With kids · Liverpool · United Kingdom
Liverpool with kids
Family-tested sights, a calm base and the practical details that make travelling with children easier.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answer
Liverpool is easy with children: free hands-on museums, the ferries, flat waterfront walks around the docks, and beaches with dunes and red squirrels a short train ride away. Football-loving families can add a stadium tour. Top picks: World Museum, Museum of Liverpool and Mersey Ferry river cruise. Families usually base themselves in Waterfront and Royal Albert Dock.
Key facts
- Family picks
- 7
- Best area for families
- Waterfront and Royal Albert Dock
- Rainy-day options
- 4
- Busiest months
- August
Best things to do with kids
.jpg){kind=link}
Museum · William Brown Street
1.World Museum
Liverpool's museum of natural history, world cultures and archaeology has a large ancient Egypt gallery, dinosaurs, an aquarium, a bug house and a planetarium. It is one of the most child-friendly museums in the north-west.
Check the planetarium show times on arrival; shows are short and fill up during school holidays.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Rainy day
- History
- Nature
Museum · Waterfront
2.Museum of Liverpool
The city's history museum at the Pier Head tells Liverpool's story through its port, migration, music and football, with galleries on the Overhead Railway, the city's working-class history and the Beatles. Its large windows look out onto the waterfront.
Climb to the top-floor windows for a framed view of the Three Graces from above.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- History
- Kids
- Rainy day
Experience · Pier Head
3.Mersey Ferry river cruise
The ferries made famous by Gerry and the Pacemakers' song run a 50-minute river explorer cruise from the Pier Head to Seacombe and Woodside on the Wirral and back, with commentary on the docks, ships and waterfront buildings.
Sit on the open upper deck on the way out for the best photographs of the waterfront skyline.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- Iconic
- Kids
- Views
- Couples
Waterfront · Waterfront
4.Royal Albert Dock
Opened in 1846 to designs by the dock engineer Jesse Hartley, the Albert Dock was the first structure in Britain built entirely of cast iron, brick and stone, with no structural wood, so it would not burn. Its Grade I-listed colonnaded warehouses around the water now hold museums, restaurants, bars and hotels.
Walk the full square of the dock and cross to the Pier Head for the classic view of the Three Graces.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Free
- History
- Architecture
- Photo spot
Gallery · William Brown Street
5.Walker Art Gallery
One of the largest art galleries in England outside London, the Walker on William Brown Street has paintings from the medieval period to the present, including a notable Pre-Raphaelite collection, Rembrandt and Rubens, and a family gallery called Big Art for Little Artists.
Combine it with the World Museum and Central Library next door on the same street.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Art
- Rainy day
- Kids
Park · Sefton Park
6.Sefton Park and Palm House
A large Victorian park of about 95 hectares with a boating lake, woodland, a café and the restored Palm House, a three-tier glass conservatory of 1896 surrounded by statues of explorers and botanists. Lark Lane's pubs and cafés are on its edge.
Combine a walk round the lake with lunch on Lark Lane.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
Experience · Anfield
7.Anfield stadium tour
Liverpool FC's stadium, about 4 km north-east of the centre, offers tours of the dressing rooms, the 'This Is Anfield' sign in the tunnel and pitch-side, plus a museum of the club's trophies. Everton's new stadium on the waterfront at Bramley-Moore Dock replaced Goodison Park nearby in 2025.
Tours are not available on match days; take a bus from Queen Square or a taxi rather than walking.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Book online in advance, especially around school holidays and match weekends.
- Iconic
- Kids
- Rainy day
Rainy-day ideas
- Museum of Liverpool — Climb to the top-floor windows for a framed view of the Three Graces from above.
- Walker Art Gallery — Combine it with the World Museum and Central Library next door on the same street.
- World Museum — Check the planetarium show times on arrival; shows are short and fill up during school holidays.
- Anfield stadium tour — Tours are not available on match days; take a bus from Queen Square or a taxi rather than walking.
Where families should stay
$$$ · Best for first-timers, families, couples and culture
Waterfront and Royal Albert Dock
The Pier Head, with the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building, sits beside the Museum of Liverpool and the ferry terminal. To the south, the brick and cast-iron warehouses of the Royal Albert Dock hold the Beatles Story, restaurants and hotels around the water. Liverpool ONE's shops are a five-minute walk inland.
- Good
- Next to the main sights and the river; Waterside hotels and restaurants; Flat and easy with children
- Watch out
- Busy with tourists at weekends; Fewer local pubs and bars
- Nearby
- Pier Head, Museum of Liverpool, The Beatles Story, Mersey Ferry terminal
Family travel tips
- The World Museum's aquarium, bug house and planetarium are favourites with younger children.
- The Albert Dock and Pier Head are flat and traffic-free, ideal for buggies and scooters.
- Merseyrail trains reach Formby's red-squirrel woods and beach in about 30 minutes.
- Stadium tours are popular with older children; book ahead and avoid match days.
- Pack waterproofs and warm layers; the waterfront is exposed to wind off the river.
Day trips for families
- Chester (About 45 minutes by train) — A walled Roman city with the most complete circuit of city walls in Britain, the two-tier timber-framed shopping galleries called the Rows, a Gothic cathedral, Roman amphitheatre remains and Chester Zoo on the edge of town.
- Formby (About 30 minutes by train, then a walk) — The National Trust's pinewoods at Formby are one of the last English refuges of the red squirrel, and behind them lie high sand dunes and a wide beach where prehistoric footprints are sometimes exposed in the mud.
- Southport (About 45 minutes by train) — A Victorian seaside resort with the long Southport Pier, the tree-lined, glass-canopied shopping boulevard of Lord Street, gardens and wide sands, plus a traditional funfair.
- Conwy (About 1 hour 30 minutes–2 hours by train) — On the North Wales coast, Conwy is a walled medieval town dominated by Edward I's 13th-century castle, with an almost complete circuit of town walls you can walk and a small harbour.
When to go with children
The best months overall are May–July and September. August is the busiest, so book the big sights early. Weather by month.
Questions travellers ask
+Is Liverpool good for kids?
Liverpool is easy with children: free hands-on museums, the ferries, flat waterfront walks around the docks, and beaches with dunes and red squirrels a short train ride away. Football-loving families can add a stadium tour.
+What can kids do in Liverpool?
World Museum, Museum of Liverpool, Mersey Ferry river cruise, Royal Albert Dock and Walker Art Gallery.
+Where should families stay in Liverpool?
Waterfront and Royal Albert Dock: Restored Victorian docks, the Three Graces and museum quarter.