From Wikitravel

Liverpool [1] is a city in Merseyside, England, famed for its music, sport and nightlife.

Contents 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By plane 2.2 By train 2.3 By bus 3 Get around 4 See 5 Do 6 Learn 7 Buy 8 Eat 8.1 City Centre 8.2 Lark Lane 9 Drink 9.1 For a good night out 9.2 Enjoy Comedy? 9.3 Real or Cask Ale 9.3.1 The best 9.3.2 The Rest 10 Sleep 10.1 Budget 10.2 Mid range 10.3 Splurge 11 Stay safe 12 Get out

Understand

Liverpool is a city with a great cultural heritage and was recently awarded the title of European Capital of Culture 2008. Liverpool is home to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and is also renowned for being the birthplace of a wide range of popular musicians including The Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers and more recently, Atomic Kitten. The city posseses the largest national museum collection outside of London and has a fascinating and turbulent history as a great world maritime centre. Given this, Liverpool is also home to Europe's oldest Chinatown.

Get in

By plane

Liverpool is served by Liverpool John Lennon airport. Around one hundred flights arrive daily from within the U.K. as well as mainland Europe. The airport is particularly well-served by low-cost airlines including Easyjet and Ryanair. For a complete listing of airlines and destinations, see the Summer and Winter timetables.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is located in the suburb of Speke around eight miles to the south of the city centre. Immediately outside the arrivals area you will find a taxi rank and bus stops. Taxis to the city centre cost around £8 (Approx. €12, US$14) for the 20-minute journey.

Several bus routes go directly to the city centre from the airport:

• The No. 500 Airport Express runs every 30 minutes and takes around 45 minutes to reach the city centre. Cost is £2/€4 Adults, £1/€2 Children and £5/€10 Families.

The following local buses cost around £1.50 to get into the city centre (£1 for students) and although they take a little longer, you'll see a lot of the south of the city and maybe meet some Scousers.

• The No. 80A, run by Arriva, runs every 15 minutes and takes 45 minutes to the city centre.

• The No. 82A, also run by Arriva, runs every 30 minutes and takes around 40 minutes to the city centre.

• The No. 86A, Arriva again, runs every 15 minutes during the day and now runs through the night, every half hour. This takes a little less time than the 80A as it goes a more direct route down Smithdown Road.

• The No. 81A also serves the airport, but does not go into the city centre. It may prove useful if you want to visit Woolton or the north of the city, as the route goes round the city ring road, Queens Drive, and terminates in Bootle.

Although Liverpool John Lennon Airport is more convenient for Liverpool, nearby Manchester Airport serves a wider variety of destinations and is just a short train journey away from Liverpool. See the next section.

By train

Liverpool is served by Liverpool Lime Street station which is located in the heart of the city centre. Trains arrive frequently from all parts of the U.K.

Liverpool is only about two-and-a-half hours from London by train - there's a train about every hour - and it's not so expensive to get there. You can get a saver ticket for £52.10 on the day of travel or for as little as £22 if you book a couple of weeks in advance.

There is a direct train from Manchester Airport to Liverpool every hour at peak times (around 06:30-19:30). In addition, it is possible to reach Liverpool by changing at Manchester Piccadilly or Manchester Oxford Road.

By bus

• National Express, the U.K.'s largest scheduled coach company has a bus station a short walk from Liverpool City Centre.

• Megabus operates a fleet of ex-Hong Kong buses on its network across the U.K. There is one bus daily from London to Liverpool. Prices range from £1 (€1.46) to £11 (€16) depending on how far in advance you book.

Get around

Liverpool City Centre is small enough to walk around, but black cabs are plentiful if you are feeling lazy. Buses run out from the centre regularly from Paradise Street Interchange (mainly to the south) and Queen Square (mainly north/east). Both bus stations have travel centres with sometimes helpful staff who will assist with which bus to get and from which stand. At these, Saveaway, Solo and Trio travel passes can be purchased. The Saveaway presents good value for the visitor, at £2.40 for unlimited off-peak travel for 1 day in 'Area C' (includes city centre, west out to Huyton, north to Bootle and south to Garston). All-zones saveaways can be obtained for about a pound more, and take you through the whole of the Merseytravel area, perfect for visiting the Wirral or Southport. Trio (train, bus and ferry) and Solo (bus only) tickets require a photo, but have no peak-time limitations and can be bought for a week, month or year, ideal for visitors staying longer or working and therefore requiring more flexible travel. A Trio for one week costs about £12 for one zone, a Solo about the same for one area.

