Family trip to Liverpool

[sandinthewaves]

I doubt we will be going abroad this year, so we are planning some city breaks. Kids are teenagers and we live in rural SW.

Hoping to go to Liverpool, I know we want to go up to the Gormley statues at Crosby beach, see all the sights etc.

Can you give me your recommendations for restaurants, hotels, quirky cool places, walking tours etc?

We will probably go by car as it's quicker and cheaper, so we may want to stay somewhere with parking. It would be good to wander out for dinner rather than having to drive every evening (and forgo a glass of wine with supper!)

Kids are into vintage, student vibe places, casual restaurants.

Probably aiming for three or four nights.

Thanks

Quiggins (ah, the Afflecks Palace of Liverpool) got kicked out by the Liverpool One development and became a Jigsaw and is now something equally dull. Probe records, vinyl shop survives though. Most of the Quiggins types went to Grand Central and Bold St.

Liverpool FC tour is great fun actually but if you go Anfield try to get a pie from www.facebook.com/HomebakedA. Stanley Park is nice too.

Crowne Plaza has got some good midweek deals, and has a pool and parking. It is obvs very chainy but also good location, and Liverpool City Centre is so small you can walk everywhere. And new electric scooters but not sure how good they will be on the hills.

The Adelphi is an epic, almost comedic experience, and only for the brave. You can get an amazing room or a miserable cupboard and incredible service or utterly snarled at.

This cabinet war rooms is supposed to be great too but have never got there.

Avoid Concert Square like the plague.

The Crowne Plaza in Speke is great value. There is a bus stop to town directly outside and you get access to the David Lloyd gym next door as part of the package. It's also walking distance from Speke Hall and a short hop to Lark Lane and Beatles sights.

See @EastofEdna beat me to recommending Mowgli Street Food (Indian).

On our next visit I'd like to go to the Western Approaches Museum which was the Operations Room for the Battle of the Atlantic. Just hope it reopens.

Maritime Museum and Slavery Museum also recommended.

Don't go to Blue Planet Aquarium. It's gone way downhill and is a rip off.

We had a weekend in Liverpool a couple of years ago, but stayed in the Premier Inn in Birkenhead, which was much, much, much cheaper than Liverpool city centre, and only a 15 min walk/train into Liverpool James Street, by the Albert Dock.

For inside the museums around Albert dock (tate, slavery museum, liverpool museum etc), the western approaches (really interesting on the war), world museum, baltic market for food and they have markets at the cairns brewery site.

Outside walking along the mersey, seeing the three graces, the parks can be worth it eg sefton or Calder stones. Ferry cross the mersey, crosby beach is worth a visit for the statues but for a day id recommend continuing up to formby. You have the Georgian quarter, bold street (bombed out church is at the top) and lark lane for food. If weather isn’t brilliant but not bad slightly outside of liverpool you have speke hall, woolton (Eleanor rigby is buried here), penny lane etc.

Things to not bother with include China town - the arch is cool but it’s not like London, liverpool one unless you specifically want chain shops.

Taxis are cheap public transport less so. There are many amazing independent restaurants and independent liverpool suggest lots of them but you won’t go wrong on bold street, dale street, lark lane (20 mins from city about £6 in a taxi) and so on. There is mowgli yummy Indian but becoming chain like so if one nearby to you id recommend other restaurants. One thing I’d say is liverpool has its own cuisine from scouse through to their obsession with Salt and pepper anything and things like siu mai so worth trying some of them!

We had a brilliant few days in Liverpool a couple of years ago. We stayed at the Staycity apartments which were ideal. We had two bedrooms and two bathrooms as well as a kitchen lounge area with sofa bed so plenty of space and comparable, if not cheaper than hotels. Centrally located too, would recommend.

Dh and I got engaged in Casa Italia 19 years ago!

Not been in to Liverpool since before lockdown. Can't wait to go back.

Everyone has covered all the amazing sites to see in Liverpool.

I’ll add in a cheap and wonderful hotel. It’s called the Heywood House Hotel about a 2 minute walk from the centre of Liverpool One. Has parking.

worth a visit - liverpoolwarmuseum.co.uk/

Hsn't got it's own parking but this hotel can be good value
www.residenthotels.com/the-resident-liverpool/

They don't do breakfast, but have a little kitchenette in the rooms, and there are lovely places to eat breakfast or brunch everywhere all around.
They also serve free wine every night around 6pm. I put a lot of people up there for work but it is good for a family - it's very scouse in a good way and the staff are lovely.

Can't back up the Lark Lane recommendations - having lived there for years (above The Lodge when it used to be The Masonic)- it's ok if you are doing Sefton Park and need something to eat but it is a bit moody in reality and there are better cafes elsewhere.

Chinatown is a bit tired, but Dim Sum on a Sunday is still a fun thing to do.

@sandinthewaves bring your driving licences and hire some electric scooters along the waterfront (1 per driving licence, the app is called Voi if you want to look in advance)
We do it quite often. Although it says no under 18s, my 2 teenagers can do it very sensibly at the Pier Head and they're a nippy way to get around the city. I think they're 20p a minute but you get some credit for registering.

Calderstones Park! It's beautiful - English garden, Japanese garden, a lake, neolithic stones, and a cafe run by the Readers Organisation. Beautiful place, and also not far from Allerton Road which is a day out in itself as far as I'm concerned. Penny Lane Wine Bar is lovely!