2018 was such a whirlwind; me and my boyfriend spent the year travelling all over the country, exploring towns, cities and quaint villages all over the UK and truly had the best time ever. As you can imagine, there were so many great moments and locations I could talk about, but one that really stands out in my mind is our trip to Liverpool. I'm originally from the Midlands and haven't visited too many places up north so it was my first trip to the city, but somewhere I'd love to go back. If you're looking for a vibrant, exciting and beautiful city break then it's a place I'd highly recommend. Here are some of the things we personally did and what we thought of them.
The Wheel of Liverpool
The Wheel of Liverpool is a ferris wheel, standing at a huge sixty meters tall and giving you the most incredible views of the city from the top. It cost £10 each so wasn't a budget option, but in my opinion was so worth it and was one of the highlights of the day. Even though we visited at the end of summer when it was still fairly busy, we were still assigned our own booth which was nice. The wheel goes round five times (or more) and lasts for around fifteen minutes which gives you plenty of time to take it all in and snap some pictures of the views. In really busy times such as school holidays it might be best to book ahead if you want your own booth, but it wasn't an issue for us. There are also VIP booths you can book which come with champagne, perfect if you're away for a stag or hen weekend or celebrating a special occasion.
Retail Therapy
Being a city, there's of course no shortage of shops in the city, and there really is something for all budgets. The Liverpool ONE centre looked absolutely amazing, it's a huge shopping and residential centre with restaurants, a park, even a ball room. One of the great things about Liverpool is you have the old, historic architecture of the past with these new developments dotted around, making for a really interesting experience. The city centre is home to just about every shop you can imagine, plus some that are unique to Liverpool such as the Liverpool FC shop and The Beatles shop. The band were of course famously from the city, so there are lots of tributes and tours you can book to find out more, as well as tons of Beatles merchandise sold in many of the gift shops.
Royal Albert Docks
The Royal Albert Docks were once functioning docks and warehouses for shipments in and out of Liverpool, and were opened in 1846. They fell into disrepair for some time after closing in the '80s, but in recent years have been completely redeveloped, and are now home to stunning shops and a selection of restaurants. The docks were possibly my favourite part of the city, the perfect combination of old vs new; the impressive old buildings all kitted out with new windows and shop fronts gives it a really unique appearance. There's plenty to choose from here for places to eat, but we opted for Miller and Carter Steakhouse and enjoyed the views of the gorgeous waterfront while we ate. There are trendy pop up shops, gift shops and lots of other interesting little places to check out down here too, it has a really nice atmosphere and is somehow both vibrant and relaxed at the same time. There are thousands of 'love locks' padlocked onto the railings by the docks, although we noticed that there were none dated older than a year or two. Apparently they're under review by the council, but it appears that it's not against any rules to leave one if you wanted to.
Museums
Liverpool is steeped in history and culture, and if you want to learn something new then there are plenty of fascinating museums to explore. These include Museum of Liverpool, The Beatles Story, Tate Liverpool and the Merseyside Maritime Museum. Some of these are free but others you do need to pay for, the Tate is one that comes with an admission charge and from what I can remember it wasn't that cheap. The maritime museum was free and was one that we went into, and was really interesting. There's lots of info about the history of the Liverpool port, including a section about the Navy as well as the Titanic. There are incredible, huge models of some of the vessels as well as genuine parts from some of them. I'd recommend going to the museums a little earlier in the day, we didn't realise they closed at 5pm and arrived at the Maritime at about 4, so didn't get to explore as in depth as we'd like.
We visited so many places last year, but looking back, Liverpool is a trip that really stands out and somewhere I'd love to go back to. As well as visiting more places in the UK we have some overseas adventures planned this year that I'm seriously looking forward to. First stop is Amsterdam, we're also planning a road trip through France and Switzerland this summer.
Have you been on any exciting days out, mini breaks or holidays this year? Where's your favourite place to visit?
