The Best Manchester Walking Tours,
3 Incredible Routes
Interactive walking tours of Manchester, bring the city to life.
- CityDays brings an immersive new way to have a walking tour in Manchester
- Discover Manchester's historic landmarks, secret sights & hidden gems
- Solve fun challenges & puzzling clues to unlock your way
- Optional breaks at top-rated pubs, bars and cafes
- Interactive private tour, you and your team, at your own pace
- Full money back guarantee. We know you'll love it
What to expect on a CityDays Manchester Walking Tour
-
- Messages sent to your phones - we'll send your walking tour to any international phone number.
-
- Clues, challenges, & puzzles - interact with the city to unravel obscured directions and find your way.
-
- The perfect difficulty - just the right amount, inclusive for all, with help available should you need it.
-
- Landmarks & hidden gems - see Manchester in a new light, a tour showing off quirks too!
Don't have a great time?
Simply let us know why and we'll refund you in full.
Find Your Perfect Manchester Walking Tour
Each walking tour explores a different area of Manchester, find the route that suits you best or work your way through! All bookings are fully flexible, alter your booking freely.
Northern Quarter Nooks
change the date, time, number of people or game.
Heart of the Hive
change the date, time, number of people or game.
Through the Ages
change the date, time, number of people or game.
How the Manchester walking tours work
Clues & Puzzles
Clues don't require any prior knowledge and are made up of two parts:
1) Obscured directions that make reference to the city around you. Unravel their meaning and be guided by your surroundings.
2) A puzzle to be solved once you've followed the directions, search nearby to find your answers.
CityDays aim for an enjoyable, just-the-right-amount, level of difficulty that is inclusive for all! Help messages are available should you need a bit of support.
Guided by clues sent to your phone
- Receive snippets of history, quirky facts and intriguing stories about the areas you visit.
- Pub/cafe breaks along your hunt, all totally optional and some with discounts on food & drinks.
- Make memories at locations along the way, get inspiration from previous teams and share a clever snap!
- Go at your own speed, or go for top spot on the game leaderboard.
Discover Manchester as it evolved from Roman ruins through the industrial revolution and into a city of northern soul.
The Secret City's tours will take you on an interactive journey around its must-sees and little-known secrets, revealing every side of the historic city. All you need is a phone and you'll be good to go!
Manchester Walking Tour Reviews
The great things our customers have to say about CityDays Manchester Walking Tours
Kungaloosh
Our second City Days treasure hunt and another fabulous day! My husband was born and bred in central London and once ag…
Windsor oldies
Great day out exploring parts of London you would never normally do
Seekers of Aravos
I was in a team with my partner and our 9 year son. We had a blast. There was something for us all!
Are you okay?
We really enjoyed the scavenger hunt! It was a great way to get outside and enjoy the city in a different way. We both …
Three Women and No Baby
Second one I have done. Such a brilliant format. The clues are well written and make you really look at what’s around y…
3 Gen
Great way to entertain teenagers, they loved it.
Bopchkin
A great way to learn about a city and have fun doing it. The clues were good and the walk was about right
Team Hammond
My wife and I had a fantastic day of exploring and refreshments. We will definitely be back!
Daryls birthday
Really fun morning. Would definitely recommend
Bickle's Bongles
The clues were excellent - easy to follow without being too easy to solve! Took us on a very pleasant journey around Lo…
Donkeys@2pm
It was excellent. Only error we made was at the Plague for the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. This was because the bronz…
Jannie's jaunts
Great fun and a fabulous way to look around a city, our first time, but not the last
Berin
Had the most amazing time doing our murder mystery trail! Well thought out, perfect clues, and a lovely city to do it i…
Bestiesss✨
Amazing day out!!
duckz
spectacular
Team Kataraang
Was a super fun day, even as Oxford students!It was great learning so many new things about the city and paying attenti…
Doctor and the Cats
Great fun and interesting places to discover, especially Mercato Market
Renegades
This was so much fun, such a good idea and more people need to know about it! Highly recommend!
Sanlo
It was our first walk and we loved it! We have been in London for many years and have not seen some of the places befor…
Corn Stars
A very fun, head scratching activity. A great way to explore the city without feeling like you’re walking for miles; gr…
Ready to see lots of smiling faces? Read all our customer reviews
Ready? Book your Manchester Walking Tour today
Discover the Manchester of old and new
Play an active role in revealing how Manchester became what it is today, immersing yourself in its Roman roots and unravelling enigmatic directions and riddles as you are taken on a journey around its sites and through its evolution over time.
Take control of your own sight-seeing, stopping and starting at your leisure and progressing at your own pace. The perfect way for groups of all ages to see the city.
Expect More From Your Manchester Sightseeing Tours
We do more than just give you directions to cool hidden gems in Manchester.
Our Manchester self-guided walking tours are designed so you can independently explore landmarks, areas, pubs, restaurants and more at your own pace.