The train service in the Liverpool is quite reliable and efficient these days (having once been nicknamed 'Miserytravel' by commuters). The main stations in the city centre are Central, Lime Street and Moorfields. Lime Street is the terminus for many national lines and the local City line to Manchester. Moorfields is just off Dale Street, ideal for the business centre of Liverpool and Central is usually used by shoppers and visitors. Local trains run very frequently between Hunts Cross, Kirkby, Ormskirk and Southport on the Northern line, every 15 minutes during the day and 30 minutes in the evening. Central station is the main station for the Northern line, although the 'loop' links the three main city centre stations. The Wirral line forms the link between the Lime Street, Moorfields and Central, so all of these stations act as an interchange between the City, Northern and Wirral lines.

A new station in the south of Liverpool replaced the old Garston and Allerton stations in June 2006. This links the Northern and City lines and is ideal for the airport. It also acts as an interchange for a number of local buses. Bus fares in Liverpool seem to rise all the time, but you can expect to pay around £1.50 for a 3 or 4 mile journey. Some buses are subsidised by Merseytravel, such as early morning and hospital services, and there is a maximum fare of around 80p. If you plan to travel a lot, a pre-paid pass presents much better value.

See

A great thing about Liverpool is the architecture - for so long it was neglected and run down, but these days most of the city centre is quite splendid.

• St. George's Hall [2], Lime Street (near the station). A mammoth of a Greco-Roman-style building which was built by wealthy merchants for the people of the city. Inside it has one of the best church organs in Europe, while on the outside it has a selection of classical murals which were thought quite shocking in their day (due to the shameful female nudity).

• Liverpool Museum [3], (near St. George's Hall) - fine building and well worth a visit. Contains an excellent collection of British rocketry exhibits as well as the best Egyptological collection outside London.

• Liverpool Central Library, (near St. George's Hall). A fine building.

• Walker Art Gallery [4], (near St. George's Hall), open daily 10am-5pm, entry free - one of the finest collections of fine and decorative art in Europe, inspiring and delighting visitors for over 120 years. New galleries mean even more fantastic items are on display from Renaissance masters to contemporary innovators.

• Royal Liver Building, (on the riverside). The home of the legendary Liver Birds that sit atop the building looking out across to the Wirral. The river-facing face of the clock is 6 feet larger in diameter than that of the clock tower at Westminster.

• St. Nicholas and Our Lady Church, just off the riverside, is the city's parish church and home to the third Liver Bird (there are in fact three of them, not two).

• Albert Dock, (on the riverside). One of the more sophisticated places in Liverpool - old warehouses converted into shops, apartments, restaurants and pubs. Also home to the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

• Merseyside Maritime Museum [5], (at the Albert Dock) - a museum dedicated to the maritime history of the city, complete with galleries on customs and excise and emigration to the New World. There are also a number of vessels to see, such as the Mersey river tug Brocklebank and the river cargo carrier Wyncham.

• Tate Liverpool [6], (on the Albert Dock). A fine modern art gallery.

• Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (Catholic) [7] is affectionately known by the locals as Paddy's Wigwam. Visit on a sunny day - the stained glass ceiling looks fantastic!

• Liverpool Cathedral (Anglican) [8] which, though it doesn't look like a wigwam, is so imposing that the architect of Lord Derby's tomb claimed that no self-respecting church mouse would live there. As a result, he incorporated a mouse into the design of the tomb - it's just under Lord Derby's pillow. Liverpool Cathedral is one of the finest examples in the world of gothic revival architecture. On a clear day, the tower affords breathtaking views over Liverpool, Merseyside and beyond.

