Feisty, passionate and brimming with spirit, Manchester showed its character when its denizens came together after May’s sickening terrorist attack at a concert. The capital of northern England is not a place you can keep down for long — its proud heritage, industrious creativity and distinctively experimental sense of cool will always burst through.

Mancunians, as they’re called, are a warm, witty bunch. And Manchester’s a fascinating, relentlessly enjoyable city in which to cultivate the resilience we all need right now.

Here are just six reasons to get a dose of northern soul right now.

The other football

Manchester is indisputably one of the world’s great soccer hotbeds — although it’s called football in these parts, thank you very much. Getting tickets for both Manchester United and Manchester City home games during the season between August and May can be a tough ask, but both run engrossing stadium tours. Those without a strong loyalty to either team should shell out for the $23 jaunt around United’s Old Trafford ground, which covers history, spectacle and behind-the-scenes insight. The free National Football Museum is also great fun. It has plenty of geeky wormholes for true fans, sprinkled with interactive challenges for the less obsessed. These include sweat-inducingly energetic tests of goalkeeping reflexes and the chance to play commentator over classic footage.

Factory life

But Manchester’s strongest suit, heritage-wise, is industrial. Handsome red-brick cotton mills and warehouses still dot its center, albeit now converted into mini-malls, offices and apartments. The enormous Museum of Science and Industry covers the city’s gifts to the world — from cotton to computers — with free entry. But its spiritual twin, the also gratis People’s History Museum, concentrates on the political upheaval that came with the Industrial Revolution. Protests for the right to vote, campaigns for better working conditions and the union movement are all presented in the context of British and international democracy.

Great plates

Now for the fun bits. The Northern Quarter is Manchester’s gleefully inventive, fiercely independent and eternally lively neighborhood.

Afflecks Palace, a multi-floor cross between a department store and a market, sums up the area best. It’s mildly chaotic and goes from grungy to goth, then cutesy to country, within a few steps. The restaurant and bar scene is similarly all over the place, albeit with a leaning towards globe-spanning cheap eats. The modern British food at the The Northern Quarter Restaurant and Bar is nowhere near as dull as its name. Seared pigeon, poached duck egg and gin-cured salmon are whipped up along with a proud produce tour of the UK.

Meanwhile, Bakerie focuses on sandwiches and stews while allowing you to test sample-sized wines from dozens of enomatic machines. And Dusk Til Pawn is a mildly ludicrous whiskey-leaning speakeasy hidden behind the veneer of a pawnbroker’s shop.

In the pub

Manchester’s drinking soul lies in its fantastic old pubs. The Briton’s Protection is a classic 19th-century throwback, with wood paneling galore and an intimidatingly long line of real ales on tap. Farther north, the Marble Arch is a blaze of Victorian tiling, and acts as the flagship for Manchester’s top craft brewery. Out-there ales infused with chocolate or tea have worked so well they’re now part of the regular menu.

Top tunes

The Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Oasis and the Stone Roses are among the acts that launched here, and New Manchester Walks runs $10 walking tours around key sites, such as the record shop Morrissey worked in and legendary (if now defunct) venues such as the Hacienda and the Boardwalk. To seek out the next generation of talent, mid-sized venue Gorilla — in the rapidly redeveloping creative hub around the Oxford Road train station — mixes up established artists and up-and-comers. The daytime café vibe gets considerably rowdier in the evenings.

Sleeps with a story

Manchester has no shortage of visually arresting, historic places to stay. The Marriott Victoria and Albert (from $171) is a former cotton warehouse, while the Midland (from $172) is an archetypal old dame where Charles Rolls first met Henry Royce before they created their iconic car franchise.

Then there’s the Radisson Blu Edwardian (from $248) in the former Free Trade Hall, where Charles Dickens tried his hand at acting, Winston Churchill gave speeches and Bob Dylan got called “Judas” for playing electric guitar.

Getting there

Virgin Atlantic flies direct from JFK to Manchester from $740 round-trip. The tourism board, Visit Manchester, is a helpful resource for more information.