Overview
Manchester is in New Hampshire, USA. The state's largest city has enjoyed a renaissance over the past several years. Once home to the largest textiles facility in the world, the area has a vibrant and largely service-oriented economy. It is home to several educational institutions, including Southern New Hampshire University and St. Anselm College. In 2020, it was home to 116,000 people.
6 sights · 3 things to do · 12 places to eat · 2 bars & cafés · 12 places to stay
Updated from Wikivoyage on 1 October 2026 · Something wrong or missing? Improve it on Wikivoyage
Best things about Manchester
Currier Museum of Art
Collection includes works by Picasso, Monet, and O'Keefe. Features European and American paintings, decorative arts, photographs, sculpture, and performances. The museum owns Frank Lloyd Wright's Zimmerman House, the onl…
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Amoskeag Fishways Learning and Visitors Center
Interactive exhibit hall that allows visitors to explore the Merrimack River. View live turtles, frogs and salmon, play a salmon migration game, generate electricity. During May and June, view migrating shad, herring and…
Manchester Historical Society Millyard Museum
Exhibits on the history of the city, including early colonial settlement, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company (at its peak was the largest textile producer in the world), and present-day immigration to the city.
The Palace Theatre
A restored theater that features plays, concerts, and other live performances.
New Hampshire Fisher Cats Baseball
Plan your trip
Best time to visit & weather
Most comfortable: May–Oct. Summer highs reach about 84°F; winter lows dip to about 17°F. Cold months (Jan, Feb, Dec) can bring snow and ice; check road conditions. Wettest: Jun and Oct.
Blue bars: average daily high and low (°F). Purple columns: average monthly rain and melted snow (inches).
Getting there
- From you: to see whether to drive or fly, and how long it takes.
- MHT Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, Manchester — 4 mi away. Directions
- PSM Portsmouth International Airport at Pease, Portsmouth — 32 mi away. Directions
- BOS Boston Logan International Airport, Boston — 49 mi away (major hub). Directions
Greyhound has services from Montréal and many cities in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, as well as Boston. Additionally, Concord Coach Lines runs buses between Boston and the adjoining town of Londonderry. All intercity buses call at Veteran's Memorial Park, located at 700 Elm St in downtown.
Full “Get in” guide ↓Budget & where to stay
No prices are listed for this place yet. See the Sleep guide ↓ for options.
Sample 2-day itinerary
Day 1
- Morning Amoskeag Fishways Learning and Visitors Center, Manchester Historical Society Millyard Museum, The Palace Theatre
- Lunch Cotton
- Afternoon New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Livingston Park
- Dinner Fratello's Italian Grille
- Evening Strange Brew Tavern
Day 2
- Morning Currier Museum of Art, McIntyre Ski Area
- Lunch The Puritan Restaurant
- Afternoon New Hampshire Fisher Cats Baseball, Derryfield Golf Course
- Dinner Piccolo Italia Ristorante
- Evening Billy's Sports Bar
Stops are grouped by area so each day needs little backtracking. Check opening hours before you go.
Food for you
For a city of its size, Manchester has surprisingly good restaurants, including some devoted to cuisines one would have trouble finding in larger cities. State law prohibits smoking in restaurants and bars.
Cuisine (tap to filter)
What to ask about, for your diet
Diet labels come from each listing's description and cuisine; “likely” means the cuisine usually has good choices, not a promise. Check with the restaurant. Open the food finder
Photos
Map
Every listing with a location. Tap a pin for its Google Maps link.
Understand
Climate
Manchester has cold winters with snowfall, and warm to hot and humid summers. The average summer heat index is around 84°F during the day and 64°F at night. Heat waves can bring heat and humidity and raise heat indices upwards to 97°F or even higher, with overnight lows not going below 73°F.
