Places to stay
 

Any suggestions for places to stay in London and Manchester for families, central location to tube. Moderate price.?

Moderate price could mean anything. What is the actual £ or $ (preferably £) budget per night . . .

Manchester doesn't have a tube, but we do have an excellent tram service and a free bus that circulates the centre. That centre is also very walkable in good weather so I wouldn't worry too much about location and access to sights, restaurants, attractions etc. As I said in my earlier post, let us know what you like in terms of sights, food etc.

It's flying out of the UK in general that influences the taxes. The taxes are the same whether you fly out of London or Manchester or Leeds. You'll benefit from cheaper taxes if you fly out of another country but as this isn't going to be the case with the OP they are going to pay the same tax irrespective of which English airport they fly out of.

In Manchester the only must see sights(as far as my boys are concerned) are Manchester United stadium and Manchester city stadium. Mom is up for other beautiful things in the area.

Moderate price I mean around £ 208 a night. Was thinking of staying in Covent garden, but we are up for any good locations that are easily accessible to the tube and fun for the kids.

£200-ish will be tough for a Covent Garden hotel unless you stay at the Travelodge or Premier Inn Hub - and even those will be date specific. But you should be able to find a flat in that range via booking.com , vrbo, homeaway, or airbnb.

Covent Garden is a nice base for lots of neat sights but the area is very touristic - lacking the real neighborhood feeling you get with so many other venues in London that are not right in the central historic core that is dominated by tourist shops.

What are you calling the 'Historic core'?? Staying out is the 'burbs' is not usually that great an idea. One is not moving in to a neighborhood, one is a visitor i.e. tourist. Being as central as possible (Covent Garden, South Kensington, Russell Square, Victoria, St James's, Belgravia, Fitzrovia, etc. . . . which are all also 'neighborhoods' ) makes touring the city so much easier than staying out beyond Zone 1.

Covent Garden is certainly not dominated by 'tourist shops'.

My soccer nut son insisted on taking his ball when we travelled through Europe (deflated on the plane) and it turned out to be the best thing. Being young and active, it meant that he could always have something to kick around and occasionally met other kids to play with. Both kids bought another soccer ball (each!) in Paris, and that was their Paris souvenir. Thankfully, they bought smaller balls, not full size.

Speaking of Covent Garden, the kids may really like the London Transport Museum with all kinds of hands-on stuff -old trams and buses, etc.

https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/visit?gcl...xoCjK4QAvD_BwE

You can enter the souvenir shop free to buy posters - models of buses, calendars, etc.

The National Football Museum in Manchester is easy to get to. It's in the city just behind the Cathedral and Chetham's School and is also close to good shopping in the Arndale Centre. There are lots of fast food place in the area for the kids.

I can't comment on the Manchester City stadium tour, as I'm a United fan, but coincidentally did do a very good tour at United's ground two weeks ago. You need to book in advance at https://www.eticketing.co.uk/muticke...s?preFilter=32

You can choose the type of tour you want. Close to Old Trafford is the Lowry Centre, outlet shopping, food and the Lowry Theatre and gallery. It's a 10 minute walk across the bridge.