By car
The outer ring road of the Manchester conurbation is the M60. It is accessible from Leeds or Liverpool by the M62 and from Scotland and the south by the M6. From the north and Scotland follow the M6 and then the M61. From the south take the M6 and the M56. The most direct route from the M6 to the M56 and South Manchester is to take the A556 leaving the M6 at junction 19, but note this has a 50 mph/80 km/h speed limit for most of its length and can be somewhat congested at busy times of the day. It is signed Manchester and Manchester Airport.
Another route would be to carry on northbound up the M6, taking you directly to the M6/M62 interchange. Here, you would follow signs for Leeds and Manchester North. This can, however, seem a longer way round, but it does also give you access, via the M60 orbital road, to places around the conurbation and is a much better option if you wish to access the northern part of Greater Manchester.
If a little lost in the city centre, follow signs for the inner ring road, as there are signs to most destinations from this road.
Parking in the city centre of Manchester can be expensive. Avoid the multi-storey car parks if you can and look for some open-air car parks. There are good ones by Salford Central Station, behind Piccadilly Station and opposite the cathedral.
If you have to use a multi-storey, the one by The Coach Station and The Village is handy. This is fine as a last resort if you have been driving around for an hour, looking for a place to park. There are increasingly more and more double yellow lines, which designate no parking at any time.
Ladywell Park & Ride (http://www.parkandride.ne...) is situated near Eccles M602, Junction 2; the car park is free and there is a tram station. Similarly, parking at the Trafford Centre M60, junctions 9 and 10 is free and there are buses to the city centre and Stretford tram station.
A tip worth noting is that on Saturday from 12:30 to Monday morning, just over from the city centre into Salford, you can park on a single yellow line remember that you can never park on a double yellow line or in a designated space without paying, unlike in the city centre where restrictions apply even during weekends. Streets like Chapel Street, Bridge Street, and the areas around them are a good bet and much safer now with all the new housing developments. There you are just a short walk from Deansgate.
Problems are rare as long as you take the usual precautions and do not leave valuables on display. Try not to put things in the boot trunk after a shopping spree if people are watching. Avoid parking under the bridges at all costs, and try the main roads, just off one or next to one of the many new blocks of flats where it is well-lit. Watch out on bank holidays around here. Sometimes these are treated like a Sunday in the centre, but people have been known to get parking tickets on the Salford side. If unsure, treat a holiday, on the Salford side, as a normal day of the week or ask a warden if you can find one!
By plane
Manchester Airport IATA: MAN ICAO: EGCC. (http://www.manchesterairp...) in the south of the city is the largest airport in the UK outside of London and is amongst the 50 largest airports in the world. Nearly 100 operators fly to and from hundreds of locations worldwide, including most major cities in Europe, along with services from the Americas, Africa, and Asia. It is owned by the 10 Greater Manchester Councils with Manchester City council having the largest share 55% and the other councils 5% each.
Notable services include:
Abu Dhabi
EtihadAmsterdam
KLM, bmibabyAntwerp
CityJetAtlanta
DeltaAthens
easyjet, Olympic AirlinesBarbados
= Virgin AtlanticBarcelona
bmibaby, Monarch AirlinesBerlin
easyjet starting Oct 2011Bilbao
easyjetBremen
RyanairBrussels
Brussels Airlines, flybe, RyanairBudapest
Jet2.comChicago
American AirlinesCologne/Bonn
Germanwings, TUIflyCopenhagen
easyjet, Scandinavian Airlines SystemDoha
Qatar AirwaysDubai
EmiratesDublin
Aer Lingus, RyanairDüsseldorf
Lufthansa, flybeFrankfurt
Lufthansa, Ryanair HahnGeneva
easyjetHamburg
Lufthansa, easyjetHelsinki
FinnairIslamabad
Pakistan International Airlines, AirblueIstanbul
Turkish AirlinesKarachi, Lahore
Pakistan International AirlinesLarnaca
Cyprus AirwaysLas Vegas
Virgin AtlanticLisbon
bmibaby, TAPMadrid
easyjet, RyanairMemmingen
RyanairMunich
easyjet, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines from March 28New York
Delta JFK, United Newark Intl, American JFKOrlando
Virgin AtlanticOslo
Norwegian Airlines, SAS, RyanairPaderborn
Air BerlinParis
Air France, flybePaphos
Easyjet, RyanairPhiladelphia
US AirwaysRome
Jet2.com, RyanairSharm el-Sheikh
Jet2.com, Monarch Airlines, Luxor Airlines, AMC AirlinesSingapore
Singapore AirlinesStockholm
Scandinavian Airlines SystemStuttgart
LufthansaTel Aviv
Jet2.comToronto
Air Canada, Air Transat, FlyGlobespaVancouver
S - Air Canada, Air Transat, FlyGlobespanWarsaw
RyanairZürich
Swiss International Air Lines, easyjet
By bus
Chorlton Street Coach Station is the central coach station in Manchester, located close to the centre, between Chinatown and The Village on Chorlton Street. Coaches run from all over the country and are generally the most reasonably-priced way to get into Manchester. London to Manchester on the coach can take about four hours, but it depends on the time of day and number of stops.
National Express
(http://www.nationalexpres...) is a comfortable and frequent service which runs 24 hours a day from some cities, including London.GorillaBus
(http://www.gorillabus.com/) NOT CURRENTLY TAKING BOOKINGS run services to Liverpool, Yorkshire and East and West Midlands, and can be very cheap - some cities have buses to Manchester for as little as £1. You must book in advance over the web.Stagecoach Megabus (http://uk.megabus.com) run services to London, Scotland, South Wales and the West. Fares also start at £1, and must be booked in advance online.
Piccadilly Gardens bus station is generally for services to the south of Greater Manchester along with Wigan and Bolton.
Shudehill Bus Station has services to the North of Greater Manchester.
TfGM travel shops are located in both Shudehill and Piccadilly Gardens and timetables, maps and information can be found for all services here.