Our run of unseasonably dry and sunny weather is coming to an end (I know, just in time for the bank holiday, how rude), and if you’re desperate for more of it, it might be time to escape our lovely Manchester.
Travel experts at Manchester Airport have put together 12 underrated but beautiful beaches you can jet off to from here.
And with flights starting from just £28 return, there’s plenty to tempt you away from town and into Tunisia (or a number of other destinations).
The list includes far-flung trips to Mexico and the USA as well as some little-known beaches that are much closer to home.
Manchester Airport is predicting that more than a million passengers will travel through Manchester over half term, with popular beach resorts in Europe expected to be packed with sun-seekers.
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So these less popular locations might give you the chance of having a bit of peace and quiet while you sun yourself on the shores.
Playa de Las Catedrales, Galicia
The best beaches you can fly to from Manchester. Credit: Supplied / Wolfgang Miller, Wikimedia Commons
Let’s start with the proper bargain – you can jet off to Spain’s underrated north-west coast, the Galicia region, for less than £30 this summer.
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The most famous beach here is Playa de Las Catedrales, or ‘Beach of the Cathedrals’, where natural rock arches tower over smooth white sands.
You’ll need to hire a car and commit to around a three-hour drive to make it here from Santander, but it’ll be worth it.
Fly from Manchester to Santander with Ryanair from £28pp return
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Dune du Pilat, Arcachon
Credit: Rundvaldccby, Wikimedia Commons
Fancy spending your day relaxing on the highest sand dune in Europe, before spending an evening in a town that’s famous for its seafood? This is the one.
Arcachon is around an hour from Bordeaux, and the Dune du Pilat towers at almost 350ft high and a mile in length.
It means it’s never too crowded and you’ll always get a spot to take in a sunset.
Fly from Manchester to Bordeaux with easyJet from £84pp return
Golden Horn Beach, Croatia
Golden Horn Beach, Croatia. Credit: Pixabay
When a lot of us think of summer beach adventure, we think of Croatia – and you can whizz off to Split from just over £100 per person.
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On the island of Brac, you’ll find Golden Horn Beach, surrounded by a pine forest and shimmering aquamarine waters.
From windsurfing to swimming it’s a popular spot, and only a 20 minute stroll from the town of Bol.
Fly from Manchester to Split with easyJet from £105pp return
Elafonisi, Crete
Credit: Pixabay
Fancy a little holiday to Greece? Look no further than Crete, the largest of the country’s 6000 islands and home to one of the world’s most famous beaches – because it’s pink.
Elafonisi Beach is a narrow strip of sand wrapped around a shallow lagoon, with crystal clear emerald waters.
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It’s picked up this mesmerising pink hue thanks to all the shells scattered along the shoreline.
Fly from Manchester to Chania with Ryanair from £92pp return
Holbox, Mexico
Credit: Pixabay
Let’s go a little further afield now – all the way to sunny Mexico.
Pass beyond the party hotspot of Cancun, with its year-round flights and all-inclusive holidays, and head out to the island of Holbox.
It’s about 40 miles north and a total tropical paradise – expect white sands, laid-back vibes, local beach bars and restaurants.
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You can even swim with whale sharks in summer, and may see flocks of wild flamingos and pelicans.
Fly from Manchester to Cancun from £290pp return
Cala Goritze, Sardinia
Credit: Pixabay
Ciao bella, it’s time for a trip over to one of Italy’s much less touristic destinations – the island of Sardinia.
Beaches here are unspoiled and uncrowded, like Cala Goritze on the east coast, which is only accessible by boat from Santa Maria Navarrese, or a three-mile hike.
Once you get here, you’ll be rewarded with a white sand cove and limestone cliffs.
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Fly from Manchester to Olbia with TUI from £90pp return
Legzira Beach, Morocco
Credit: Pixabay
If you think of souks and riads when you think of Morocco, think again – it’s also got some of the world’s best beaches, like those that pepper the coast around Agadir.
