Liverpool Guide
Cool 'Pool - England's Merseyside metropolis is a breath of fresh air
Daniel Allen
With its idiosyncratic locals, world famous music scene and great shopping, it's impossible not to fall in love with Liverpool. England's sixth largest urban area, the city sits at the mouth of the Mersey Estuary and is currently enjoying a resurgence in fortunes. The perfect blend of old and new, today the home of the Beatles, the Royal Liver Building and Liverpool and Everton football clubs makes for an unforgettable city break.
Liverpool History
With the exception of London, Liverpool has more listed buildings than anywhere else in Britain. In the heyday of the British Empire the city boasted the word's largest port - bustling with all manner of journeymen, tradesmen and travellers, it was a cultural melting pot. Indeed, Liverpool still boasts the oldest Chinese community in Europe, dating back 800 years.
Liverpool's fantastic store of museums and galleries - mostly visited free of charge - have scotched reports (mostly from the south of England) that the city is a one-act show. In 2004 the entire waterfront and dockside area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and night owls will discover a nightlife scene as vibrant as London or Glasgow.
Cruise Liners
Next year Liverpool will hit the headlines when the three largest Cunard ships ever built sail into the port to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Cunard's transatlantic service from Liverpool. The company promises that the city will play a key role in its festivities, which will start on the Mersey with the "Three Queens, One Magnificent City" event bringing the Cunard's three "Queen" liners - Mary, Victoria and Elizabeth - together on May 24-26, including QM2's first overnight stay.
The first Liverpool - Canada transatlantic crossings since 1971 are also scheduled for next year. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines' MS Black Watch will undertake two return voyages from Liverpool Cruise Terminal to Canada in May 2015 and August 2015.
The Cunard event cements highlights Liverpool's resurgence as a cruise destination. Since the £19 million Liverpool Cruise Terminal (cruise-liverpool.com) opened its doors in 2007, cruise traffic has grown exponentially, with 47 vessels and 54,595 passengers docking at Pier Head in 2013.
Liverpool Architecture
Back on land and Liverpool offers a combination of maritime heritage architecture, world class museums and cutting edge cultural attractions.
One of the best ways to kick off any tour of the city is to take to the water, with over half a million visitors each year taking in vaunted skyline via a River Explorer Cruise (merseyferries.co.uk). These 50-minute trips aboard a converted Mersey ferry give passengers a fascinating insight into Liverpool's musical and maritime past, with tales of contraband, smuggling and celebrity passengers thrown in for good measure.
Long before anyone was talking about the beautification of Liverpool, and decades before the city gained its Capital of Culture status, the Albert Dock (albertdock.com) underwent a stunning renovation, leaving behind its industrial past to become the city's most visited free tourist attraction.
A mix of popular museums and art galleries (including Liverpool's Tate - tate.org.uk/visit/tate-liverpool), the Big Wheel (liverpool-360.co.uk/whats-on/liverpool-wheel), and a host of family-friendly restaurants and shops, make this a perennially popular attraction for visitors of all ages. With the UK's largest collection of listed buildings and waterfront panoramas, the Albert Dock presents more than a few photo opportunities as well.
Liverpool Museums
Liverpool has a richness of museums (World Museum, Maritime Museum, Walker Art Gallery, Tate Liverpool) that can surprise many who don't know the city well. The Museum of Liverpool (liverpoolmuseums.org.uk) is superbly positioned on the waterfront between the Albert Dock and the Liver Building (royalliverbuilding.com).
Housed in a magnificent building, the Museum of Liverpool celebrates the city's unique history and culture, with displays often hinting at the famous Liverpudlian sense of humour. At times it can get a little crowded, but there are many wonderful highlights - the carriage from the old Liverpool Overhead Railway, the old steam engine "The Lion", Luytens' scale model for his never-built Catholic Cathedral, and a wonderfully witty sculpture of three McGill-like seaside visitors originally made for the Garden Festival. A full sized replica of one of the Liver Building's Liver birds overlooks the building itself. The whole place is spacious and clearly designed to appeal to all ages.
The International Slavery Museum is located in the same building as the Merseyside Maritime Museum in the museum quarter in Albert Dock. It focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on the transatlantic slave trade and the part played in it by the port of Liverpool.