• Princes Road Synagogue [9] offers an impressive combination of Gothic and Moorish architecture by the Audsley brothers. The colourful interior has to be seen to be believed. Tours can be arranged through their web site.

• Walker Art Gallery [10]

• Williamson's Tunnels. [11] In the early 1800s, a Liverpool tobacco merchant, Joseph Williamson, funded the construction of an enormous labyrinth of tunnels under the Edge Hill area of Liverpool. To this day, nobody knows his reasons for doing so though many guess it as an act of philanthropy, using his wealth to provide jobs and training for thousands of Liverpool workers. There is a Williamson's Tunnels Heritage Centre open all year round, every day except Monday.

• Speke Hall [12] is a wood-framed Tudor house, with parts dating back to the 1530s, set in large grounds.

• Croxteth Hall and Country Park [13]

Do

• Everton Football Club, [14]. One of the founder members of the football league.
• Liverpool Football Club, [15]. Five times Champions of Europe and the most successful football (soccer) club in England.
• Mathew Street Festival. Every year over the August Bank Holiday weekend, Liverpool plays host to Europe's largest free city centre music festival. Many city centre roads are closed to traffic and have large stages erected so that the several hundred thousand people who attend each year can watch a large selection of international pop/rock acts, completely free of charge.[16]
• Liverpool Theatre -- The Empire plays host to a wide range of shows, including many UK tours of large-scale musicals. The Everyman and Playhouse theatres host a mix of locally produced and mid-scale touring theatre. The Unity Theatre produces a diverse range of work. There's also the Neptune and Royal Court theatres. For tomorrow's performers, see if anything is happening at LIPA (www.lipa.ac.uk), their student shows are always well worth seeing.
• The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world's great Orchestras and are well worth listening to. Go for a pre-concert G&T in the Philharmonic Pub over the road then sit back and let the music carry you away.[17]
• The Mersey Ferries. [18] Immortalised by the hit song Ferry 'cross the Mersey by Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Mersey Ferries offer a fun day out and a great way to see Liverpool from afar.
• The Liverpool Playhouse [19] is a theatre in Williamson Square which dates back to 1844. Over the years, the theatre has presented many famous actors including Michael Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins and Noel Coward.
• Western Approaches is a museum in the once top-secret nerve centre of World War Two Britain.
• Space Port [20] interactive science museum aimed at kids and young adults but with enough to keep adults entertained too. Located across the River Mersey in the Seacombe Ferry Terminal, most vistors incorporate a Mersey Ferry Tour into their itinerary.

Learn

Liverpool is home to three Universities:

• The University of Liverpool. is Liverpool's oldest University, and generally outranks the other two in national league tables both for teaching and research.

• Liverpool John Moores University, which has only relatively recently become a University, is Liverpool's up-and-coming University which boasts modern facilities and improving teaching.

• Liverpool Hope University College, formerly a teacher training college, now also provides undergraduate degrees.

Buy

Although the main shopping street in Liverpool is dominated by the same chain stores you'll find in any other large U.K. city, Liverpool has many distinctive shops of its own including:

• Quiggins [21] is an alternative shopping centre which is definitely worth a look. The forty small shops inside sell goods ranging from alternative clothing to used furniture.

Eat

City Centre

• Quynny's Quisine, Bold Street. Easy to miss as the entrance is a yellow door with stairs leading down. Caribbean food. Well kept secret until now ;)
• Kimo's, Mount Pleasant. Look for the entrance under a Green hoarding opposite the NCP Car Park on Mount Pleasant for one of Liverpool's favourite student eateries. It boasts a fine selection of western (a superb Club Sandwich) and arabic foods (Cous Cous, Kebabs). There is also a smaller branch near to the University of Liverpool.
• The Tea House, Bold Street. This modern Hong Kong-style Tea House is a great place to visit for some cheap but tasty Chinese meals, snacks and drinks. Owing perhaps to its popularity, the Tea House has opened a second branch at Liverpool University.