If you head a couple of hours south of this popular city, you’ll find the sleepy town of Legzira, said to look almost Martian with its red sands, dunes and cliffs thanks to the sands blown over from the Sahara desert.
A centrepiece is the Arch of Legzira, which splits the beach in two with just a narrow walkway that’s cut off at high tide.
Fly from Manchester to Agadir with TUI from £94pp return
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Praia de Porto Santo, Madeira
Credit: Unsplash, Marco Pireson
Madeira is rocketing in popularity these days, but there are still undiscovered gems to find for yourself.
Take the two-hour ferry to the neighbouring island of Porto Santo, where the beach has a five-mile stretch of golden sand, family-run restaurants, and a golf course.
Flights to Funchal – Madeira’s capital – are a bargain too.
Fly from Manchester to Funchal with Ryanair from £56pp return
Scala dei Turchi, Sicily
Credit: Pixabay
Italy pops up a few times on this list for good reason – affordable flights from Manchester, great food, and gorgeous quiet beaches. Just like this one.
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The Scala dei Turchi, or ‘Turkish Steps’, are hugely popular with locals but seem to fly under the radar for international tourists.
They’re white cliffs that descend to the sea in a series of jagged, sloping platforms like a staircase, ending in golden sands and gentle blue waters.
The area was apparently a haven for Turkish pirates in previous centuries, hence the name.
Fly from Manchester to Catania with Jet2.com from £188pp return
Plage de Sidi Mahrez, Tunisia
Credit: Unsplash, Aleksandra Lion
On Africa’s north coast is the popular holiday destination of Tunisia, but swerve the busy Hammamet-Sousse region near Tunis and instead go to the island of Djerba.
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You can fly here direct from Manchester for a holiday filled with gorgeous beaches.
One of the best is Plage de Sidi Mahrez, a 10-mile stretch of white sand with a laid back atmosphere where you can enjoy water sports and camel rides.
Fly from Manchester to Djerba with easyJet from £157pp return
Shell Beach, Herm
Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Christian Pinatel de Salvator
Did you know the British Isles could do beaches this well, and with such a short flight from Manchester?
Over on the tiny Channel Island of Herm is Shell Beach, made up of millions of multi-coloured shell fragments washed in from the Atlantic ocean.
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There’s almost a mile of golden shores to explore, with a much nicer climate than the mainland, and you can reach Herm with a 20-minute ferry from St Peter Port in Guernsey.
Herm is also a car-free island, but it’s only a 15 minute walk from the ferry terminal to the beach.
Fly from Manchester to Guernsey with Aurigny from £130pp return
Smith Point County Park, Long Island (NY)
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
If you ever fly to the Big Apple but find yourself thinking ‘Actually, that’s a bit too much Big Apple now’, turn yourself around and head to nearby Long Island.
In summer, it has a climate similar to the Mediterranean and loads of beaches, like the legendary Coney Island Beach with thrill rides, a boardwalk and family attractions.
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A quieter spot is Smith Point Country Park, popular with families for camping and wildlife watching – you’ve got a good chance of spotting dolphins here.
Fly from Manchester to New York JFK with AerLingus from £350pp return
The 2026 BRIT Awards in Manchester – everything you need to know
Danny Jones
It’s nearly time: the 2026 BRIT Awards in Manchester are SO close, and we can barely contain our excitement, so much so that we’ve spent almost as much time trying to decide what we’re going to wear as we have figuring out what time we’re even setting off for Co-op Live.
Heading to the massive indoor arena and our region for the first time ever – this being the first of at least two years the awards will be spending up North – BRITs fever has well and truly gripped the city.
With murals, posters, DJ sets, live gigs and various other events popping up all over 0161, it almost feels like festival season has arrived early.
But with so much going on, it’s hard to keep track of everything, and we intend to soak up every single drop of this huge moment for us Mancs. So, from timings and travel to who’ll be performing throughout the night and more, here’s all the important details you need to know ahead of the 2026 BRIT Awards.
