Manchester Airport is around 13 kilometres south of the city centre, and all public transport leaves from one place: the airport’s own station, which sits between the two terminals. From here, the train runs to Manchester Piccadilly in about a quarter of an hour, which makes it the obvious way to get from Manchester Airport to the city centre for most people.
The tram is cheaper and runs right into Deansgate-Castlefield, St Peter’s Square and Victoria, but it’s slow. The bus is the cheapest option and also runs at night, and a taxi can be worth it if there are several of you. The right choice depends on where you’re staying and when you land. Here are all the options with fares and journey times, where to get off, and how to travel straight on to Liverpool, York, the Lake District and Scotland.
Contents
At a glance
- Train: Around £6.20, 13 to 20 minutes to Manchester Piccadilly, runs around every 10 minutes during the day and around once an hour at night.
- Tram (Metrolink): £4.60, around 50 minutes to Deansgate-Castlefield, runs around every 15 minutes from early morning until about midnight.
- Bus 43: £2, around an hour to Piccadilly Gardens, runs around the clock.
- Taxi: Typically £25 to £35 during the day, just under half an hour to the centre, waiting at the terminals around the clock.
- Uber: Typically £20 to £30 for a standard car, and the app shows the price before you book.
Finding your transport at the airport
Manchester Airport now has two terminals. Terminal 2 is used by every airline except Ryanair, and Terminal 3 is used only by Ryanair. The old Terminal 1 is closed.
Trains, trams, city buses and long-distance coaches all leave from the same building, Manchester Airport Station, which the airport also calls The Station. It’s between the two terminals and is open around the clock. You get there along the covered Skylink, which has moving walkways, and the overhead signs show you the way. Allow around 10 minutes from Terminal 2 and 5 to 7 minutes from Terminal 3.
The rail ticket office is on the ground floor opposite the station entrance and is open every day from 06:30 to 22:30. There are ticket machines too, and the platforms are below the entrance level, beyond the ticket gates. The tram has its own platform inside the station with ticket machines and card readers, and the buses stop at the bus station right next door, where the departure board shows which stand your bus leaves from.
Taxis wait just outside both terminals and at The Station. If you’ve booked a car or you’re using Uber, you’re picked up in the airport’s pick-up zone, so follow the signs for Express Pick Up. You’ll find all the options on the airport’s transport page.
1. Train to Manchester Piccadilly and the city centre
The train is the fastest way into the city. From Manchester Airport Station, TransPennine Express, Northern and Transport for Wales all run to Manchester Piccadilly, the main station in the city centre, where you can change for trains to the rest of the country. The journey takes from 13 to around 20 minutes, and during the day there’s a train around every 10 minutes, seven days a week. Just check on the departure board that your train is going to Manchester Piccadilly.
Several trains an hour continue from Piccadilly to Manchester Oxford Road four minutes later and on to Deansgate, which you reach around 25 minutes after leaving the airport. TransPennine Express also has direct trains to Manchester Victoria in just over 20 minutes. So check the train’s stops if your hotel is closer to one of these stations than to Piccadilly.
The trains run almost around the clock, because at night TransPennine Express runs around once an hour between the airport and Piccadilly. The night departures change with the timetable, so check them with TransPennine Express before you travel.
The trains have luggage racks, and TransPennine Express lets you bring three pieces of luggage. The train suits almost everyone who’s staying in the city centre. The catch is the cheap Advance tickets, which are only valid on one specific train. If your flight is delayed, both TransPennine Express and Northern let you take a train up to three hours later at no extra cost, but you have to get your ticket endorsed at the ticket office first. Some tickets are also only valid with one train company.
Fares and tickets
A single bought on the day costs around £6.20 as an Anytime Day Single, which is valid all day, and around £5.20 as an Off-Peak Day Single. Off-Peak tickets are valid on weekdays after 09:29, except between 16:01 and 18:29, and all day at weekends and on bank holidays. The fare is the same to Piccadilly, Oxford Road, Deansgate and Victoria. A same-day return costs double, around £12.40 or £10.40, so you don’t save anything by buying a return.
