Aberdeen Manchester Train

The city of Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, behind Edinburgh and Glasgow. Aberdeen has a long sandy beach between the two rivers, the Dee and the Don, which turns into high sand dunes north of the Don stretching as far as Fraserburgh. To the south of the Dee are steep rocky cliff faces with only minor pebble and shingle beaches in deep inlets. A number of granite outcrops along the south coast have been quarried in the past, making for spectacular scenery and good rock-climbing.

The city is sometimes known as the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands. These are all reference to the local quarried grey granite incorporated into Aberdeen's buildings. The discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970's it has also been known as the Oil Capital of Europe. The traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeen's seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world and the seaport is the largest in the north-east of Scotland. North Sea oil production has declined from its peak but the industry still supports around 47,000 jobs locally.

Located in the north west of England, the city of Manchester lies within the Greater Manchester built-up area, and is the United Kingdom's second most populous urban area. The city has a buoyant cultural scene which is expressed in its theatre, opera and dance performances which perform at some of the city's largest performance venues including the Manchester Opera House, the palace Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester's former cotton exchange. The Manchester Opera House also hosts many touring shows and West End productions. Manchester also has a number of more intimate performance spaces including the Library Theatre, which is located in the basement of the Central Library in the city centre, the Contact Theatre and Studio Salford. The 'Madchester' scene of the 1980s, from which groups including The Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, 808 State, James and The Charlatans emerged, was based on clubs such as the famous Haçienda. Discover more about Greater Manchester and Manchester's past with guided walks or an audio tour, including ghost walks, underground or canal tours. Regular weekly tours include Discover Manchester which takes place every Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday and Manchester Town Hall Tour which takes place every Tuesday.