What to see/where to eat in Manchester?
 

I am headed to Manchester for a work trip in a couple of weeks. They are putting me up in Didsbury House Hotel. I am likely to have one afternoon and several evenings free. Any suggestions on sights to see and good restaurants? I will not have a car. I would be especially interested in nice walks, maybe a a park or walking trail in the area? The weather is not an issue (I will come prepared for rain).
Thanks,
AnaBelen

I suggest you take a look at the Wikipedia entry for Didsbury - you'll see that this suburb of Manchester has a large park that would be good for at least one evening's walk. Assuming you'r going to be in a work environment when you're in the UK I'd ask colleagues when you get there about local places to eat at as well as those a bit further away. You'll almost certainly find that you get more than enough recommendations! And not having a car shouldn't be a major issue - like other parts of the UK, Manchester has a decent public transport system.

Fletcher Moss Park is very close to your hotel (great hotel too!) and is one of Manchester's nicest parks. If you fancy a longer walk then there are links through to the footpaths alongside the River Mersey.

For your free afternoon I'd use the metrolink, there is a stop walking distance from your hotel, to go to Salford Quays where there are 3 major attractions. Firstly there is The Lowry, an arts and entertainment centre that contains a permanent exhibition of LS Lowry's work, one of the country's best loved artists. http://www.thelowry.com/

Secondly, there is the Imperial War Museum North http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-north and thirdly MediaCityUK, the home of the BBC in the north http://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/

The walks between the three are excellent, crossing the water, and there is the excellent Damson restaurant there that is open from 5pm as well as at lunchtime.

In the evenings Didsbury has plenty of places to eat.

As well as using the metrolink there is the East Didsbury rail station that is located closer to your hotel that you can use to get into Manchester where there are lots of great places to eat. My picks would be Jack Spratts, Australasia, Almost Famous Burgers, Choice, Dough, The French, 63 Degrees, Wings, Yang Sing.

Check out the Manchester Confidential website which is good for its restaurant reviews and for what's on http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/

Have a great time. Tim

Second the Fletcher Moss recommendation. We walked around there for an hour last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dimitri's is by the entrance to the park and offers good food. Also try:

www.restaurantsofmanchester.com
www.visitmanchester.com

For walks:

www.newmanchesterwalks.com
www.manchesterguidedtours.com

Don't miss:

Rylands Library
Town Hall
Castlefield (Roman ruins)
St Ann's Square (Bonny Prince Charlie was here)
Manchester Cathedral
King Street (for shopping)

the City Centre is compact and you can do a lot of the above in an afternoon as the various sites are quite close together.

Good restaurants? On top of those that tjhome1 mentions, there's also:

Rajdoot (Indian)
San Carlo (Italian)
Cafe Istanbul (Turkish)
Stock (Italian-ish)

Ana, Manchester has one of the few China Towns in Europe (and probably the oldest), I've eaten very well there.

Thanks so much for the helpful replies. I usually get a guide book and do a little investigating before asking for advice. This time, I am so busy preparing for the work part of the trip I do not have much time for anything else. Your recommendations for walks, sights and restaurants sound great. I will post a reply when I get back to let you know how I made out.

"probably the oldest"

Absolutely, definitely, certainly not.

Both Liverpool and London had Chinatowns almost a century before Manchester. Admittedly, London's moved to South Soho from Limehouse about the same time Manchester's started. But Liverpool's Chinese community has been living around the docks, marrying English and Irishwomen, going on strike, speaking Shanghainese with a Scouse accent and laundering the the Flannerclan smalls since pretty much the moment the First Flanner set up home just at the edge of Europe's indubitably first Chinatown.

The real answer to the poster's question, of course, is the same as it was when Mankies' need to escape to civilisation created the demand for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway which in turn created the modern world.

Go to Liverpool. Among its limitless charms is proper Chinese food

Flanner, I agree there was a Chinese community in Liverpool many years ago but was there a formal gate? I suspect Manchester had the first one and, from a conversation in one fine Manchester restaurant it is the gate that makes the formal China town not the people.

looks like the arch (not a gate as I now know) came in
London 85
Manchester 87
Liverpool 92

It's the arch that makes it a Dragon City not a Chinatown.