Children aged 5 to 15 travel at half price, so around £3.10, and up to two children under 5 travel free with an adult who has a ticket. If you buy an Advance ticket ahead of time, fares start at £2.90 with Northern, but you’re then tied to the departure you’ve chosen. That’s rarely a good idea straight after a flight.
If you have a UK railcard, you get a third off. Two adults travelling out and back together on the same day can save 25 per cent with Northern’s Duo ticket, and TransPennine Express gives groups of three to nine people 20 per cent off Advance tickets bought online.
You can buy your ticket at the ticket office, from the machines at the station or in the train companies’ apps. Buy it before you go through the ticket gates, because passengers without a valid ticket are fined. The contactless daily cap, which I describe in the tram section, only covers buses and trams, so for the train you need a train ticket. You can check times and cheap tickets with Northern and on the airport’s train page.
If you’d like to have your ticket sorted before you leave home, you can buy the train ticket between Manchester Airport and the city centre here.
Where to get off
Manchester Piccadilly: The first station in the city centre and the stop for most people. Get off here if you’re staying in the City Centre around Piccadilly or in the Northern Quarter, which is just north of Piccadilly Gardens, within walking distance of the station. From here, the city’s two free buses run around the centre if you’re going further.
Manchester Oxford Road: The next station for the trains that continue through the city centre. Get off here if your hotel is on Oxford Road, between Piccadilly and Deansgate.
Deansgate: The station for Deansgate and Castlefield, with the canals, the restaurants and many of the good hotels. The area also has the Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop, so you can change to the tram here.
Manchester Victoria: TransPennine Express has direct trains here from the airport. Get off here if your hotel is near Victoria or if you’re changing to the tram towards Bury and Rochdale.
2. Tram to Deansgate-Castlefield, St Peter’s Square and Victoria
Metrolink is Manchester’s tram system and part of the Bee Network, Greater Manchester’s joined-up network of buses and trams. The airport has its own line. It runs from the platform at Manchester Airport Station via Wythenshawe, Chorlton and Cornbrook and on through the city centre, stopping at Deansgate-Castlefield, St Peter’s Square, Market Street and Shudehill before it terminates at Victoria.
The tram is slow compared with the train. According to the timetable, the journey takes around 50 minutes to Deansgate-Castlefield and St Peter’s Square and around an hour to Victoria. Trams run around every 15 minutes, Monday to Thursday from about 06:00 until midnight, on Fridays and Saturdays until 01:00, and on Sundays from 07:00 until midnight. The times vary from stop to stop, so check the first and last departures with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) if you’re landing early or late.
The tram suits you if you’re staying close to one of the stops and would rather stay in your seat all the way than change with your suitcase. The catch is the journey time, and the fact that there are no trams at night. The line can also be cut short during periods of engineering work, so check for disruption with TfGM before you choose it.
Fares and tickets
The airport is in zone 4 and the city centre in zone 1, so the journey covers all four zones and costs £4.60 for an adult. Tickets are sold from the machines on the platform, which take cards and cash, and in the Bee Network app, but not on the tram itself.
Children under 5 travel free, and children aged 5 to 16 can travel on a child ticket. You can’t pay for one by tapping a card on the reader, so buy it from the machine or in the app. According to TfGM, young people aged 11 and over need the local igo card to use a child ticket, so expect to pay the adult fare for older children who are visiting.
Pay contactless: touch in and touch out
The easiest way is to pay contactless. Tap your card or phone on the reader on the platform before you board, and again at the stop where you get off. If you change trams along the way, you don’t need to do anything. Visa, Mastercard and Maestro all work, including cards issued abroad, and so do Apple Pay and Google Pay, but American Express doesn’t. Each adult needs their own card.
The system has a daily cap. After 09:30 on weekdays and all weekend, you pay no more than £4.90 for all your tram journeys that day, so once the trip from the airport is paid for, you travel almost free for the rest of the day. If you touch in before 09:30 on a weekday, the cap is £7.10. If you use the bus as well, the combined cap is £7.80 after 09:30 and £9.50 at any time of day.
If you forget to touch out, you’re charged £4.60, and the journey doesn’t count towards the cap. If you board without touching in or buying a ticket, you risk a fine of up to £120. The full fare table is on the TfGM website.