Lark Lane

Lark Lane, around 2.5 miles to the south of the city centre is one of the better places to eat out. The road, which connects Aigburth Road with Sefton Park, is home to many unique restaurants, cafés and other shops. Among the better ones are:

• Green Days Cafe [22] which bills itself as The first choice cafe for Veggies. It's true, there's little sign of meat in any of their wonderful snacks, but it's a great place to catch lunch with a friendly atmosphere, for Veggies and non-Veggies alike!

Drink

For a good night out

There's a good selection of pubs, clubs and bars to suit a variety of music and atmospheric tastes. Friday and saturday nights are the busiest nights, although many bars are busy with students throughout the week! Mathew Street and Concert Square with nearby Wood St are the main two nocturnal focal points. There is a good mix with the locals and rather large student population. Most of the local ladies, as in most northern towns and cities dress rather scantily - despite the elements. On the whole it is better to dress smart for the majority of bars and clubs, especially those with customer deselectors on the door. Notable exceptions are places like Le Bateau, the Krazy house, the Caledonian and other places of a similar alternative ilk. Like any major UK city , it is pretty safe out at night, although you will probably see an occasional 'dispute' over a young 'lady' and will most definitely be approached by beggars, especially adjacent to cash machines and fast food outlets. The local police have had a heavy presence on a saturday and friday night over the last few years to combat this and are largely succeeding. It is pretty busy getting out of the city centre at the end of a weekend night (especially at the start of university term time - September/October) but there are plenty of black hackney cabs which congregate at various taxi ranks. The Merseyrail system works until about midnight, whilst there are a series of dedicated night buses which run from the main bus stations, usually for a flat fare. All modes of transport tend to become very busy from around midnight.

• The Vines, Lime Street. A great pub to go to in terms of style.

• The Cavern Club, Mathew Street. Famous home of the Beatles.

• Rubber Soul, Mathew Street. A Beatles-inspired bar.

• Abbey Road, Mathew Street. A Beatles-inspired pub.

• Barracuda Bar, Hanover Street. Sports bar with 23 TV screens and late licence most nights.

• Flanagan's Apple, Mathew Street. One of the original Irish pubs. Before Irish pubs started popping up all over the country - and now all over the world - Flannagan's was there with beer, whisky, barrels and great live music.

• Concert square, situated behind Bold Street, you'll find around here a range of the trendier bars, most of which are open till 2am Mon-Sat. They include Lloyd's, Walkabout, Modo and a minute away near Slater Street is Baa-Bar.

• GBar, Eberle Street. Popular gay-friendly club with two floors. Upstairs, 'The Church' offers funky house from legendary DJ John Cotton, Lady Sian plays camped up classics in the 'Love Lounge' opposite, whilst downstairs, 'The Bass-ment' pumps out quality vocal house music! Open Thursday-Monday. Costs between £5-£7 for non-members.

• The Krazy House, Wood Street. The club provides three floors...K1 with rock and metal, K2 with indie and K3 with Punk/R&B/Dance combined with constant cheap drinks (2 4 1) It attracts a crowd of skate punks, students and metal heads. You'll hear R&B and dance music on Thursday, punk and new wave on Friday and nu metal on Saturday night.

• Le Bateau, Duke Street. The home of Liverpools premier alternative club night, Liquidation every Saturday, which is also the city's longest running weekly club night spread across 2 floors. Plus Adult Books on Tuesdays, Shoot The Messenger on Wednesdays, Indiecation on Fridays. Cheap drinks every night, plus a Royal Rumble pinball table. Very friendly, and popular with a mix of locals and students all year round.

• The Caledonian, Catharine Street. Underground, alternative music venue in a pub. DJs and live bands throughout the week. First Friday of every month is the infamous It's Not Bangin' with classic dub reggae, soul and disco playing. Well worth a visit.

Enjoy Comedy?

There's good comedy nights on a Friday and Saturday at *Baby Blue, which is a really nice club on the exclusive *Albert Dock, known as a celebrity hotspot. You can get a food ticket, and there's a bar, and afterwards you get access to the Baby blue bar,which is a great night out. Visit www.laughterhouse.com for more info and tickets.

