The best: Alternative Valentine’s activities for couples around Manchester

For a less conventional yet classically opulent Valentine’s experience, couples can book the romantic roundtrip of a lifetime with East Lancashire Railway on Fri 14 and Sat 15 Feb.

For £85 a head, or £250 for a table of four, passengers receive a welcome prosecco followed by a four-course silver-served meal, accompanied by live classical music, as the immaculately restored Pullman-style steam train rolls through the Irwell Valley on an achingly idyllic voyage which lasts the entire evening.

Arguably Manchester’s most sophisticated silver screen experience, the King Street Townhouse cinema room embodies the five-star hotel’s commitment to supreme luxury with plump, cosy individual seats, cocktail service and elevated movie snacks.

This year, the cinema hosts a Valentine’s romance programme spanning over eighty years of iconic on-screen courtship, from Casablanca and Dirty Dancing to The Proposal and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Check out the full schedule and book your tickets below.

Whether it’s a Galentine’s, Palentine’s or simply a memorable Valentine’s, Whistle Punks is swapping out Cupid’s bow for a ballistically optimised axe during the most romantic weekend of the year, with exclusive group packages, themed cocktails, dedicated photo areas and more.

For couples or small groups of up to four, book the Quick Fling package and get one lane, one target and unlimited axes for 35 minutes (£50 peak/£40 off-peak). For larger groups and longer tournaments, book the Full Swing package for two lanes, two targets and 75 minutes (£250 peak/£200 off-peak).

Find out more below.

Promising frosty steins, happy hour cocktails and ‘exceptional shooting realism’ in a ‘fully loaded night out’, activity bar Point Blank offers a thrilling inventory of laser-based replica guns, from Desert Eagles to AK-47s. Choose your weapon and enjoy a unique Valentine’s Day with your loved one, or wordlessly exorcise the festering emotional stasis at the core of your relationship with high-resolution targets and bullet-tracking technology accurate to within 0.3 millimetres.

Led by founder and owner Guillaume, Ma Lumiere’s intimate candle-making workshop invites couples to learn the basics of wax-wielding, choosing 2 fragrances from 20 oils and creating their own 200ml soy candles worth £36.

The workshop takes place on Thu 20 Feb, providing a perfect belated Valentine’s option for anyone with prior engagements.

If you fell in love through fitness or fancy airing some grievances à la Challengers, book a session at Courts Club in St. John’s and enjoy an hour of tennis between two people for just £5, available until Sat 22 Feb.

Courts Club is also hosting a Lovers and Friends edition of the wildly popular Sip ‘n’ Paint event on Valentine’s proper, with couples and singletons invited to mingle with drinks, DJs and a blank canvas on which you can unleash your inner artist. Tickets are £17.50 and can be booked HERE.

For just £40pp, Harvey Nichols offers an extravagant cheese and wine-tasting experience for lovers and friends alike, which includes a 90-minute session featuring five cheeses and five paired vintages, pre-selected by their resident experts.

If you’d prefer to spend the romantic season watching one of modern literature’s most convincing cases against marriage brought to life on stage, book tickets to the gripping adaptation of The Girl on the Train at Lowry.

Adapted from Paula Hawkins’ acclaimed novel, which has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, the captivating production broke box office records when it toured back in 2019.

The story follows Rachel Watson, a recent divorcee who, yearning for a different life, escapes reality via the perfect couple she watches through the train window every day.

However, when Rachel learns that the woman has suddenly disappeared, she finds herself as both witness and suspect in one of the most talked-about mystery-thrillers of recent times.