By Air:-

Manchester Airport has retained its position as the biggest UK airport outside London and is situated a mere 12 miles outside of the city centre with fast transport links.

Some 100 airlines fly in and out of Manchester Airport's three terminals to around 200 destinations worldwide. These include the following 15 UK destinations:- Aberdeen, Belfast City Airport, Belfast International Airport, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Inverness, Isle of Man, Jersey, London Gatwick Airport, London Heathrow, Newquay, Norwich, Plymouth and Southampton. The following 5 Irish destinations are also served to and from Manchester:- Cork, Dublin, Galway, Knock and Waterford.

A variety of airlines, including low-cost carriers, service these destinations so when looking to book check out airline websites like Flybe, BMI Baby and Monarch for budget fares and their now regular special offers. Manchester airport also runs an extensive and helpful website at www.manchesterairport.co.uk.

Once you have arrived there are a number of ways that you can easily travel into the city centre from the airport.

The first is by train as Manchester Airport has its own station where trains run every 15 minutes to Manchester Piccadilly station in the city centre with the journey time being under half an hour. The cost of the fare generally tends to work out cheaper if each person buys two singles and at time of writing an off peak single into Manchester Piccadilly is about £3.10.

The second alternative is by bus. Two buses run from Manchester Airport station, the Stagecoach 43 and the Stagecoach 105 and they will both take between 30-45 minutes to take you into Piccadilly Gardens in the town centre. You can only purchase single fares on these services as returns only cover same day travel so the cost will be around £2.50 per person per single ticket.

The third alternative is via a taxi or private hire vehicle. Outside each of the three terminals are hackney cabs at all times ready to take you into the town centre or you can pre-book a private hire company to transport your group in. Costwise one taxi will be, depending on the driver, around £20 to take you into your hotel in the city centre.

The final option is to organise an airport transfer in a vehicle big enough to take your entire group of stags or hens. This can be done through Stag and Hen Manchester or through other firms like Tristar who have the contract at Manchester airport to provide transfers. You can either get a quote and pre book via their website at www.tristarworldwide.com or use the numerous phones in arrivals when you get to the airport to arrange a transfer then. Prices will vary - however, to give you an idea, Stag and Hen Manchester can hire a 16 seat minibus to go there and back for £170 which works out as only £11 return per person to get you to your hotel front door.