Read more about the many fine museums in Liverpool.
Cathedrals in Liverpool
Liverpool has two cathedrals - an Anglican cathedral and a Catholic cathedral. The Anglican Liverpool Cathedral on Hope Street looks the older but is, in fact, the newer of the two.
It was completed in 1978 after 74 years of building work. Neo-Gothic in design, it is a masterpiece by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. It is among the largest cathedrals in the world and the largest in Britain. It also has the largest and heaviest bells in Britain. There are superb views from the top of its tower.
The Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King is the more modernistic in style. Built on the foundations of an earlier project of Sir Edward Lutyens, its space-age design earns it the nicknames of "Paddy's Wigwam" or the "Mersey Funnel". There are also four huge bells at the top and a cafe/bar on the first floor. To the north across Brownlow Hill is the main campus of Liverpool University.
Shopping in Liverpool
For those looking to indulge in some retail therapy, Liverpool ONE (liverpool-one.com) - which has rapidly established itself as one of Europe's most popular retail destinations - is an obvious choice.
A large Lego store, indoor crazy golf, an Odeon cinema and plenty of family-focused places to eat make this open-air complex popular with families keen to keep their youngest members entertained while they peruse the numerous boutiques.
Liverpool FC
With all due respect to Evertonians, Liverpool Football Club (liverpoolfc.com) established itself as the city's top club during the 70s and 80s when it won numerous domestic and European cups. Anfield, the club's ground, is a mecca for both fans and those interested in the beautiful game, with excellent guided tours. Liverpool's blue half consoles itself for existing in the shadow of its more successful neighbour with the historical truth of "we were here first". Founded in 1878, Everton FC (evertonfc.com) is the city's first club. Tours of the club's ground - Goodison Park - run throughout the year, except on the Friday before home matches.
The Beatles
Last but not least, no trip to Liverpool would be complete without paying homage to the city's most famous sons. Creative, charismatic and eternally cool, the rags-to-riches story of four local lads who took the world by storm is presented at the Beatles Story (beatlesstory.com).
The museum offers a nostalgic insight into the life, times, culture and music of the quartet, with films, songs, lyrics, exclusive photos and genuine artefacts from their time at the top. Make sure to check out the full-size replica of the Cavern Club and Abbey Road studio, while George Harrison's beaten up first guitar has already inspired countless poverty-stricken strummers.
Access
Lime Street Station is Liverpool's main station with trains to Piccadilly and Victoria stations in Manchester, Birmingham New Street and London Euston. Lime Street's underground station has trains on the Wirral Line to Chester. There are connections from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport, Nottingham, Norwich, Sheffield, and also Manchester Oxford Road, First TransPennine Express trains also run to Leeds, Newcastle, Scarborough and York.
Take a #500 bus outside the station to Liverpool's John Lennon Airport, 8 miles south east of the city.
Liverpool Central is the busiest station in the city and is on both the Northern Line and the Wirral Line. The Northern Line has trains to Southport and Ormskirk. The Wirral Line serves Chester, Ellesmere Port, New Brighton and West Kirkby.
There are ferries from the ferry terminal just north of Pier Head and close to James Street Merseyrail station to the Isle of Man, Belfast and Dublin.
The Mersey Ferry crosses the River Mersey from Liverpool's Pier Head to the Seacombe terminal on the Wirral in just 10 minutes. Morning commuter services every 20 minutes from Seacombe terminal run 7.20 am-9.40 am with the evening commuter service from Pier Head beginning 5 pm and running until 6.40 pm.
Long distance National Express buses run nationwide from the bus station at Liverpool One Bus Station, Canning Place.
Hotels
Some recommended hotels within easy reach of the station include the 4-star Hilton Liverpool close to the Liverpool One Bus Station. The Liverpool Radisson Red Hotel is also a 4-star property and offers Wifi, a restaurant, and a 24-hour reception adjacent to the station's main entrance.
Holiday Inn Liverpool City Centre is directly opposite the station as is The Liner, a 3-star property on Lord Nelson Street.
See here for a complete listing of hotel accommodation in Liverpool.
Map of the Northwest of England
Hotels in the North West of England
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