BRITs 2026 guide – all the key info
What time does the BRITs start at Co-op Live and on TV?
This year’s BRIT Awards will air on ITV1 and the ITVX streaming service at 8:15pm, and will also be free to watch online via their official YouTube channel for the first time ever.
It will also be the 13th year running that international viewers will be able to tune into the ceremony via the platform.
As for the pre-show festivities at Co-op Live, presenters Tyler West and Charley Marlowe will be hosting the BRITs 2026: ‘Live From The Red Carpet’ livestream, with the broadcast getting underway from 5:30pm onwards.
While an official arrival time for members of the public is yet to be fully confirmed by the venue, doors to the venue typically open at approximately 6:45pm, and as always, we would advise turning up with plenty of time to spare before the show gets going.
Who is performing at the BRITs this year?
Now, most of you already know that the likes of global pop phenomenon and Co-op Live investor himself, Harry Styles, is playing at this year’s BRITs – not to mention an extra special ‘intimate’ gig at the venue, too – as is fellow singer-songwriting superstar Olivia Dean.
That being said, they have continued to trickle out announcements of other acts joining the live music lineup for the 2026 BRITs, including names such as Wolf Alice, Mark Ronson and more.
For instance, they only just announced that popular London-born artist DJ AG will performing a special pop-up set outside Manchester Piccadilly train station on Friday, 27 February from 4-8pm; he’s also teased that some of the acts on the main bill could very well show their faces…
With all that in mind, in case one or two of them might have slipped by you, here is the full list of everyone confirmed to be performing on the night.
Who else is on the live music lineup in Manchester for BRITs Week ’26?
In case you’ve somehow missed the announcements, another big part of BRITs Week as a whole is the raft of very special intimate gigs happening not just here in Greater Manchester but across the country.
Besides the Foo Fighters announcing their own exclusive small-cap show at the O2 Ritz – with War Child UK also helping give away pairs of tickets – these nights are hosted to raise vital funds for the crucial charity that carries out work all over the world.
Teaming up with the BRIT Awards back in 2016, the pair have been generating money for the cause for over a decade now, and the names playing these War Child gigs have only gotten bigger over time.
Arguably the biggest of them all, British pop icon Robbie Williams also joined the list of performers of War Child x DHL charity gigs late on after the initial announcement, to make the comprehensive lineup of BRIT Awards performers truly unbelievable.
Find out who else is on it and which ones are happening in Manchester HERE.
What other events are happening in the city for the BRIT Awards?
Now, besides the pop-up DJ AG set we’ve already mentioned, there are literally TONNES of other bits going on in and around central Manchester to toast their Co-op Live debut.
From the likes of the partnered BRITs ‘FRINGE LAB’ taking place over at New Century Hall – a one-day musicindustry event and live showcase featuring local names like Nxdia, Chloe Slater and more – there is also an entirely FREE music festival happening at the Printworks for the very first time.
There’s also the dedicated art trail around the city, put together by Manc creatives like Stanley Chow, Kim Thompson and ‘Oskar with a K’, just to name a few.
Oh, AND you’ve got the official ‘A Microdot Design’ exhibit at Piccadilly by Brian Cannon (the man behind Oasis’ Definitely Maybe and countless other bands’ artwork) as well, which has been curated specifically for this year’s BRIT Awards.
Gosh, we really are being spoiled rotten, aren’t we?
Put simply, there’s quite a lot going on this week and even after the ceremony and afterparties have wrapped up in the early hours of Sunday morning. You can see a more extensive list right HERE.
For those of you heading to Co-op Live to watch the BRIT Awards shows in person, you’ll be glad to know it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.
Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.
Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre and until 1:00am on Fridays and Saturdays. It’s also worth noting that anyone with a valid BRITs ticket is granted FREE travel from all zones travelling to and from the venue.
