Stockport
Stockport has been named one of the best places in the UK to visit in 2026
Told you it wasn't s***...
Daisy Jackson -
15th January 2026 
The best places to visit in the UK in 2026 have been named by Time Out, and it’s a list full of your usual suspects – seaside towns, capital cities, countryside beauties, and… Stockport.
That’s right, Greater Manchester’s trendiest new borough has put itself firmly on the map, with the magazine claiming there to be ‘something bubbling in this buzzy Manchester satellite town’.
Stockport has been praised by Time Out for its ‘real energy and creativity, as well as a fertile independent culture’.
The guide highlighted the town’s businesses including Where The Light Gets In, the new Fell taproom, and its proximity to the Peak District.
And Time Out also raved about Stockport’s Underbank, which hosts summer street parties known as Stock Party, filled with street food and party vibes.
Stockport made the list of just 14 places around the UK that are must-visits in 2026, joining more obvious destinations like the striking island of Anglesey in Wales, the colourful town of Portmeirion, and Scotland’s northerly Caithness, where you stand a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights.
Stockport isn’t the most unlikely name on the list, though – Sunderland, Birmingham, and Derby are also on there.
Blackpool, too, is representing the North West on Time Out’s guide to the top places to visit in the UK in 2026.
Time Out wrote of Stockport: “It might be a stretch to call Stockport ‘resurgent’ considering it hasn’t been exactly, well, surgent since the late 19th century, but there’s definitely something bubbling in this buzzy Manchester satellite town.
“The tourist poster that hails the town as ‘the new Berlin’ may be tongue-in-cheek, but there’s real energy and creativity – as well as a fertile independent culture – to back up the hyperbole.
“The twin epicentres are the historic Market Place and the Underbank, a warren of bars, records shops and indie cafés (think Edinburgh’s Cowgate without the full-throttle booziness).
“Loft-style restaurant Where The Light Gets In offers foodies a Michelin-class option in a town that’s suddenly found its appetite, while Cumbrian brewery Fell opened a snazzy new neighbourhood bar at the tail-end of last year. Any over-indulgence is easily cured, too: the serenity of the Peak District is a short train journey away.”
You can see the full guide HERE.
Read more
- Developers share new look at Stockport’s newest indie neighbourhood at Weir Mill
- The vision to bring trams to Stockport takes a step forward with plans to use underused railway line
- A new design-led hostel with rooms from £41 has opened in the Northern Quarter
Featured image: The Manc Group