By providing you with riddles, puzzles and clues based on your surroundings, we ensure you’re interacting with the city around you as you take it all in.
Get The Most Out of Walking Tours Manchester
You’ll notice that our walking tours in Manchester include recommended rest stops at pubs, cafes and restaurants at convenient locations along the route.
That’s because we want you to get the most out of your adventure!
We encourage you to find a new favourite local or dip inside a place you’ve walked past a million times before because it enriches your experience of a city. We’re fussy about finding businesses that we consider to be hidden gems or must-visits, and we endeavour to select independent businesses that help stimulate the local economy.
Of course, if you’re not thirsty or raring to go - you can always skip your stop and carry on exploring!
The Best Self-Guided Walking Tours in Manchester
Fall in love with Manchester’s fables, foibles and facts with CityDays’ Manchester walking tours!
Think of Manchester’s history like a thousand-layered cake; each slice uniquely formed by its former and current compelling characters, secret sites and hidden secrets. From Celtic tribes warring with Romans to modern inventions and scientific successes, Manchester has seen it all: and with CityDays’ walking tours, so can you!
Discover what turned this place from the Latin name for “breast-like-hill” into a pivotal pioneer's hometown by going on a walking tour of Manchester that goes beyond the typical sites.
Our self-guided Manchester walking tours deliver fascinating facts while leading you around the city’s most intriguing suburbs. The only way to uncover them is by solving our puzzles and experiencing a trail for yourself. Here’s more info about which trail might suit you best…
Manchester Walking Tour: (1) Northern Quarter Nooks
Fitting for a place where textiles were once exported to every corner of the globe, this Manchester walking tour takes you through the historic Northern Quarter and its tightly woven history.
By undertaking this self-guided walking tour, you’ll discover poetry in the streets, a perch for exotic birds, and what might be the most remarkable library in the English-speaking world.
Answer riddles, solve head-scratching puzzles and get your step count above average before sitting down to a well-earned pint as you take on Manchester’s best walking tours for people of all ages!
Find out more here.
Manchester Walking Tour: (2) Heart Of The Hive
One of the best Manchester sightseeing tours, Heart of The Hive takes curious minds and intrepid adventurers through Manchester’s city streets.
Walk your way through history as you uncover central Manchester’s curious characters and some obscure historical nooks by undertaking Heart of The Hive, a Manchester walking tour that goes beyond the obvious.
Heart of The Hive is a curated trail that uncovers Manchester’s most fascinating landmarks while participants solve clues, decipher riddles and explore the heart of the city. Along the way, you’ll meet Manchester’s pioneers - including a long-forgotten cookery book author - and even discover some unlikely final resting places.
Heart of The Hive is one of the best Manchester walking tours for tourists and locals alike due to its varied content and central location.
Find out more here.
Manchester Walking Tour: (3) Through The Ages
One of the best Manchester walking tours for exploring the city’s ancient and modern history, Through The Ages is a sightseeing tour that crams a staggering amount of Manchester’s historical timeline into a fun yet challenging day out.
From Romans to computer scientists, Through The Ages takes you around Spinningfields and the edge of the Gay Village in style. Uncover history while deciphering cryptic clues and taking in everything from monuments to gorgeous gardens.
Find out more here.
Find Manchester Hidden Gems
If you’re on the hunt for the best hidden gems in Manchester, you’ve come to the right place. Our walking tours of Manchester divulge some of the best-kept secrets and hidden nooks in the city - even ones that are hiding in plain sight.
Don’t believe us? Here are just three hidden gems in London (that we’re willing to share)…
Mackie Mayor
Mackie Mayor in Manchester is a vibrant culinary hub housed in a beautifully restored Victorian market building. This food hall offers a diverse range of gastronomic delights, from artisan coffees and craft beers to gourmet burgers and vegan delicacies.
The airy, communal seating under the stunning glass roof creates a lively atmosphere, making it a popular spot for both locals and tourists.
Unique to Mackie Mayor is its commitment to sustainability, with many vendors using locally sourced ingredients and eco-friendly practices.
Victoria Baths
Victoria Baths, often referred to as Manchester's "Water Palace," is a beautifully preserved Edwardian building. Guided tours offer an intimate look at its stunning architecture and historic pools. The venue, no longer used for swimming, now hosts a variety of events, making it a unique and somewhat quirky destination for history buffs and architecture enthusiasts alike.
Chetham’s Library
Chetham's Library in Manchester, established in 1653, is renowned as the oldest public library in the English-speaking world. This historic gem, with its ancient books and time-worn oak shelves, offers a unique window into the past. It played a pivotal role in the intellectual life of Manchester, attracting figures like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who famously studied there. The library's rich collection and architectural beauty make it a significant cultural and historical landmark.
Manchester Walking Tour Questions
Speak to a human
Social
