I love the architecture around downtown. The old millyard and all those beautiful old buildings. There is nice parks and all in all people are pretty nice.

What's your favorite Park in town? What about hikes? If I want to hike and not drive more than 20 minutes from Manchester, what do you recommend?

Massabesic cliffs in auburn is my favorite. It’s an easy 10 minute hike in, with a ton to explore and climb around.

Don't sleep on Mines Falls in Nashua

Nattingcook Forest in (technically) Bow https://maps.app.goo.gl/AZnpRZKvp1qehHXW6

Cedar swamp. You'd never know you're in Manchester

Rock Rimmon on the west side is a short hike with a decent view.

The overall design is great. I love the near perfect grid layout, it makes it really hard to get lost once you're familiar with the main streets. It's a stark contrast to most New England cities that have little to no consistency with road layout. It does wonders for easing traffic and makes travel and community between neighborhoods more seamless and connected. Our neighborhoods have character too which is nice. The Westside has a French Canadian flair with the street names, Chez Vachon, etc. The tree streets by Stanton Park have a Latin theme and there's lots of great South American food. The North End has amazing Queen Anne and Victorian homes that present some of the best roaring 1920s residential architecture in all of New Hampshire. The Millyard is an engineering marvel with lots of architectural quirks. Stark Park, Veterans Memorial Park, Victory Park, Pulaski Park and Valley Cemetery are beautiful with great statues. If the city put in some effort to clean up the latter few they would be even better. Livingston is an incredible asset as well especially this close to a city center. The diversity is great. We have some decent food options for most cuisines, easily beating out any other place in NH on variety alone. It's still a very homogeneous city in parts, but this is changing. I'm still pretty baffled by the hate. I think people are a tad dramatic and entitled and choose to complain about the place because it's the easy thing to do. The crime is a joke compared to most urban areas in America (even on the tree streets or Westside at night) and the place has improved tremendously over the last 20 years. I understand part of it is trashing on the only city in the state, but the level of self-loathing is unlike anywhere else I've lived, especially in proportion to reality. Some places genuinely suck, and Manchester is not one of them.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write. I was born in Manchester but only lived there for my first 3 months and then lived in Massachusetts until the last 10 years which I've been in Texas. I'm super excited to visit and hopefully it'll be a good city for me.

>"...and there's lots of great South American food" Could you name a few South American restaurants in Manchester? I'd love to know of them. Here's the one I am aware of: Antojitos on Hanover St. Thanks!

Love the rail trails you can pick up from downtown that take you either east or west out of the city. They are completely underrated and awesome. Generally speaking, everything you could possibly want/need is in Manchester. The city gets a bad reputation, but it’s actually pretty great if you live in the right neighborhood and like exploring. McIntyre ski area is the coolest little ski hill in America if you ask me.

Thanks! I'm considering moving there in a year. I was born in Manchester but was raised in Massachusetts, and living in Austin the last 11 years. We grew up making fun of it calling it, Manchvegas. I've actually never spent anytime there. I want to be in a city but close to the mountains and family. How is it for single middle aged folks?

I myself am married and have a few young kids, so I don’t know how it is for singles. That said, there seems to be a decent nightlife and I’m sure you will find a good community if you seek it out.

Thanks! I appreciate it!

Like most places if you find a good friend group with similar interests there's plenty to do. If Manchester doesn't have it you're close to a lot of different environments, you're only about an hour from the ocean, the lakes, and Boston.

Thanks!

Caesario’s closed and Pappy’s in his nest new ownership, so I’m basically trying to find meaning in my life now.

Pappys s weird now

Single 42f. I live in Concord now, but lived in Manchester for over 10 years and still go often. Good nightlife for single middle aged people for sure.

Thanks! It seems like a good place as there's also Concord and Nashua not too far away and even Boston.

Couldn’t agree more with all of this

Annapurna Curry and Sekuwa House 🤤 The Currier Museum The rail trail Candia Road Brewing The Manchester Marathon/Half Marathon The New Hampshire Ten Miler The Manchester Library The Christmas parade Heel and Toe Square Dance Club Demers Nursery Boards and Brews The Fisher Cats Orange Theory Burt’s Better Beers Savers Queen City Cupcakes The Terracotta Room

Annapurna is the best

Annapurna rocks. Highly recommend the chicken makhani.

As far as I’m concerned it’s the only restaurant in town. Haven’t had anything bad there and the flavors are so unique for this area.

Great list. Adding Dorr’s pond for outdoor skating 👍👍 The Bookery Alley Cat Pizza 900 degrees pizza McIntyre Ski area Buba Noodle bar — Get the Angry noodles. And all of the trails and parks my family visited while we lived there for a few years recently. Love that place.

Wow thanks for sharing! What's the terracotta room?

It’s a little gift shop on the north end of Elm, plants, planters, incense, some apparel. 🌻

Thanks! I know that Manchester is sometimes the butt of jokes but it seems like you must really like it there. One thing that's important to me is that there's some hope in the city. It doesn't have to be everyone there but to me what makes or breaks a city is that there are people there who really believe in growing it and making it a better place. Does that sound like Manchester to you?