Bus
You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live. You also get free Bee Network travel with any valid event ticket.
If you’re driving, there is limited parking available at the venue, but this must be pre-booked ahead of time, and there are designated drop-off areas.
The postcode is M11 3DU, and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer; directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.
Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide on event day, though estimates will obviously vary:
Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.
There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live, but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:
Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces
Walk/cycle
Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.
Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes on the Beryl app, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.
For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.
Afterparties and ‘rumours’
Last but not least, we already know that at leastone of the official BRITs afterparties is happening at Soho House on behalf of Sony, but it’s likely that different labels, promoters, artists, and so on will be hosting others at different locations around Manchester city centre.
We do know from when Northern Quarter hosted the Chanel Métiers d’art fashion show that plenty of A-listers went out to various NQ bars and restaurants in and around the event, so we’d wager on a fair few more doing the same on event weekend – especially any famous Mancs.
Not to make you lose your minds too much, but we’ve also heard talk of some rumoured guests turning up for the ceremony itself, so who knows who you might spot walking around this weekend?
All we’ll say is that if you want to catch a glimpse of any of them, be polite and Swift about it…
1 week to go!
That’s right, move over London, it’s our turn💪
The @BRITs take place in Manchester, at the @thecooplive, next Saturday, the first time it’s moved out of London.
Local BID board launch new ‘Visit Alty’ app ahead of Taste of Altrincham 2026
Danny Jones
One of Trafford’s resident BID (Business Improvement District) board have officially launched their brand-new ‘Visit Alty’ app for the market town ahead of this year’s A Taste of Altrincham festival.
Set to be a dedicated one-stop where residents can find out what’s going on in and around the area, the platform is already available on the likes of the Apple App Store and Google Play for Android phones.
As A Taste of Alty returns for 2026, this is just the second instalment in the total 10-day food and drink party – with a big opening weekend celebration starting this Friday, 27 February – the latest innovation by Altrincham BID is hoping to keep residents more up to date on their village than ever.
Sponsored by native law firm Myerson Solicitors and supported by various local businesses, the sophomore edition of the now annual festivities serves as the ideal staging event for the fledgling Visit Altrincham app.
Running until Sunday, 8 March, A Taste of Altrincham is even bigger this time around. (Credit: Press shot)
With a full programme events kicking off this weekend, the app itself is ideal for keeping track of everything going.
In addition to workshops, live demos by regional chefs, supper clubs, wine tastings, the latest ‘Ultimate Pudding Competition’ and lots of other special events, it can be hard to keep track of everything.
That why, like any good festival, the app has a full map and guide featuring all the key info.
Beyond just the event itself, the app itself is aimed at supporting local independents and more by helping to increase their exposure, sign-post daytrippers to the old Cheshire holdout’s best bits, and push more and more people to one of the borough’s blossoming suburb in general.
Teaming up with a number of popular locations in and around the town centre, it’s a real come one, come all affair – just as things should be.
Residents and visitors alike can also found physical printed copies of the full Taste of Alty ’26 programme nearby at the likes of Altrincham Library, the Bee Network Interchange, as well as OYEZ Arts at the Town Hall.
Created with digital town hub partners, Loqiva, co-founder Marcus Chidgey said in a statement: “We’re pleased to be partnering with Altrincham BID to support Altrincham’s continued growth.
“With a strong independent business scene, an award-winning Market and excellent transport connections to Manchester, the Visit Altrincham app offers a new way for people to discover and explore the town.”
As for the local BID department, Alty’s director Mandy White added: “If you haven’t downloaded the Visit Altrincham app yet, now is the perfect time. It’s a simple way to find out what’s on, discover local businesses and unlock exclusive offers, especially during A Taste of Altrincham.
“The app helps people get more from their visit while supporting our independent businesses and high street brands.”
The Visit Altrincham app is FREE to download right now – you can find it HERE.
Daisy Jackson -
24th May 2025 
