On this post I will highlight the places we visited and the best places to see and the best things to do in Liverpool.
Liverpool is a vibrant city offering so much to do for all kind of visitors. Considered a culture city, it has a fair number of museums (second in the UK after London), arts, music, and attractions to keep you busy.
Until very recently (July 2021) it had a UNESCO Heritage Status, but unfortunately it lost it because of the modern developments going on in the historic docklands, which has the largest group of Grade I listed buildings in Britain. It lost the maritime character according to UNESCO.
In truth, I have noticed it myself, being of a design background, I could not help but noticing the big contrast of the modernist style of The Museum of Liverpool with the other buildings surrounding it. However, I don’t know the history of the site and what was in there before.
You don’t necessarily need to re-build a pastiche just to keep the same style of the area.
Modern architecture needs to have space to express itself and everything has its place in my opinion. Being struck off the UNESCO list didn’t make Liverpool any less exciting and interesting, and it deserves more than a weekend to see everything properly.
We had booked the Hotel Ibis in The Albert Dock, as the location was very good and there was a car park on site.
Accommodation was OK, but as expected not brilliant. As it was for one night only it served us well for the price charged – cheap and convenient accommodation.
As we would not have access to our room until 2:00 pm we just parked the car and went for a walk in the Albert Dock.
This is a regenerated area of Liverpool with the dock’s buildings converted into restaurants, shops, hotels, and museums.
I think they did a good job as the area is very uplifting with lots to explore. On the way to the docks, we booked the City & Beatles Tour – Blue Route that would start in about an hour. While waiting for the tour we explored the Docklands until it was time to catch the tour.
As we didn’t have much time in the city, we thought it would be a good idea to take the tour, so we would have a general look around seeing the most important sites, even if we didn’t have time to get in.
The Blue Tour will leave from the Albert Docks and will take you through the city centre passing through the Royal Liver Building, St George’s Hall, Liverpool Cathedral, and other places in the central area of Liverpool.
It makes its way to the suburbs to see Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields, stopping for photos.
We also stopped briefly without leaving the bus in front of John Lennon’s childhood home. This is a National Trust property and visits need to be booked in advance at specific times.
The bus cannot go through the road of Paul McCartney’s childhood home as the road is quite small and buses are not allowed.
Our tour guide was called Tony, he was very funny and the whole tour was a real laugh. He was a comedian and cracked lots of jokes on top of making the whole bus sing a Beatles song. Very entertaining!
After the bus tour we walked through the centre and went to the Cavern Club. There are many clubs claiming to be the original club where the Beatles started their career (all with similar names), so pay attention and head to the original Cavern Club.
They told us that the place is the same, but the building was re-built.
We go down various levels to get to the basement and there are different areas with musicians playing simultaneously. You can choose where you would like to seat.
They all have live music from 11:00 am, you pay a fee to get in and can listen to some music and have some drinks. It was very nice, and the music was brilliant. The place was busy considering it was the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday.
We stayed there for about one and half hours enjoying the music and left for another walk through the city.
We walked to Liverpool Cathedral and stopped at the Philharmonic Dining Rooms, a very nice pub with a glamorous decoration.
After that we walked a bit more through the centre until it was time to go to our booked restaurant for the evening.
We booked the “Cowshed”, a steak house restaurant located on Seel Street.
It another fabulous dinner with great food and delicious wine.
We ordered “The Greed Cow” which is 3 different types of steaks with 2 sides and 2 sauces, and enough for 2 people to share.
The meat was cooked to perfection and the service was efficient and helpful. We walked back to our hotel after dinner and finished our visit to Liverpool.
We woke up early and went downstairs for breakfast, that was a separate charge from what we had already paid for the room.
It was only £8 per person, but the brekfast was disappointing (as expected) – not much choice and what was available was not freshly cooked. But it was OK to start the day and get us back on the road for our journey back home.
We left Liverpool at about 9:30 am and arrived home at 1:00 pm.
This was a very pleasant break, that we will certainly recommend and will be back soon to spend more time in Liverpool. We will, of course, choose better accommodation.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TRIP
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in Liverpool. I classified each place as follows:
BOLD – Visited, tried and recommended
NOT BOLD – Not visited or tried, but planning to visit or try and heard very good reviews
RED – Visited and tried but do not recommend, avoid or be cautious
*** – Excellent
** – Good
* – OK
£££ – Expensive
££ – Fair and affordable
£ – Cheap
WHAT TO VISIT
ATTRACTIONS
1 – Albert Dock – ***
2 – City & Beatles Tour – ***
4 – St George’s Hall
6 – Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields – ***
7 – John Lennon’s and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes
8 – The Cavern Club – ***
9 – Philharmonic Dining Rooms – ***
10 – The Beatles Story
WHERE TO STAY
HOTELS
1 – Trueman Court Luxury Serviced Apartments – 5* – £££
2 – Dacy Lodge – Anfield Apartments – 4* – £££
3 – The Resident Liverpool – 4* – ££
4 – Hotel Ibis, Albert Dock – 3* – * – £
5 – Hanover Hotel & McCartney’s Bar – 2* – £
WHERE TO EAT
RESTAURANTS
1 – Cowshed – Steakhouse – *** – ££
2 – The Art School Restaurant – £££
3 – Panoramic 34 – Modern European – £££
4 – Bistro 115 – Food variety – ££
If you want to read about the complete trip including LLandudno click here
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