Londoners aren’t going to like this one.
Lonely Planet have named Manchester as one of their ten must-see cities for 2016 – and it’s the only city in the UK to make the list.
A new book, Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel, singled out the northern town as being ‘the UK’s cultural boomtown’ amid regeneration in the area.
They describe Manchester as a ‘dynamo of culture and the arts’ as it takes the eighth spot on the list – the fourth highest European city, behind first-placed Kotor of Montenegro, the Irish capital of Dublin in third and Dutch city Rotterdam in fifth.
The city’s footballing heritage was also noted alongside other cultural factors, with the travel experts saying; ‘This one-time engine room of the industrial revolution has found a new groove for the 21st-century as a dynamo of culture and the arts.’
The full top ten is as follows: 1. Kotor (Montenegro), 2. Quito (Ecuador), 3. Dublin (Republic of Ireland), 4. George Town (Malaysia), 5. Rotterdam (Netherlands), 6. Mumbai (India), 7. Fremantle (Australia), 8. Manchester (UK), 9. Nashville (USA), 10. Rome (Italy).
What do you think? Is Manchester the best city in the UK? Let us know in the poll below.