Liverpool's museums are part of National Museums Liverpool, which means free entry across the board. What makes it work as a family day out is how close together they are: the waterfront cluster alone will absorb most of a day.
Add in a river that always has something moving on it, and you have a city that entertains children without asking for much money.
Free things to do in Liverpool with children
- World Museum — Five floors covering dinosaurs, ancient Egypt, a live bug house and an aquarium in the basement. There is a planetarium too. If you only do one thing with children, do this.
- Museum of Liverpool — Purpose-built on the waterfront, with a Little Liverpool gallery designed specifically for under-sixes and a model railway that stops children dead.
- Walker Art Gallery — Has a Big Art for Little Artists gallery on the ground floor, built for the under-eights, so the art gallery is not a chore for the youngest in the party.
- The Royal Albert Dock — Free to wander. Boats, bridges, buskers and enough space to sit down. Merseyside Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum are both here and both free.
- Sefton Park and the Palm House — A proper Victorian park with a glasshouse full of palms, plus a lake and playgrounds. Free entry to the Palm House.
Worth paying for
Not free, but cheap enough to be worth it, and all reachable without a car:
- The Mersey Ferry — Not free, but a short river crossing to Seacombe or Woodside and back is one of the better value hours you can buy in the city.
- Crosby Beach — Antony Gormley's Another Place iron men, standing in the sand and the sea. Free once you are there, and reachable on a local train from the city centre.
Getting to Liverpool by train
Liverpool Lime Street puts you at the top of the city centre, and it is downhill from there to the waterfront.
Going by train also means nobody has to find a parking space, and children can move about, look out of the window and eat crisps for the whole journey.
Click here to book train tickets to Liverpool
Opening hours, admission prices and booking requirements change, and some attractions close on certain days or for refurbishment. Always check the attraction’s own website before you set off. This page was written in August 2026.
Disclosure: the train ticket link on this page is an affiliate link. If you book through it I may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