Real or Cask Ale

Cask conditioned ale is the traditional form of beer in the UK and is (with some modern microbewery exceptions) unique internationally. In the 1970's, the larger brewers switiched from cask ale to keg beer. Keg beer is essentially 'dead' beer with added CO₂ and NO₂ and is more economical as it lasts for years, rather than weeks in the case of cask. Unfortunately, its taste is often less complex and satisfying than the real ale counterparts. Thankfully, recent years have seen a revival in tradtional cask ale, and the European Capital of Culture has been in the vanguard of its urban renaissance. So to help you sample some traditonal British beer when in Liverpool, check the list below of a vast array of pubs, ranging from the traditional to the modern. Liverpool is home to the Cains brewery which produces a large selection of cask beers. For more information about cask ale, see the Wikipedia Article.

The best

• Rigby's, Dale Street. This cask ale pub dates back to Lord Nelson and has recently been refurbished by the Isle of Mann Okell's Brewery; it being their first UK mainland pub. Usually three guest bitters, the full range of okell's own brands and arguably the largest selection of bottled European and North American beers. Good Atmosphere, busy on weekend nights and also does bar meals.

• Fly in the Loaf, Hardman St. Also owned by Okell's. This pub was until recently a topless bar although it originally housed the Kirklands bakery. Similar selection to Rigby's, but the two usually do differ in guest beers. Located near to part of the campus of Liverpool John Moores University, the Fly in the Loaf has a good mix of students and local regulars. Bar meals and widescreen televisions for football.

• The Philharmonic. Corner of Hope Street and Hardman Street. This Tetley heritage pub opposite to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a tourist attraction in itself. Formerly a gentleman's club, there are two small snug rooms and a larger dining room to the back with leather sofas and an open fire. The gentlemen's toilets are grade 1 listed, and Ladies may ask permission to view them at the bar. Excellent food served both from the bar and in the dining rooms upstairs. Usual cask beers include Timothy Taylor's Landlord, Caledonian Deuchars IPA and Tetley's.

• Dr. Duncan's, St John's Lane. This is the premier pub for the local Cains brewery. It has a fine reputation and consequently is full of middle-aged professional drinkers. The pub has the full range of Cains beers, including Dr. Duncan's IPA which is harder to find amongst the Cains pubs. Rudimentary bar menu, but good busy atmosphere on the weekend.

• The Baltic Fleet [23], 33 Wapping, just over the road from the Albert Dock. This unique pub is a great place to escape from the glossy and expensive bars on the Albert Dock. Serving good food and real ale at great prices and with a friendly atmosphere. The basement houses a small brewery called Wapping Beers so take the chance to taste one of their own beers as fresh as it comes.

• The Dispensary, Intersection of Renshaw and Leece St. Another of the local Cains brewey houses. Charming Victorian bar area. Usually has two rotatng guest beers.

• The Globe, 17 Cases Street (Tucked away, adjacent to Clayton Square shopping centre, opposite the Ranelagh Street entrance of Central Station) A small (often cramped) traditional liverpool pub, with no-nonsense barmaids. Usually busy after 5pm and during the weekend, acting as a refuge for husbands abandoned by (or having escaped from) their shopping-mad spouses. Always a good variety of guests.

• Roscoe Head, 26 Roscoe Street

• The Lion Tavern, 67 Moorefields

• The Brewery Tap,

The Rest

• Wetherspoons, 1-2 Charlotte Row

• The Welkin, Whitechapel

• The Ship and Mitre, 138 Dale Street, This hidden gem has one of the finest selections of real ales and contiential lagers available in the city. The also do great and cheap food at lunchtimes.

• The Crown, 43 Lime Street

• The Cambridge, Corner of Cambridge Street and Mulberry Street at the heart of the University of Liverpool is a pub with a great atmosphere and is very popular with students and lecturers alike. However its reptoire of cask is somewhat limited, with the last time I checked sticking to the rather bland Burtonwood Bitter.

• Ye Crake, 13 Rice Street, was a favourite haunt of Beatle John Lennons uncle.

