Manchester and Edinburgh head to head

The director of the Manchester International Festival, Alex Poots, has spoken of his desire for next year's celebration of the Arts in the city to challenge established festivals in cities like Vienna and Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh International Festival is arguably the 'daddy' of Arts Festivals having been first held way back in 1947; the Manchester International Festival was first held back in 2007.

So how do Edinburgh and Manchester compare?

Transport (trams) - Manchester has a fully functioning tram network which is the envy of residents of the Scottish capital. The building of a new tram system in Edinburgh has been mired in controversy, on account of the escalating costs and delay in opening the system. The official Edinburgh Trams website states that the trams "will be operational in 2012".

Sport - Manchester is home to two giants of football, City and United. The city hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and was voted the World City of Sport 2008 in the SportBusiness Sports Event Management Awards. Edinburgh has two SPL teams - Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian - and the city hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1986. Arguably the city's biggest annual sporting crowd puller is provided by the oval ball and Rugby Union; Scotland's home games in the Six Nations Championship are played at Murrayfield. This season Scotland face France on February 7 and England on March 13 in Edinburgh.

Influence - Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, and the Scottish Executive. The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the Royal Family in Scotland, is located at the foot of the Royal Mile. Manchester may not have its own parliament or royal palace, but the city has plenty of clout as the impending relocation of large sections of the BBC to Media City, to Salford Quays.

Population Size - According to a 2004 estimate Edinburgh had a population of approximately 450,000 (453,670 for you anoraks). In the same year, the city of Manchester was estimated to have a population of 437,000. Greater Manchester was reckoned to have over 2.5 million inhabitants (2,539,000 people to be precise).

Discover the best of Manchester and Edinburgh on your own terms, and in your own time, with a Walk Talk Tour audio tour guide. There are two tours of the Scottish capital and one of Manchester. Every Walk Talk Tour is composed of commentary points - like tracks on an iTunes album or a CD - and both come with a free downloadable map.

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The picture top shows two street entertainers on the Royal Mile last year. The building in the background is St Giles Cathedral. The image (bottom) shows Manchester's museum of city living, Urbis. The Manchester: Then & Now walkign tour concludes in Cathedral Gardens, to the rear of the museum.