From fine dining at The French and Manchester House to the indie cafe-bars of the Northern Quarter, the city’s dining scene offers something to suit every occasion and budget - and the options span almost every cuisine conceivable.

We couldn’t have agreed more when The Whitworth was named museum of the year last month. After a £15m transformation, the Oxford Road art gallery has welcomed record visitor numbers through its doors since reopening in February. It’s not alone - visitor numbers at the Imperial War Museum North are also at an all-time high, driven by interest in the First World War centenary commemorations. We’re also home to the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester Museum, the People’s History Museum and many, many more.

No sooner had we welcomed the £25m HOME arts centre than plans were announced for an even bigger new £110m arts space at Old Granada Studios. The venue, which is due to open in 2019, will be a permanent base for the biennial Manchester International Festival, which has turned the city into a world stage for the arts with its diverse programme of theatre, dance, music and more. This year’s festival was another resounding success that showcased the city’s many other arts venues, with shows including Damon Albarn’s musical wonder.land at the Palace, The Skriker starring Maxine Peake at the Royal Exchange and Bjork’s first European performance since the release of her latest album Vulnicura at Castlefield Bowl.

The heady days of the Hacienda may be long behind us but the rave spirit lives on at clubbing institutions like The Warehouse Project, which brings some of the biggest names in dance music to the city for 12 weeks every year, and Sankeys, which has just announced a five-year run of events at Victoria Warehouse. If house and techno aren’t up your street, Manchester’s eclectic nightlife offers something for everyone, from the hipster bars of the Northern Quarter to the party palace of the Printworks. Deansgate and Spinningfields offer chic champagne and cocktail bars plus plenty of celeb-spotting opportunities, while Canal Street is home to one of the liveliest gay villages in Europe.

City or United? We’ll let you decide. But it’s not all about football here. The legacy of the Commonwealth Games has left us with world-class facilities including the Manchester Aquatics Centre, Regional Athletics Arena, National Squash Centre and Manchester Velodrome. We’re also home to one of England’s most renowned test venues at the Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground. And don’t forget the National Football Museum. No wonder Manchester was just named the sporting capital of the UK.

Whether you’re rummaging through the treasures of the Northern Quarter’s vintage boutiques and record stores, hunting for bargains in the high street brands of the Arndale Centre or splashing the cash in the luxury designer shops and department stores of New Cathedral Street and Exchange Square, Manchester truly is the shopping capital of the north west. And we’ve also got one of the largest shopping centres in Europe on our doorstep at the Trafford Centre.

Nothing says more about a place than the people who live in it and, by and large, Mancunians are a fiercely proud, funny and friendly bunch.