The best hotels near the AO Arena in Manchester

On Manchester’s grand King Street, Hotel Gotham is extremely central, a 12-minute walk from Manchester Arena. There are a number of competing themes – a nudge to the banking history of the building with a swag-style moneybag containing toast or laundry here, a wink to Batman whose home is the hotel’s namesake with bat-shaped do not disturb signs there. But it’s the hotel’s grand Art Deco building, known as the “King of King Street”, that makes the hotel really stand out and allows it to pull the themes off without seeming tacky. The 60 rooms and suites are dark and decadent with grey walls, large comfy beds and leather bed heads.

This city centre hotel, housed in Manchester’s former Stock Exchange, shows off its heritage with style. Original features such as marble columns, stained glass and fireplaces sparkle, while an excellent restaurant by chef Tom Kerridge is in pride of place in the building’s magnificent dome, formerly the trading floor. It’s a two-minute walk from the shops and restaurants on King Street in one direction and the high street shops of pedestrianised Market Street in the other. Victoria and Piccadilly railway stations are around 10-minute walks away, while cultural attractions such as Manchester Art Gallery and the Royal Exchange Theatre are no more than a five-minute stroll.

These high-spec serviced apartments with a minimum four-night stay are just across the River Irwell from Manchester city centre. The colourful clientele often includes visiting performers such as touring theatre companies. The apartments are in a new purpose-built contemporary glass-and-steel building and are designed to appeal to those who want to feel ‘at home’ while travelling; they feel less like hotel rooms than chic urban residences. Interiors throughout the building are stylish and low-key, with a palette of mainly creams and pale greys, and all fittings and fixtures are sleek and high-end. The pool (pictured) is also a very welcome bonus.

Located right over the road from the Manchester Arena and Victoria Station, this colourful chain hotel has excellent leisure facilities that make it attractive to families as well as its core concert-going and business clientele. You’re also a five-minute stroll from Victoria Station, eight minutes from the department stores and high-street shops of the Central Retail District, and 10 minutes from the nightlife of the Northern Quarter (albeit walking along busy, unscenic roads). The spa is the hotel’s real selling point, with its five treatment rooms (guests get 20 per cent off treatments) and nail bar, spruce-coloured indoor pool supplied with free glossy magazines, and its sauna and steam room.

This hip new addition to Manchester’s Northern Quarter knows how to treat its guests with hi-spec interiors and plenty of treats – including free prosecco and nibbles, Netflix in all rooms and milk and cookies before bed. Many original features have been retained from the former textile warehouse it occupies, too. Piccadilly train station is a five-minute walk away as is Manchester’s main shopping street, Market Street. However, this central location means that there can be some noise at night in rooms at the front of the hotel – so ask for a quieter room or use the complimentary earplugs if you’re a light sleeper.

The ultimate hotel in Manchester for beer lovers, in BrewDog’s DogHouse Manchester you’ll get a free beer at check-in and can pay to have a draught beer tap or stocked in-shower beer fridge in your room – or both. There’s a buzzy taproom downstairs as well as a rooftop bar serving tacos. From the hotel, you’re a five-minute walk from the bars, shops and restaurants in the Northern Quarter, a five-minute stroll away from Manchester Art Gallery and a 10-minute walk from Piccadilly railway station.

In the heart of the trendy Northern Quarter, this pub with 15 rooms is a great-value base for visitors, just 10 minutes from the Manchester Arena. Abel Heywood was a Manchester publisher and mayor in the 1800s who published the Poor Man’s Guardian and a series of penny guidebooks to tourist areas. The hotel pays homage to its radical namesake with rooms named after his guidebooks and by producing its own ‘penny guide’ for guests on the local area. The pub itself is also furnished to look like a Victorian drinking establishment with a huge wooden bar, wooden tables and a mixture of leather booths and mismatched chairs. Entry-level city doubles are compact but are a comfortable base.

Perched on the edge of Salford overlooking the River Irwell, most of central Manchester’s best sites (including Manchester Arena which is 10 minutes away on foot) are a short distance over a Calatrava-designed pedestrian bridge. Contemporary luxury is the vibe at Manchester’s first five-star hotel, which is a perennial favourite with celebrities and a regular haunt of local footballers and their wives. Even with this high-profile crowd, the hotel treats everyone like a king, and staff are discreet. The Lowry’s large rooms are a study in tasteful grey flannels, dark wood, and splashes of cerulean or tomato. The first-floor bar overlooks the river.

Tucked away on the city centre’s quiet Booth Street (not nearby King Street as the name suggests), it’s just a short walk from the hotel to the city’s main shopping areas, Manchester Art Gallery and Manchester Arena (13 minutes). The antithesis to a chain hotel, visiting King Street Townhouse is like staying with a rich friend who has extremely good taste. Everything from the furniture to locally commissioned artwork throughout the property has been sourced by owner, Sally O’Loughlin, and no two bedrooms are the same. From lights with exposed filaments to hand-picked books on shelves, the attention to detail is clear. The infinity spa-pool on the seventh floor is a highlight.

In Manchester’s former corn exchange, a Grade II listed building, this aparthotel is right at the heart of the city centre with shops, restaurants and Manchester Arena on the doorstep. The unique triangular-shaped listed building is what makes this aparthotel special, from the grand pillared reception area to the maze-like corridors. Take the stairs to really appreciate the hotel’s true glory as the original flooring, ornate tiles and stairways have been preserved. Colourful illustrations on corridor walls depict stand-out features of Manchester, from the city’s bee symbol and Rolls Royce to Emmeline Pankhurst.