Where to get off the tram
Deansgate-Castlefield: The stop for Deansgate and Castlefield, the area with the canals and good hotels.
St Peter’s Square: The stop in the middle of the City Centre. Get off here if you’ve chosen a hotel on the square or around King Street. You can also change here for trams towards Piccadilly station and the rest of the network.
Market Street and Shudehill: The two stops between St Peter’s Square and Victoria. Get off at Shudehill if your hotel is in the part of the Northern Quarter furthest from Piccadilly.
Victoria: The end of the line, by Manchester Victoria railway station, where you can change to trams towards Bury and Rochdale.
3. Buses 43 and 103: the cheapest option, running all night
The Bee Network’s city buses are the cheapest way into town. Route 43 runs from the bus station at The Station via Wythenshawe, Didsbury, Fallowfield and Rusholme, then along Oxford Road and Portland Street to Piccadilly Gardens in the heart of the city centre. Route 103 also goes to Piccadilly Gardens, but via West Didsbury.
The journey takes around an hour, so the bus is only a good choice if price matters most or if you’re landing at night, because route 43 runs around the clock. During the day, it runs several times an hour, and at night it leaves the airport every half hour from 00:05 to 03:35, seven days a week. The night departures are listed on the TfGM website.
Fares and tickets
A single costs £2 for adults and £1 for children aged 5 to 16, and children under 5 travel free. The ticket is what’s known as a hopper, so you can change to another Bee Network bus within an hour without paying again. If you pay contactless, just tap your card on the reader when you board, and you don’t need to touch out.
A day ticket for all buses costs £5 for adults. The family ticket for one or two adults and up to three children costs £9, but it’s only valid after 09:30 on weekdays. You can buy tickets from the driver by card or cash, or in the Bee Network app, and the night buses use the same tickets and caps as the rest of the day.
4. Taxis and Uber
The black cabs wait outside both terminals and at The Station around the clock, and you don’t need to book ahead. All of them are wheelchair accessible, take at least five passengers with luggage and accept card payments with no surcharge. To addresses in Manchester, they run on the meter at the city council’s set fares. Based on those fares, you should typically expect to pay £25 to £35 during the day and £30 to £40 between 22:00 and 06:00 and on bank holidays. On top of that, there’s an airport charge of £1.80 when the taxi picks you up at a terminal. The journey takes just under half an hour without traffic, and the fares are listed by Manchester City Council.
Uber and other pre-booked cars don’t pick up in front of the terminal but in the pick-up zone. At Terminal 2, follow the signs for Pick up zone and P3 to level 0 of the T2 Multi Storey West car park, where your driver will meet you in zone D or E, and at Terminal 3, follow the signs for Express Pick Up. According to Uber’s own figures, an UberX from the airport to Manchester has cost £23 on average and an UberXL £37, so typically expect £20 to £30 for a standard car. Prices go up when demand is high.
The airport charges £6.60 for up to 15 minutes in the pick-up zone at Terminal 2, and that can end up in your fare. If you’d like to book a car in advance, the airport’s transport overview refers you to the company Street Cars. Find out more from Uber and on the airport’s taxi page.
Private transfer
If you’re landing late with children, or there are several of you with lots of luggage, you can book a private transfer from Manchester Airport here. The driver takes you to the door, and the price is agreed in advance.
Onward travel around England and Scotland straight from the airport
If you’re not heading into Manchester, you can often take the train straight from the airport. TransPennine Express has direct trains to Liverpool Lime Street from 1 hour 6 minutes, to Sheffield from 1 hour 17 minutes, to Leeds from 1 hour 43 minutes and to York in just under two hours. If you’re going to Liverpool, you can read my guide to where to stay in Liverpool.
Heading north, TransPennine Express runs direct to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh in around three and a half hours. Stops along the way include Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Penrith North Lakes and Carlisle, and Northern has a timetable for the line between Windermere and Manchester Airport, so you can get to the Lake District without going through the city centre first. You’ll find the timetables at TransPennine Express, and I’ve rounded up the best bases in my guide to where to stay in the Lake District.
