Our Grand Tour 2026, Part 3: Going Down to Liverpool

As a huge Beatles fan since childhood, like Sadina, we included on our schedule a day trip to Liverpool, about a 2-1/2 hour trip on one of the national rail service lines.

From the moment you step out of the Liverpool Lime Station (impressive in its own right, as the world’s oldest still-running main line railway station), you can see that Liverpool is a spectacular city. As an example, directly across the street from the train station is the huge neoclassical St. George’s Hall that directly faces the rail station. 

That said, Liverpool is also an incredibly diverse and modern city, and a well known cultural hub second only  to London. And, of course, it leans heavily into the city’s favorite sons, the Beatles, who obviously are the city’s main tourist draw.

We took the Magical Mystery Tour bus that included trips to the Beatles childhood homes, now well-kept middle class neighborhoods. Indeed, Liverpool appears to also be a vibrant college town, clearly serving students (we saw quite a bit of student housing). 

The tour culminates with a free visit to the Cavern Club, down narrow alleys of small clubs and Beatles museums. 

I’ve seen footage of Beatles’ performances there, so it was a revelation to see the layout of the club on person.

In fact, it is as still as much a working music venue and bar as it is a museum of the Beatles and the club’s history. I’ve seen the club in footage of the Beatles’ performances there, so it was a thrill to see the actual layout of the club’s floor. 

And even more fortunately, there was a live performance going on while we were there! The acoustics in the tiny bricked space was incredible, and it gave one a good sense of what it must have been like to hear the Beatles tearing up the space with their music and vocals. It actually was incredibly moving to hear music filling up the space, as the Beatles did more than 60 years ago.

In fact, it’s was amazing how many small clubs and venues we saw while strolling around, many with live music emanating from them. The tour was brief enough that we had some time on our own to explore the city and grab dinner before catching the train back. The restaurant where we ate was in a promenade that terminated at Liverpool’s Town Hall—this was on my bucket list to see because I remember seeing it in old black-and-white footage, when the Beatles were welcomed back to the city after conquering America, and stood on the second floor balcony waving to throngs of fans and proud Liverpool citizens.