Imperial War Museum North
Daniel Libeskind's shattered-globe building across the footbridge, free daily from 10:00 to 17:00, with sound-and-light shows that hold children's attention.
Frombowen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rosser1954 — CC BY 4.0 · Tricia Neal — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Tricia Neal — CC BY-SA 2.0
In 1894 Queen Victoria opened a seaport here, some 60 kilometres inland, fed by the Manchester Ship Canal. It grew into Britain's third-busiest port, then containerisation killed it and the docks shut in 1982. The basins are still exactly where they were; the cranes have given way to glass office blocks, a gleaming orange-and-steel theatre and a museum that looks like a planet cracked open on the bank. Salford Quays is Greater Manchester's modern showpiece, and the place most of what you watch on the BBC is actually made. Wandering the waterfront costs nothing and needs no booking, and that is the heart of the visit: a loop along the promenades, over the footbridge to Daniel Libeskind's Imperial War Museum North (free, no booking, daily 10:00 to 17:00), then back to The Lowry, whose galleries show L.S. Lowry's stick-thin figures trudging past northern mills, free, generally from late morning to around five and closed most Mondays. MediaCityUK next door houses the BBC and ITV studios, and Coronation Street is filmed here; the Coronation Street Experience runs 90-minute guided tours of the outdoor set, mostly at weekends (about £40 an adult), with a cheaper exhibition-only entry on weekdays, and tickets are sold online in advance only, never at the door. For a British city it is unusually family-friendly terrain: completely flat, wide pushchair-friendly promenades, lawns in front of the studios, and the Quayside MediaCityUK outlet, small by Gulf mall standards (about 85 shops on two floors) but a useful wet-weather escape with a multi-storey car park attached. Old Trafford is a fifteen-minute walk, so the stadium tour slots into the same day. From central Manchester take the Metrolink tram on the Eccles line to MediaCityUK, roughly 15 to 20 minutes, or the Trafford Park line to the Imperial War Museum stop if the museum is your first target. The honest advice: come on a dry, bright day, because this is a place of architecture, water and light. On a dark, damp winter evening it reveals itself as a modern business district that empties out soon after five.
Daniel Libeskind's shattered-globe building across the footbridge, free daily from 10:00 to 17:00, with sound-and-light shows that hold children's attention.
The largest public collection of L.S. Lowry's paintings, free to see inside the orange theatre at the head of the basins; closed most Mondays.
The BBC and ITV studios, lawns in front, and level promenades around the old dock basins for an easy family loop.
The Quays, Salford M50 3AZ
Half a day is enough unless you are seeing a show at The Lowry or have booked the Coronation Street tour. Combine the waterfront loop, IWM North and the Lowry galleries in about three hours, then walk to Old Trafford to fill the rest. If the day is wet and dark, it is not worth the trip at all; save it for a dry one.
Yes, but only on a booked tour. The soap really is filmed at MediaCityUK, and the Coronation Street Experience runs 90-minute guided walks along the cobbles and outdoor sets, mainly at weekends, at around £40 an adult; on weekdays there is usually only the cheaper exhibition with replica interiors. Tickets are sold online only and sell out, so book before promising anyone; nothing of the set is visible from the street.
