World Museum, Liverpool
Five floors, free, and it covers three things small children reliably love: giant dinosaurs, an aquarium and a space gallery. The best wet-weather day within half an hour.
Merseyside Maritime Museum
- Cost
- Closed, no reopening date
- Ages
- 6 to 11
- Where
- Liverpool, Merseyside
- Weather
- Works in the rain
- Booking
- Just turn up
The Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum that shares its building are closed for essential maintenance ahead of a major redevelopment, which the museum describes as subject to funding. No reopening date is published. Until then the ship models, the Titanic and Lusitania galleries and the Seized! customs basement are all off limits, though the museum's website still has virtual tours of Titanic, Life on Board and Seized!.
Do not plan a visit, but do not write off the waterfront either. The Albert Dock itself, the Museum of Liverpool five minutes along the front and the Beatles Story under the dock all carry on as normal. The museum also still runs Old Dock Tours into the hidden dock beneath Liverpool ONE, the one bit of its maritime history you can actually walk into while the building is shut.
Know before you go
- If a listings site tells you it is open, it is out of date. No reopening date has been published; the Museum of Liverpool is the free waterfront alternative meanwhile.
Seasonal: Closed ahead of a redevelopment, no reopening date published. Check before travelling.
Looking for more museums & science near Liverpool?
Sending it to the group chat?
What visitors say
★★★★★ 4.6 across 4,435 Google reviews.
Read all 4,435 reviews on Google - filter by star rating thereAlso in Liverpool
Speke Hall
A Tudor hall with woodland walks, a maze and a natural play area in the grounds. Free if you have National Trust membership, and the indoor house is a good rain fallback.
Museum of Liverpool
The city's story with an overhead railway carriage to climb aboard and Little Liverpool, a dedicated hands-on gallery for under-6s. Free, on the waterfront, and the window views are half the fun.
Mersey Ferries River Explorer
The famous ferry across the Mersey run as a 50-minute sightseeing loop with commentary, and the honest truth is kids love the boat more than any museum. Hop off at Seacombe for Eureka! next door.
Calderstones Park
South Liverpool's favourite park: lake, playground, ancient trees and the Storybarn, The Reader's hands-on storytelling space in the old coach house. The neolithic Calder Stones are older than Stonehenge, which is a good fact to deploy.
Croxteth Hall & Home Farm
A rare-breeds conservation farm inside the 500-acre Croxteth estate, with a miniature railway, play areas and free country park all round it. The farm entry is cheap and the pigs are enormous.
What’s on near you, every Friday
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.