As you’d expect from a city that was once named the European Capital of Culture, Liverpool offers a vast array of attractions, from the historic to the hip. Due to its relatively small size, it’s easy to pack plenty into even the briefest of trips.
Check out the Mersey and The Beatles
The obvious place to start in Liverpool is by the water. Drive towards the Pier Head area, overlooking the River Mersey, and find yourself a parking spot. From here you can wander the length of the waterfront, taking in a host of sights and attractions.
To the south, the Albert Dock has been stylishly reinvented as a cultural hotspot, with cafes, restaurants and the world-renowned art gallery Tate Liverpool. The nearby Maritime Museum is also worth a visit, as is The Beatles Experience, an essential collection of original memorabilia celebrating the city’s most famous sons.
It’s just one of a number of Beatles-related spots around the city – including The Cavern Club on Matthew Street where they first hit the stage to John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes on Menlove Avenue and Forthlin Road respectively.
Further up the river, you’ll come across ‘The Three Graces’, a trio of magnificent stone buildings overlooking the water. The Liver Building is the most famous of these, although the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building are no less compelling.
Holy spirit
Liverpool has two impressive cathedrals at its heart, dual landmarks punctuating the city’s fabled skyline. The imposing Anglican cathedral, constructed between 1904 and 1978, is the largest religious building in Britain, and its bell tower is one of the tallest in the world.
Half a mile to the north is the Metropolitan Cathedral, a Roman Catholic place of worship. In contrast to its Anglican counterpart, this has a strikingly modern design, topped with an instantly recognisable crown shape.
The two buildings are linked by Hope Street, a charming Georgian boulevard home to some of Liverpool’s finest restaurants. Once voted the best street in the UK, Hope Street also hosts the Everyman Theater, an award-winning architectural triumph that offers a great range of shows from musicals and comedies to hard-hitting dramas.
The great outdoors
Another legacy of Liverpool’s maritime pedigree is its collection of Victorian parks, built by merchants whose wealth flowed through the city’s docks. Drive five minutes south of the centre and you’ll reach Sefton Park, a glorious 235-acre expanse of greenery featuring a lake and a bandstand said to be the inspiration behind The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
In the center of the park you’ll find the Palm House, a three-tier domed conservatory featuring a stunning array of plants and flowers. On the western edge of Sefton Park is Lark Lane, a bohemian enclave brimming with quirky cafes, bars and second-hand shops.
If this has whetted your appetite for the outdoors, you can take the A565 north of the city, up the coast as the River Mersey opens out into the North Sea. You’ll reach Crosby, with its unspoilt beach that features sculptor Antony Gormley’s artwork Another Place – 100 cast-iron human forms that stretch along the shoreline and stare ponderingly out to sea.
Nearby Formby, meanwhile, has a sandy beach and a large red squirrel sanctuary among its dunes and woodland. With all this and more within reach in a rental car, there’s plenty of opportunity to get out and explore the best that Liverpool and the rest of the UK’s north-west has to offer.