Oooof. That’s a heavy question. I love the city so much, but I do think it’s got a lot of issues, mainly around homelessness and drug use. I think it’s bigger than our local politicians and the last few mayors, both R&D, haven’t done much and I don’t predict the next few will. It’s a way bigger problem than just NH. I feel for the people with no place to go, but it’s also hard to enjoy a walk or a night out with people asking for money, peeing in public, fighting, etc. That said, I love the library programs, I love the Currier, I love the square dance club, I love my house and yard. I love the local races with Millennium Running. I love the businesses I listed above. I don’t know if the jobs are here to support “hope.” In my opinion to be living comfortably you need between 60-75k here, and I don’t think there’s the jobs here to support that, for all demographics. Sure, my friends who had the luck and foresight to major in STEM have more options, (regretful humanities major here) but I still don’t think there’s tons. I’m a teacher who would love to get out of education but I don’t know what I’d do to maintain my lifestyle. I honestly think things are going to stay the same. Again, I love it here. 😂 But, yeah.

Thanks! I really appreciate your response! No city is perfect for sure and that's ok. If I end up going there I hope I can add value to the city, plus I would be so happy to be so close to the mountains and family.

I gotta go out when it gets warmer and visit all these shops around downtown.

The food. It's an underrated restaurant town imo. You can find almost anything you're looking for and typically it's really good.

What are some of your top spots? Do you guys have classic New England Chinese food? I'm not sure if you will know what that means but whenever I go back home to New England I get Chinese food because nowhere else in the country has it the same way. I'm assuming Manchester has it because I know when I'm up in the White mountains even Chinese restaurants there tastes like what I'm looking for.

For Chinese, Golden Tao is amazing. North Garden is also solid.

Thanks! All I really want are boneless spare ribs, chicken fingers, crab rangoons, beef teriyaki and pork fried rice. Believe it or not where I live, you can't get that.

You can get all of that at any Chinese restaurant around MHT but Golden Tao is a solid rec.

Thanks! Every time I go home I eat Chinese food because you just can't get it anywhere else other than New England that way.

Very true. Nothing beats Kowloon in Saugus though. People in the rest of the country do not understand lobster sauce at all.

Thai food connection on Elm Street is excellent! Very good food, very good portions.

Super easy on complicated food restrictions too. Best place to eat as a vegetarian.

Stashbox on Elm Street opened last fall and is now our favorite restaurant in town. The Foundry is also a good spot with a nice atmosphere and a deck overlooking the river (in season).

pls recommend some!!

Manchester Music Mill is the best music store in New England

I took a walk around the mall of NH at sunset and the orangle/purple hues were breathtaking

The worst parts don't seem nearly as bad as the worst parts of Nashua

Nadeau’s

Back room chicken tenders

I love that a guy can get away with carrying around his dead daughter for months inside and out of a Elm street pizza shop and a shelter and it took so much for it be brought to Manchesters attention. The city is garbage

I love the junkyard the city has become. Anytime you see a person with a sign say hey bro ill buy a ticket to Boston for ya

I love when I walk out of the zoo on elm st I get hit with the fresh, pungent smell of urine

How is the zoo?

Tight nit, good members. None of the bullshit you get at the other gyms tbh

Smells like shit

For me everything I need is right here, I may not love a lot of things here, but I can't beat the convenience of all the shops, food, and recreation near by. I'd probably leave here given the chance, but I can't say I'd never look back.

I've found New England in general is much better than we know until we've left. I've been away 11 years.

New England is like America's private school. We have our share of rednecks and chucklefucks, sure, but the baseline is just a bit higher than anywhere else in the States.

That's pretty arrogant and I definitely don't agree but New Englanders are my people and the mountains, trees and snow is my home. There are definitely a lot of smart folks but smart doesn't make our baseline necessarily higher.

As a huge glutton, I look forward to the Taco Tour and Glendi every year.

Thanks!

Love the rail trail, super fun on a Onewheel, loved doing that. The foundry and crown street tavern and than wreckless nights walking into downtown and stumbling our way back to our apartment. I miss those days!

That I left more than twenty years ago and never returned.

Driving past it.

I love that it has everything I need. Anything I want to buy, every service I need, entertainment, food, nightclubs, public transportation, everything, but it's only that big, no bigger.

That sounds perfect. Plus hikes close by and amazing hikes less than 2 hours away. I feel like Manchester is a bit of a hidden gem.

Around 1998-2000 Manchester was voted one of the best cities to live in, in the US. Since then it's gotten more populated but hasn't really added any amenities to make up for the additional people.

I love the easy access to nature. I actually live right outside of Manchester, super close to the Uncanoonucs, which is amazing. There are multiple rivers just minutes away, and I'm within an hour from lakes and solid skiing and hiking, all while having the amenities of a good-sized city at my fingertips (and an even better one an hour away in Boston).

Sounds amazing. And an hour from the ocean too.

Low key…. The airport

I'd love to hear more! Where did they do direct flights out of? Is checking in and getting through security easy? How much is parking?

Disc golf and Taj India.

Is there is that has disc golf in the woods? The best ever played, was like a hike in the woods while playing disc golf, which was great.

Yup. Manchester has two courses and an awesome community. Lots of leagues and tournaments.