• The Pilgrim,

• The White Star,

• The Railway Hotel, 18 Tithebarn Street

• The Canarvon Castle, 5 Tarleton Street

• The Augustus John, Peach Street

• Pig & Whistle, 12 Covent Garden

• Everyman, 5-9 Hope Street

• The Excelsior, 121-125 Dale Street

• Peter Kavanagh's, 2-6 Egerton Street

• Ma Boyles Oyster bar, 2 Tower Gardens

• Poste House, 23 Cumberland Street, Most nights has a gay friendly bar serving cheap cocktails upsatirs from the main pub.

Sleep

There are a number of hotels in the city, ranging from budget guesthouses and lodges to 4 star international properties. Liverpool presently has no 5 star hotels although the Hope Street Hotel, a boutique hotel on Hope Street and easily Liverpool’s finest hotel, would certainly qualify if it wasn’t far too posh to bother with things like stars.

Budget

• International Inn [24]. Tel:+44 151 709-8135 - cheap hostel accommodation near to town from £15 per person.
• The Embassie Hostel [25]. Tel:+44 151 707-1089. This hostel features free coffee, tea, and toast (with jam and peanut butter), very comfortable beds (dormitory style), and a great mix of international travelers to befriend. The embassie is managed by a very friendly staff and led by their wonderful boss and hostel proprietor, Kevin (who tells a boss Beatles story or two). Prices vary by season.

Mid range

• Radisson SAS [26] a 4 star property it is probably the best large hotel in the city. The Hotel is located on the old St Paul's Eye Hospital site in the business district of the city. A small part of the original building has been retained and incorporated into the hotel.

• Marriott Liverpool City Center [27] Claims to be a 4 star property but is now a little tired. Located in the heart of the city. The Marriot is surrounded by the Queen's Square complex with it's bars and restaurants.

• Marriott Liverpool Airport [28] Also known as the Marriott Liverpool South, the hotel is located a short drive from Liverpool John Lennon Airport and makes fabulous use of its Grade II listed art deco building which was the old airport Terminal and control tower. If you are looking to eat out of the hotel then Damon's is a restaurant on the same site which you will enjoy if you like American kitsch and microwave food. Apart from that, there is a retail park with the usual fast food places just a short walk from the hotel.

Splurge

• Hope Street Hotel [29] Tel:+44 151 705-2222 - the best hotel in Liverpool. US Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice was a famous recent guest.

Stay safe

Liverpool has long been the butt of jokes about having high levels of crime, but the reality is that crime rates in Liverpool are low compared with most other large cities in the UK. You are no more likely to be a victim here than most other European cities. However, as in other cities, you should observe a few simple precautions. Don't leave valuables on display in an unattended car, for example. Try to stay aware of your surroundings, and be discreet with cash, expensive camera equipment and so on.

Scousers are gregarious people, but there are still those who seek to take advantage. Beware especially of people who approach you in the street with stories of having lost their train fare home. These are typically just begging techniques. Be especially careful if you wander off the beaten track and find yourself in some of the more deprived outlying districts.

Stay on the beaten track of a night time, stick to the many themed pub/bars and avoid some of the larger R&B and Dance clubs (these are more suited to streetwise locals or people who understand liverpool culture well). Be prepared to wait for a taxi of a night time but don't be tempted to walk back to your hotel unless you are central. Although Liverpool is a wonderfully friendly place, as with most major cities a slightly sinister side appears after hours.

A friendly manner and a polite smile go a long way in this city, but a sensible approach to travelling is, as always, advisable.

Get out

Birkenhead, across the Mersey, has a football club called Tranmere Rovers. Although this club has always lived in the shadow of Everton and Liverpool, it has a long tradition and a great family atmosphere - well worth a visit.

Chester is about 40 minutes away by Merseyrail. Chester is a beautiful historical city on the River Dee famous for its city walls.

Port Sunlight on the Wirral is about 20 minutes away by train. It was built as a model village by Lord Lever and contains the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a marvellously eclectic collection of objects, similar to the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.

West Kirby on the Wirral boasts a superb beach, only thirty minutes away by train. Trains depart every 15 minutes (peak time, 30 minutes other times) on the Wirral line from all four downtown Liverpool stations.

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