Tourist information
Get in
By plane
Go Manchester - Boston Regional Airport (MHT)
A convenient way to get to the city and much of southern New Hampshire. Sometimes used as a low-cost, low hassle alternative to Logan International Airport in Boston. Airlines serving Manchester include American, Avelo, Southwest, and United. Southwest is the primary passenger air carrier for the airport, and now accounts for more than half of the airport's annual passenger traffic. There are non-stop flights to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport from the following cities (some cities may be seasonal or only offer service certain days of the week): Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Tampa, and Washington. Delta has been increasing service to MHT including larger aircraft on the MHT-ATL route.Travelers at the airport will find it a convenient and easy to navigate facility. There are two security checkpoints, one on the second level in the center of the terminal, and one on the west end's ground floor, to the "right" of the airline ticket counters. Use the ground floor checkpoint if the center terminal one is busy; they both go to the same place, and the walk between the two is short. Smokers will find -- to their joy -- that there are two smoking rooms in the airport, one on the ground floor by the main baggage claim area, and one behind the security checkpoint. However, the future status of these rooms is uncertain, and they may soon be supplanted. One can smoke outdoors with no trouble.You can take the number 3 MTA bus from the airport to the city Monday through Friday. The buses run between 5:25 - 9:25AM and between 1:25PM and 7:25PM.
By bus
Greyhound has services from Montréal and many cities in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, as well as Boston. Additionally, Concord Coach Lines runs buses between Boston and the adjoining town of Londonderry. All intercity buses call at Veteran's Memorial Park, located at 700 Elm St in downtown.
By car
The city can be reached on Interstate 93, and Route 3. To reach downtown from Boston, take I-93 to its junction with I-293, then take I-293 until you reach Exit 5 (Granite Street).
- Road Breeze Rides, +1 603-661-3168.
Get around
Renting a car, which may be done at the airport, and walking are the easiest ways to get around Manchester. Bus service and taxis are also available, although bus service is relatively limited and taxis can be expensive. Renting a car, or knowing a local who has one, will make your life considerably easier.
On foot: Downtown (Elm St.) has become more walkable as of late, much of the sites are within walking distance.
See
See Currier Museum of Art
Collection includes works by Picasso, Monet, and O'Keefe. Features European and American paintings, decorative arts, photographs, sculpture, and performances. The museum owns Frank Lloyd Wright's Zimmerman House, the only Wright-designed house in New England open to the public. Free admission Sa 10AM-1PM. Closed Tuesdays and major holidays.
See Amoskeag Fishways Learning and Visitors Center
Interactive exhibit hall that allows visitors to explore the Merrimack River. View live turtles, frogs and salmon, play a salmon migration game, generate electricity. During May and June, view migrating shad, herring and sea lamprey through underwater viewing windows looking into a 54-step fish ladder.
Do
Sports
Manchester is home to a handful of minor-league sports teams, all of which enjoy considerable support from local fans. The most popular is the Eastern League's New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA baseball affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays). Additionally, the New Hampshire Phantoms, a soccer team in the USL's Premier Development League (the fourth level in the American league pyramid), play in town.
The Fisher Cats' season runs from spring to summer. The team has captured two Eastern League championships (in their inaugural season of 2004 and also in 2011).
Buy
As with the rest of New Hampshire, there is no sales tax.
South Manchester is home to many large chains and the Mall of New Hampshire. The area is collectively referred to as South Willow Street after the name of the main road. Downtown (on and near Elm Street) offers many smaller shops.
Shop Double Midnight Comics and Collectibles
Comics and gaming. Owned and operated by Brett Parker and brothers Chris and Scott Proulx, the store opened its doors in July 2002 in an effort to provide a fun and exciting place to shop and game. Feel free to stop in and pick up game in the arena or just chat comics.
Eat
For a city of its size, Manchester has surprisingly good restaurants, including some devoted to cuisines one would have trouble finding in larger cities. State law prohibits smoking in restaurants and bars.
Eat Cotton
A restaurant set in the historic Millyard District.
Eat Cafe Momo
This small (30 seat) eatery serves excellent Nepalese food, which has elements of Indian and Chinese cuisine. The restaurant has a variety of vegetarian options and offers plenty of spicy -- very spicy -- entrees. The fiery gundruk soup is a must for lovers of spicy food, although be warned: it will clear your sinuses something fierce. A small parking lot, but other parking nearby is easily available.
