Manchester’s Green Trail – overview

Overview

Manchester’s Green Trail (previously called Manchester’s Green Corridor) walking route was established in 2012. It is a partnership of Manchester City Council, City of Trees, the Ramblers Association, Living Streets and TfGM. The Green Trail is a walking circuit made of 14 routes which circumnavigate the City of Manchester and connect many of the city’s parks, woodlands and open spaces.

It is the first project of its kind in the UK.

In 2018 Manchester City Council, TfGM, and the Ramblers undertook to update the routes making them more accessible from public transport.

The aim of the Green Trail is to create a high-quality walking route across the City of Manchester via its parks and open spaces that will:

• increase usage of the parks, woodlands and open spaces which will make them livelier and as a consequence safer, sustainable and more inviting places for people to visit;
• encourage healthier lifestyles and reduce car usage by promoting walking routes that are accessible to everyone.

As well as the overview leaflet shown on this page, there are also 14 separate leaflets describing the various stages of Manchester’s Green Trail. They can be downloaded from the individual Green Trail pages.

Accessibility and facilities

While many sections of the route are likely to be suitable for wheelchair-users and for families with pushchairs, we have not been able to verify conditions on the ground. For this reason, we are not currently classifying this walk as wheelchair or pushchair-friendly.

Regarding toilets, the overview of each park on the Manchester City Council website indicates whether these are available. Note, however, that these details may change and opening hours may vary significantly. Otherwise, toilets are generally available in libraries (check here for your nearest library and its opening times). In addition, cafes and pubs along the route are likely to have facilities for customers.

How to get there

All of the walks on Manchester’s Green Trail are designed to be – and are most easily – accessed by public transport. For details, see each individual trail leaflet.

Although Chapel Street Park, Levenshulme, is given as the starting point for the whole Green Trail, you can actually start the walk at a wide range of locations across the City of Manchester. You can also “pick and mix” from the various stages for an easy or leisurely short walk of your choice.

To work out how to get to and from the walk start end point, simply click the Google Maps link on this page. Then click ‘Directions’ and enter your postcode or location in the relevant field. For public transport options, click the train icon.

Alternatively, input the postcode shown on this page into the TfGM journey planner at https://my.tfgm.com/#/planner/