Football and music have propelled Liverpool into the premier league of English destinations. Whether you head to Liverpool for a weekend break or a longer stay, you’ll surely fall in love with Scouse spirit and Liverpool’s laid-back ways. Irish immigration and seaborne trade helped shape Liverpool’s history and heritage. Today the entire Mersey region is forward-looking and has bundles of creative energy.

Visit the Albert Dock, where former warehouses and dock buildings are now a focal point for tourism in the city. The entire complex has a well-deserved place on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Don’t forget to take the ferry over the Mersey. Everyone does! Our tip: plan your Mersey ferry trip so that you return from Birkenhead back to Pier Head just before sunset. On a summer evening, that’s the way to see Liverpool at its best. Back on dry land, head up to Mathew Street and see the mural tribute to ‘Four lads who shook the world’ – a reference to The Beatles whose music sent the sounds of Liverpool around the planet.

The city’s main railway station is called Liverpool Lime Street. Trains approaching the station drop down through dreary tunnels and cuttings to reach Lime Street, so only on reaching the station do visitors have a first glimpse of the Merseyside city. Sculptures of two Liverpool characters, Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock, are there on the concourse to meet new arrivals. Trains leave regularly for Manchester, Leeds and other cities across northern England. There are hourly services to London Euston, generally taking about two and a quarter hours to reach the capital.

Liverpool has a number of other city centre stations; they include Liverpool Central and Moorfields. Both stations have regular local trains to Chester, Birkenhead and Southport.