Explore Manchester with your personal audio tour. Select the tour and download it to your iPod, MP3, or mobile phone music player.

This 2.4 mile (3.8 km) tour takes you on a fascinating journey through Manchester’s proud past and visits some of the city’s new developments, highlighting many of the city’s firsts on the way. It comes with an easy to follow  map and can be completed in about 2 hours. More

This tour commentary is narrated by Jonathan Keeble in English.

Tour M1: Manchester Then & Now
Our tour of the world’s first industrial city begins outside the Town Hall; passes the Central Library, and visits the new home of the Hallé. Walk to Deansgate Locks via a section of the first trans-Pennine Canal and learn about the Roman settlement and the origins of the word Manchester. Stop at the Museum of Science and Industry - site of several firsts, including the world’s first railway station. See the splendid John Ryland’s Library, before uncovering the Hidden Gem. Visit St Ann’s Church and Square, walk on to the Royal Exchange – once a vibrant hub of the textile trade; now home to a fine theatre in the round. Stroll down New Cathedral Street to Exchange Square. Admire the Old Shambles and the Big Wheel before proceeding to Manchester Cathedral, where colourful characters come to life. The tour ends in Cathedral Gardens, where the old, Chetham’s Library, and the new, the museum of city life, Urbis, face one another.

          Rated 'very good' by Manchester Visitor Information Centre staff

This tour costs just £5.00 with big discounts for families and parties - more

Buy a London, Edinburgh or York tour at the same time and save 20%, buy 3 or more and save 30%.

Walk Talk Tours – interesting, informative and sometimes amusing.

There’s no better way to discover Manchester

You can also hire this tour, on a pre-loaded MP3 player, from the Manchester Visitor Information Centre (price £6).