Long-distance coaches also leave from The Station. National Express, FlixBus and Megabus run from here to towns and cities all over Britain, and National Express runs around the clock, with connections to Birmingham and the London airports, among others. You buy your ticket from the coach company, and according to the airport, a coach to Manchester city centre costs from £4 and takes around 25 minutes. See the routes at National Express.
If you’d rather go to Liverpool by bus, you can book the bus between Manchester Airport and Liverpool here.
Getting back to the airport
Trains to the airport leave Manchester Piccadilly around every 10 minutes during the day, and some of them also stop at Manchester Oxford Road and Deansgate. At night, TransPennine Express runs around once an hour from Piccadilly, so you can catch an early-morning flight by train too. Check your departure the evening before.
The tram doesn’t start until about 06:00, or 07:00 on Sundays, and it takes around an hour, so it’s no good for early flights. For those, bus 43 is the cheap night-time alternative. It runs from Piccadilly Gardens to the airport around every half hour from midnight to 04:00, and you should allow just under an hour.
Train, tram and bus all drop you at The Station, and from there you walk along the Skylink to Terminal 2 or Terminal 3. The airport asks you to be checked in and ready for security at least two hours before departure. The airport is open around the clock, but you’re not allowed to stay overnight in the terminal.
If someone drives you right up to the terminal, the drop-off zone costs £5.50 for 5 minutes and £6.50 for 10 minutes. You can’t pay on the spot, so the charge has to be paid online or by phone by midnight the following day. Taxis add a £3 charge to the fare when they drop off at a terminal. The alternative is the free drop-off zone at JetParks 1, from where a free shuttle bus runs to the terminals around the clock and takes around 6 minutes. The rules are on the airport’s drop-off and pick-up page.
Which option should you choose?
Here’s what I’d recommend, depending on where you’re staying:
City Centre: Take the train to Manchester Piccadilly. If you’re staying near St Peter’s Square or King Street and you’re not in a hurry, you can also take the tram straight from the airport to St Peter’s Square.
Northern Quarter: Take the train to Manchester Piccadilly and walk the last stretch. The neighbourhood is just north of Piccadilly Gardens.
Deansgate and Castlefield: Take one of the trains that continue to Deansgate, and you’ll be there in around 25 minutes. If you’d rather not keep an eye on the train’s stops, the tram runs direct to Deansgate-Castlefield in around 50 minutes.
If you want the cheapest option: Bus 43 costs £2, but it takes around an hour to Piccadilly Gardens.
If you’re landing at night: First check whether there’s a night train to Piccadilly. If not, bus 43 runs every half hour, and taxis wait at the terminals around the clock and charge the night rate.
If there are three or four of you: Four train tickets cost around £20.80 to £24.80, so an Uber or a taxi to the door isn’t much more expensive.
Practical tips for getting from Manchester Airport to the city centre
Use the same card all day. The contactless daily cap on buses and trams only works if you use the same card or the same phone every time. If you switch between the physical card and your phone, the journeys don’t add up.
Don’t buy an Advance train ticket for straight after landing. It’s only valid on one specific train, and TransPennine Express recommends allowing at least an hour between landing and departure. An ordinary single is valid all day.
Download the Bee Network app. You can use it to buy bus and tram tickets, pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay, plan your journey and see the next departures from your stop.
Check your terminal before your return flight. Ryanair flies from Terminal 3, and all other airlines fly from Terminal 2. Terminal 1 is closed.
Choose your hotel with the connection in mind. If you’re staying in the City Centre close to Piccadilly, the train takes you almost to your door, and you can see hotels in the City Centre here. The Northern Quarter is within walking distance of Piccadilly, and you can see hotels in the Northern Quarter here. If you’d like to stay by the canals, Deansgate has both trains and trams direct from the airport, and you can see hotels near Deansgate here.
If you’re not sure which neighbourhood suits you, read my guide to where to stay in Manchester.
Travel ressources & websites I use all the time 👇
• Booking.com has the best offers on hotels and unique places to stay
• GetYourGuide is the best place to book tours & activities with free cancellation
• Welcome Pickups is the best & safest place to pre-book airport transfers
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