A vacuum cleaner includes a floor-engaging portion provided with a first air inlet, an upright portion pivotally connected at its lower end to the floor-engaging portion, a handle upstanding from the upper end of the upright portion, a first or lower end of the handle being detachably engaged with an socket on the upright portion of the cleaner, a rigid tubular duct extending along the handle from a second air inlet at the lower end of the handle to an outlet disposed remote from that end of the handle, and a flexible hose connected to the outlet on the handle. The rigid tubular duct has, at the first end of the handle, an elongate portion which has either a transverse dimension or a cross-sectional area which is substantially uniform over its length.