Manchester, UK

Manchester is the epitome of the modern European city, and has a lot of parallels with Barcelona in terms of it's industrial past, it's rebirth and it's reputation for being a party city.

I lived here for ten years up until about 18 months ago and saw some massive changes as the city recovered from the huge IRA bomb in the mid nineties and was almost totally redesigned.

FOOD: You have the Curry Mile as the previous reviewer mentioned, which is situated a couple of miles out of the city centre-proper past the universities. There are some great restaurants here, and they are cheap. Lal Haweli was one I rather liked. Also there is a fine Chinatown nearer the city centre (behind Piccadilly), where you have some very cheap places to eat, as well as some Chinese restaurants which are spoken of as some of the best in the country. The Yang Sing is one, which is pricey. A real gem, however, is Red Chilli which is on the edge of Chinatown on Portland St. This serves some truly amazing and authentic Chinese (mainly Szechuan) dishes for unfeasibly low cost. As with any city worth it's salt, you also have a range of other restaurants of different types. Try Dimitri's at Castlefield for stunning meze/tapas, and the Armenian Tavern on Albert Square for something a little different. There are a few options for fine dining too, like Simply Heathcoates, though I would say that the range of great, reasonably priced food that is available means you would be better saving your money and eating like a local!

DRINK: Any party city has it's share of great places to enjoy a beer, and Manchester excels at this as you might expect as the former home of the Boddington's Brewery. There are too many to give a comprehensive list, but some notable ones include The Rain Bar and Briton's Protection near the GMEX Centre; Corbiere's and Uncle Sam's Chop House of St Ann's Sq, Sinclair's Oyster Bar in the Millenium Quarter. There are some general areas which are good for bar hopping: Along Deansgate, Castlefield, The Northern Quarter. Heading further out, the area of Fallowfield is the heart of student nightlife. Also worth a mention are Didsbury and Chorlton which have a great Bohemian vibe if they are a little off the beaten track for the casual visitor to Manchester

ENTERTAINMENT: For comedy at the weekend try the Frog and Bucket (which can boast Steve Coogan, Peter Kay and Johnny Vegas amongst the acts who ostarted out here), the Comedy Store, whilst midweek there are a multitude of top notch clubs with some of the best acts on the circuit. Try Remedy on Tuesday nights for XS Malarkey (often touted as the best comedy club in the north if not the country), and The Iguana Bar in Chorlton for Mirth on Monday.

Music fans are spoilt for choice, as you might expect from the home of The Smiths, New Order and Oasis. Venues range from small like Night and Day Cafe to larger like the Academy, the Apollo and the gargantuan at MEN Arena. Also, there are usually a few stadium dates for various big acts come the summer (Radiohead played the Cricket Ground in 08 for example).

There are a host of museums and other attractions. Urbis is a large museum about cities in general, situated in an amazing wedge-shaped glass building in the Millenium Quarter. There is the Science Museum. There is a branch of the Imperial War Museum at Salford Quays where you can also find the Lowry Art Gallery. There are also a few smallish art galleries closer to town. There are theatres and of course the shopping is great in the Arndale and around there, or in the Northern Quarter for more edgy stuff, especially in the legendary Affleck's Palace

I can't really comment on accommodation as I lived in my own house when I was there, but there is no shortage of anywhere to rest your head varying in price up to some seriously flash 5* places like the Hilton. Transport links from the rest of the country are good, and the airport is one of the busiest outside of London.

The city has a reputation for being a little rough in parts, though staying within the main city centre means you shouldn't have any major problems. On the down side, the weather does tend to live up to its gloomy and wet reputation, and unlike Barcelona, it doesn't have beach.

To get around this City you have a choice of the Metrolink and buses.

The buses are different operators and not all tickets are usable on all services.

The metrolink is expensive.

Most of the City is walkable with heritage going back to Roman times.

The people are friendly and have a great sense of humour.

It doesn't rain all the time.

Two Premiership football teams.

You have the curry mile on Rusholme I did like the Kansas Chicken Burgers next to Claremont Road.

The Mile has award winning curry chefs throughout but most cities have these.

Hotels are numerous from as little as £20 pppn upto over £1000 pppn.

You have championship golf courses and Europes biggest municiple park.

Overall a good weekend with plenty of things to do, and not a lot of money to spend doing it.