Things to do in Liverpool right now
Liverpool is a waterfront city that knows how to do a wet afternoon: the museums along the dock are free and a minute apart, the cathedrals are enormous, and the pubs and music venues have never needed good weather. When the sun comes out, the ferry, the beaches and the parks are where the city goes. This list is re-ordered for the weather and the time in Liverpool right now.
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Museum of Liverpool
Pier Head
The story of the city, from the docks to the football to the music, free, on the waterfront.
Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Royal Albert Dock
Waterfront
The restored Victorian dock with museums, galleries and bars around the water, free to wander.
Free.
- Free
- In and out
- Half a day
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
Mersey Ferry
Pier Head
The fifty-minute river cruise with the skyline from the water and the song on the tannoy.
- Under £10
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
Crosby Beach and Another Place
Crosby
A hundred cast-iron men by Antony Gormley standing in the sand, looking out to sea.
Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Formby beach and the red squirrels
Formby
Pine woods with red squirrels, then high dunes and a wide sandy beach, half an hour by train.
Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Free; parking charge for drivers
Liverpool Cathedral
St James’s Mount
The biggest cathedral in Britain, with a tower you can climb for the whole city and the river.
Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Free; tower ticketed
Sefton Park and the Palm House
Aigburth
Two hundred acres of Victorian park with a lake, a grotto and a glass palm house, free.
Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Walker Art Gallery
William Brown Street
One of the best collections outside London, from Rembrandt to Hockney, free.
Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
World Museum
William Brown Street
Dinosaurs, an aquarium, a planetarium and Egyptian mummies, free, all under one roof.
Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Anfield stadium tour
Anfield
The home dressing room, the This Is Anfield sign and the museum at Liverpool FC’s ground.
- Over £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
Baltic Triangle
Baltic Triangle
Warehouses turned into bars, food halls, street art and a skate park; the city’s night-out quarter.
- Under £10
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
Bold Street and Ropewalks
Ropewalks
Independent cafés, vintage shops and restaurants from every country, with the bombed-out church at the top.
- Under £10
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
Cavern Club and Mathew Street
Cavern Quarter
Live music every day in the brick cellar where the Beatles played, and the pubs of Mathew Street around it.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Free by day; small entry charge on evenings
The Beatles Story
Royal Albert Dock
The band’s story told room by room, with a replica Cavern and the audio guide in their own voices.
- Over £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Georgian Quarter walk
Canning
Terraces of Georgian townhouses between the two cathedrals, the most filmed streets in the city.
Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
Metropolitan Cathedral
Mount Pleasant
The 1960s concrete crown at the top of Hope Street, glowing blue inside from the lantern.
Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Chinatown
Nelson Street
The oldest Chinese community in Europe, under the biggest Chinese arch outside China.
- Under £10
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
Lark Lane
Aigburth
A village street of cafés, bars and restaurants at the gate of Sefton Park.
- Under £10
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
Royal Liver Building 360
Pier Head
Up inside the clock tower of the Liver Building to the birds and a view over the whole river.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Speke Hall
Speke
A black-and-white Tudor manor with priest holes, woodland walks and the Mersey at the bottom of the garden.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Half a day
- Good with kids
St George's Hall
Lime Street
A neoclassical hall opposite Lime Street with a Minton tiled floor and Victorian courtrooms.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Western Approaches Museum
Rumford Street
The secret wartime bunker where the Battle of the Atlantic was run, kept as it was left.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Philharmonic Hall and the Phil
Hope Street
The city’s orchestra in an Art Deco hall, and across the road the most ornate pub in England.
Comes alive in the evening.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Pub free to enter; concerts ticketed
Bluecoat
School Lane
The oldest building in the city centre, now a free arts centre with a garden courtyard.
Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Liverpool ONE
City centre
The open-air shopping district that links the centre to the dock, with a park on the roof.
Free.
- Free
- In and out
- Half a day
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids