25 Best things to see & do in Liverpool

Formed in Liverpool around 1960 and based around the ying-yang songwriting partnership of Paul McCartney and John Lennon, The Beatles are the world’s most successful ever band.

They are the best-selling music act of all time and hold the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart. After their breakthrough 1962 hit, Love Me Do, they went onto conquer America and spark Beatlemania, the hysteria that would later be associated with boy bands.

These days Liverpool is synonymous with the Fab Four – their faces smile down over the city from street-art facades; cafes, bars and even hotels play on the Beatles theme. Indeed, they’re now Liverpool’s primary visitor attraction, pulling in tourism from around the world.

Thankfully, their remarkable story lives on at various sites across the city.

Often dubbed ‘the National Gallery of the North’, the Walker boasts the largest collection of art outside London.

Housed in a grand, neoclassical building, its first-floor works range from European Art from 1300-1900, including pieces by Rembrandt, Turner, Poussin and Degas, to 20th-century works by Lucian Freud, David Hockney, and Gilbert and George.

The ground floor has a craft and design gallery, a sculpture gallery, and a special gallery dedicated to children. There is also a programme of regular temporary exhibitions. The gallery is very family-friendly, with a special family gallery is designed to introduce under-eights to the collection.

The northern counterpart of the world-renowned Tate enterprise occupies a converted warehouse on the waterfront at Liverpool’s iconic, cast-iron Albert Dock. Built in 1846, this grand complex of Grade-I listed buildings was considered revolutionary in its design; a suitable environment, then, to house the Tate’s eclectic collection of British art dating from 1500 to the modern day.

Expect a diverse and inspired programme of special exhibitions plus plenty of children’s activities on offer. There’s also a great on-site shop and café with a strong art motif.

Although best known for football and the Beatles, Liverpool first earned its place on the global stage as a major port during the Industrial Revolution; at one time, more than 40 percent of the world’s trade was passing through its docks.

This museum, located in a suitably stand-out building, does a fine job of celebrating, preserving and explaining this fascinating city’s heritage – industrial, artistic, cultural and sporting – with a balanced mix of collections and interactive displays.

Britain rules the world in pop music: the £5bn recorded and live music industry has taken home-grown bands to all corners of the world. And it started with Liverpool.

That’s why the story of British music from the end of WWII to the present day, presented via over 600 items of memorabilia, finds a natural home at this fun, informative museum on the waterfront. Think stage outfits, images and footage of your favourite headline acts, including Freddie Mercury, The Spice Girls and, of course, Liverpool’s very own, The Beatles.

Highlights include outfits worn by David Bowie and hand-written song lyrics from Adele. And look out for regular but fascinating temporary exhibitions on specific genres or artists.

Music fans will love it.

Liverpool Football Club (LFC) has a proud sporting history and this behind-the-scenes tour to a site of footballing pilgrimage is a must-do for football fans.

The guided tour, led by a knowledgeable local guide, takes in all the essential sites, such as the home team dressing room, the pitch, player’s tunnel, cityscape views from the top level of the main stand, and selfies in the manager’s seat in the dugout. It’s an opportunity to celebrate 130 years plus of sporting heritage with broad appeal for all ages.

This popular museum tells the story of the Fab Four, the lads from Liverpool who went on to dominate the charts.

It’s presented via a trail through a series of galleries, recreating key landmarks in their story, such as the Hamburg club residency and the Abbey Road recording sessions. Of particular interest is a gallery devoted to The Beatles’ 1968 trip to Rishikesh, India, where they collaborated with sitar player Ravi Shankar to popularise the use of Indian instruments in 1960s pop music.

Overall, it’s a good, all-round introduction to the world’s most famous band and suitable for all ages.

A waterfront stroll along the River Mersey banks via the Albert Dock showcases Liverpool’s maritime-heritage architecture. The Pier Head is home to Liverpool’s iconic Three Graces, namely The Royal Liver Building, The Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building.

This museum in the Cavern Quarter, run by the local Best family, focuses on the early years, notably The Quarrymen, the late Fifties skiffle band featuring a young Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. Pete Best, the owner’s brother, was the band’s first drummer before Ringo.

This museum celebrates Liverpool’s seafaring heritage, including links to the Titanic story and a collection of vintage cruise posters. Don’t miss the Life on Board gallery, which documents the golden age of ocean liners from the 20th century to the current day.

A tour of the city’s landmark Neoclassical building near Lime Street station takes a social-history approach to the Liverpool story. Peer into little-seen rooms and follow interactive displays to learn about the people behind the heritage.

This secret underground bunker under Liverpool’s Moorfields was the Northwest nerve centre of the WWII war effort. Don’t miss the central Operations Room with its giant battle map and the Cypher Room, where secret coded messages were exchanged with Bletchley Park.

The story of Liverpool through the ages is the motif threaded through the galleries at this landmark waterfront museum. The highlight is the Wondrous Place gallery, which takes a modern-history stroll through the city’s creative scene from punk rock to film premieres.

The second tallest free-standing building in Liverpool, known locally as the Radio City Tower, is a radio and observation tower, standing 138m tall. Buy tickets for the viewing platform, where the reward is a spectacular view across the city and the Mersey.

A visit to Forthlin Road, the McCartney’s family home from 1955 to 1964, highlights the stories from Paul’s teenage years and illustrates how his gentler character complemented John’s humour and spikiness to form the ultimate songwriting partnership. Guided tours only

The leafy South Liverpool suburb of Woolton is home to the childhood houses of Lennon and McCartney, both now owned by the National Trust. Lennon’s home, preserved in its 1950s heyday, include his teenage bedroom, where he first wrote Please, Please Me. The guided tours also include a visit to 20 Forthlin Road, Paul McCartney’s childhood home.

This tour offers a rare glimpse inside one of Liverpool’s most iconic buildings, the Grade I-listed Royal Liver Building. Catch the cityscape views from the 10th floor balcony then climb up the historic clock tower to watch the audio-visual show.

The vibrant Baltic Quarter is home to a new urban art trail with a series of street-art murals and graffiti-art installations, featuring the work of local artists such as Paul Curtis. It’s a colourful introduction to the city’s in-vogue suburb.

This landmark Victorian palm house in Sefton Park – a gorgeous 3-tiered conservatory – was a gift to the city by Liverpool millionaire Henry Yates Thompson in 1896.

It was destroyed in the Blitz of 1941. Its glass was then restored in the 1950s with a war damage fund, but eventually fell into disrepair – being too expensive to fully restore and maintain. In the 1980s, it was closed and scheduled to be knocked down.

It was saved by a resident’s campaign that raised £3M, painstakingly dismantled piece by piece, restored and rebuilt, then reopened in 2001. It’s now home to a botanical collection and a lovely café. Worth a stop if you have time.

This 470-seater theatre, reconstructed to mimic the classic timber-framed Shakespearean design, opened in 2022 to bring authentic Shakespeare to Merseyside with a revolving program of Shakespeare plays. In the 1500s, the Earls of Derby and Prescot were patrons of the young playwright.

A sobering visit, this thought-provoking museum (part of the Maritime Museum, below) has contemporary artworks responding to the history of transatlantic slavery and its legacy. The modern slavery collection contains oral histories and objects to highlight forms of modern slavery.

Britain’s biggest Cathedral, the Gothic façade has come to dominate the cityscape since its foundation in 1904. Today the cathedral blends a programme of cultural events with worship and the stunning architecture of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. The tower tour (paid) offers amazing city views.

Liverpool’s ‘other’ cathedral contrasts its traditional neighbour with an architectural style that is rounded and defiantly modernist — hence the nickname, ‘Paddy’s Wigwam’. The circular Cathedral opened in 1967 and features modern works of art, plus glorious multi-coloured windows.

Heart of the Mathew Street Cavern Quarter, home to Beatles-themed bars, shops and the Hard Days Night Hotel, this cellar-like music venue is where The Beatles played their first gig at a lunchtime session in 1961. It hosts live music to this day.

The former Salvation Army children’s home, made famous by the 1967 song Strawberry Fields Forever, is now an exhibition about Lennon’s early life. The site first opened in 1936 and the young John would play in the gardens while living nearby with his aunt Mimi.