Eat The Puritan Restaurant
Quality Service since 1917. A very popular destination for locals serving American and Greek food. You may even see Adam Sandler there.
Eat The Red Arrow Diner
Very fun diner, open 24 hours since 1922. Voted one of the top ten diners in the country by USA Today. Very good pancakes.
Eat Piccolo Italia Ristorante
Voted Manchester's No. 1 Italian restaurant -- and with good reason. Reservations are strongly suggested. Terrific pasta and veal.
Eat Intervale Country Club
Open to the public.
Eat Longhorn Steakhouse
Great barbeque joint, one of the many in the Longhorn chain.
Eat Bob Nadeau's House of Subs (Nadeau's Subs)
Nadeau's is a local chain, sporting four locations in Manchester and one in Exeter. Won the Best Sub Shop of 2013 in Hippo Magazine.
Eat Alleycat Pizzeria
New York-style thin crust pizza, subs, calzones.
Eat Airport Diner
1950s-style diner close to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, attached to south end of the Holiday Inn Manchester Airport. Sister of Common Man Restaurant chain.
Eat Stark Brewing Company
Classic pub in one of Manchester's old mill buildings. Frequent live music (check online). Function room & brewery tours also available.
Drink
Manchester has a vibrant nightlife scene, particularly along Elm Street downtown and surrounding streets. Note that "last call" in Manchester comes early by American standards: about 12:45AM, with bars in the city closing around 1AM
Drink Billy's Sports Bar
Billy's has an extensive menu, is inexpensive, and is an excellent place for out-of-state visitors to watch football games. Although the bar is a Patriots bar, fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets and other out-of-market teams will find fellow partisans there on Sundays, usually in the smaller "back" room. The "back" room will usually have sound and one of the main high-definition televisions turned to the Steelers game when the Steelers are playing, due to a large group of Steelers fans who gather there weekly.
Drink Strange Brew Tavern
More than 65 beers on tap. Live music every night of the week. Good, cheap food. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, place is very crowded.
Sleep
Hotels
Most travelers will find themselves staying in two-diamond or three-diamond (AAA) properties, with rates generally in the $75 to $150 per night range. Some properties may be slightly cheaper, although one tends to get what one pays for. The majority of Manchester's hotel stock is in the two- to three-diamond range, although business travelers with expense accounts should consider the Bedford Village Inn, an excellent inn in suburban Bedford, N.H.
Travelers with business downtown might consider the Hilton Garden Inn, immediately adjacent to the city's baseball stadium (rooms overlook the park, and home runs occasionally bounce off the hotel), or the Doubletree Manchester, a popular place to hold conferences and meetings. (The Doubletree is co-located with the Center of New Hampshire convention center. )
Budget
Mid range
Splurge
Bed and Breakfast
Stay safe
Compared to American cities of its size, Manchester has an extremely low crime rate. Violent crime and property crime is rare, and even at night, visitors should feel safe in pretty much every area of the city.
Although crime in the city is very rare, one should not take leave of one's common sense either. The downtown area is largely safe at all hours, although there are areas of the center city and the West Side where traveling alone, on foot, at night might be inadvisable. Female visitors should take all customary precautions.
Manchester Police Department's main police station is at 405 Valley Street, +1 603-668-8711.
Go next
Particularly in early fall, a trip to the White Mountains for foliage viewing is rewarding. Boston, Vermont and the Southern Maine Coast are only a short distance away,
A trip down State Route 101 heading west will bring you to many of the type of small towns that New Hampshire and New England are famous for, including Amherst, Milford, Wilton, and Peterborough. Past Wilton, the road becomes more windy and scenic, but is still a major east-west thoroughfare. The route ends in Keene about an hour away.
Nearby
Bedford
City / town · 5 listings · 5 mi away
Hooksett
City / town · 2 listings · 7 mi away
Merrimack
City / town · 29 listings · 9 mi away
Londonderry
City / town · 9 listings · 10 mi away
Derry
City / town · 6 listings · 10 mi away
Amherst
City / town · 15 listings · 13 mi away
Milford
City / town · 9 listings · 15 mi away
Brookline
City / town · 1 listings · 15 mi away
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