Cities of the UK: Cambridge vs Manchester
Today we have two cities, the rich southern University Town of Cambridge and the northern former industrial city of Manchester. They are competing for the title of which is best to visit between the two. I’ve decided to combine these two cities in this post because honestly both were not as interesting as other cities in the UK to me and I have less to say about them.
Cambridge is relatively easy to reach from London by train. As I’ve mentioned before, trains have gotten ridiculously expensive due to rail union protests, though I can’t imagine that trains cost as much as they do just because workers want a raise. Cambridge is definitely very posh and has many old buildings with interesting architecture. You can stop and see the famous cricket clock or view one of the many colleges that make up Cambridge University.
A great way to see the city is actually by punting, which is a ride on a boat where the driver sticks a wooden rod down into the river bed to push the boat along. He also gave some interesting facts about the various colleges and talked about different pranks that students have played over the years. The boat ride also provides a totally different view of the town, than from its streets.
Possibly my favorite part of Cambridge was the central Green area, which is half Park and half field with cows roaming freely. They like to wallow in the mud and often cross paths with visitors.
After seeing the main sights, sadly I found Cambridge as a whole pretty uninteresting. The people were uptight and even rude and Cambridge is definitely lower on my list of cities in the UK worth visiting. Accommodations are also quite expensive and there are few cheap options. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to give Cambridge a five out of 10 on my cities of the UK scoring. It is definitely suitable for a day trip if you are in the area, but not worth a longer stay in my opinion.
Keeping things close in this competition, Manchester was not all that much more interesting than Cambridge, possibly even less so. There aren’t many historical sights to see in the city except for one major highlight: the old library that is pictured below.
It had some really interesting interior architecture that made it feel like a Hogwarts type castle in real life. I also enjoyed examining the statues that line the former reading room and seeing which of the names I could recognize. Manchester has lots of shops, but they really weren’t all that interesting to me since many are just chain establishments. There are definitely hidden gems if you go looking. For me this was “Habesha Restaurant” serving Ethiopian food. To reach it you must go up a spiral staircase through an abandoned deli on the ground floor before reaching the actual restaurant upstairs. It was very hot inside and I wasn’t sure about it at first, but the food and service were fantastic. It is located near a nice area by the “hip” river area, which is worth walking around as well. Another positive of Manchester were the various neighborhoods. Some felt old and others are brand new, making different parts of the city feel unique. Obviously all cities have this to some extent but it was noticeable in Manchester. Maybe I only noticed because I was struggling to find other positives :).
On the plus side it has many cheap accommodations, which is nice and it is very well connected within the UK with trains as well as budget airline flights from other cities. I think easy jet flights from London especially are super cheap at around $50 or less. I wouldn’t say Manchester is necessarily totally worth visiting, but I think a short trip and possibly having it serve as a connecting point to another city you are interested in visiting is a good idea. For example, taking a cheap flight to Manchester before taking the train to Edinburgh could make sense. Now for the score: due to Manchester’s better accommodation and travel options in addition to friendlier and more down to earth people, I’m going to give Manchester a six out of 10. This means that it just beat out Cambridge by a little bit as a better destination (depending on what you’re into of course).
I think the final post in this series will be about London, and I’m interested to see where it stacks up in comparison to the other UK cities that I’ve talked about so far. London will be the final city that I have visited in England and any more posts in the series will have to wait until I return to the UK and visit some new ones. I am thinking about continuing this series in a different form for cities I visited in Italy and possibly for cities I plan to visit in Southeast Asia during upcoming travels.
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