades. Manchester was the world's first great industrial city — it was nicknamed Cottonopolis, for its cotton mills — and it shows that everywhere. It's also a football city, from United to City by way of the memory of Eric Cantona, and a rock city, right up to Oasis.

In late November, Christmas markets were springing up all over the centre, across several squares at once. Just the thing to warm up all that concrete and brick.

✎ Manchester's Christmas markets are among the biggest in the UK, spread over several sites in the centre from mid-November to late December. Check that year's dates before booking.