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.
Western Approaches
Liverpool, Merseyside
Under Exchange Flags, a few streets back from the waterfront, sits the command centre from which the Battle of the Atlantic was directed. A hundred rooms of reinforced concrete.
The museum has kept the map room, the operations rooms and the corridors much as they were, instead of turning them into a modern interactive experience. That is the appeal and also the limitation.
Pricing is unusual and worth spelling out. An adult day pass is £16.50, a child under 16 is £1. An annual pass is £19.50 for an adult and £5 for a child, so two visits in twelve months makes the annual version the obvious buy. Students and ex-forces pay £14.50 with ID, groups of ten or more £14.50 a head, carers come in free with each paying visitor, and Second World War veterans get in free with a gift bag. A guided tour is £75 for a group of up to fifteen on top of entry.
Open every day, 10am to 6pm, last entry 5pm, and there are no timed slots to juggle.
The access position is the thing to check against your own family: two floors, staircases only marked up or down, no lift, and toilets by reception with ramp access that are not wheelchair accessible. Visitors who cannot manage the stairs can see some of the upper-floor rooms without being charged. Baby changing exists and there is seating dotted through the building. Take a child of seven or more who has heard of submarines and you will get two good hours out of it.
Know before you go
- A child under 16 costs £1. Two adults and three children is £36, and a family that visits twice in a year is better off on annual passes at £19.50 an adult and £5 a child.
- There is no lift. The only way round the two floors is via the staircases, and the toilets are not wheelchair accessible. Visitors who cannot manage stairs can see some of the upper-floor rooms without being charged, which is a decent policy but worth knowing in advance.
- It is an underground bunker with low light, concrete corridors and a lot to read. Older primary children who like the war stuff will love it. A four-year-old will last twenty minutes.
Worth knowing: Two floors reached only by staircases, so no pushchairs; better for about 7 upwards.
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Also 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.
Merseyside Maritime Museum
Closed until 2028. The Maritime and International Slavery Museums shut in early 2025 for a full redevelopment. The Albert Dock around them is still worth the walk, and the city's other national museums remain free and open.
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.