Liverpool is where John, Paul, George and Ringo grew up, met and learned their trade, and the city has never stopped telling the story. The trick for a visitor is to split it in two: the city-centre sights you can walk between in an afternoon, and the south Liverpool suburbs where the band grew up, which need a bus, a tour or a taxi. This guide covers both, with the prices and opening times we checked on each attraction’s own website in November 2026. One big change is coming: The Beatles Story is moving to a new home in 2028.

The Beatles Story, Royal Albert Dock

Start here. The city’s main Beatles museum walks you through the band’s story in order, from the Quarrymen to their solo careers, with recreations of Hamburg, the Cavern and Abbey Road Studios and original pieces from George Harrison’s first guitar to John Lennon’s last piano. The special exhibition, 60 Years of A Hard Day’s Night, is included and features a copy of the album signed on the front by all four Beatles.

Adults pay £20, seniors and students £16 and children aged 5 to 15 £11, and the audio guide is included. In winter it opens from 9am, closing at 5.30pm Sunday to Friday and 6.30pm on Saturdays. Allow about an hour and a half. The entrance lift is out of order, so access is by 19 shallow steps.

In October 2026 Apple Corps, the company the Beatles founded in 1968, announced it will take over The Beatles Story in 2027 and move it in 2028 to a 100,000 sq ft site in the former St Johns Market opposite Lime Street station, with a Yellow Submarine-themed viewing experience at the top of St Johns Beacon.

The Cavern Club and Mathew Street

The Cavern opened in 1957 as a jazz cellar on Mathew Street and became the band’s home stage. The building was torn down in the 1970s and rebuilt in the 1980s at the same address, to the same design and with most of the original bricks. Today there is live music on the front stage every day from 11.15am, mostly Beatles and Merseybeat. Entry is £6 on the door, or £8.50 for an all-day pass; it is card only, and under-18s must leave by 8pm. The Cavern Pub opposite is free.

From 16 January 2027 the Museum of Liverpool hosts 70 Years of The Cavern Club, an exhibition of more than 200 objects from the club’s history. Until then the museum’s Wondrous Place gallery has Beatles suits and Merseybeat memorabilia, and is free.

The Magical Mystery Tour

The Cavern’s owners run the Magical Mystery Tour, a two-hour bus tour of the places that shaped the band’s early lives. It was voted the top experience in the UK in Tripadvisor’s 2026 Travelers’ Choice awards. In winter it runs daily, with departures between 10am and 2pm, and a ticket includes free single entry to the Cavern. Book ahead, as tours sell out.

Inside John’s and Paul’s homes

The National Trust owns Mendips, the house in Woolton where John Lennon grew up with his aunt, and 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, Paul McCartney’s family home. The only way inside is on the Trust’s Beatles’ Childhood Homes minibus tour, which takes about two hours and carries 15 people at most. Morning tours leave bus stand 2 at Liverpool South Parkway station at 10.05am and 10.45am; afternoon tours leave Speke Hall at 1.30pm and 2.10pm.

Non-members pay £37 for adults and £18.50 for children aged 5 to 17; National Trust members pay £13 and £6.50 towards the minibus. Tickets are non-refundable. In winter tours run on selected days only: in December 2026 on 4 to 6, 11 to 13 and 18 to 20 December, with none from 21 to 31 December. Book as early as you can.

Strawberry Field

Round the corner from Mendips, the Salvation Army children’s home whose grounds John played in as a boy inspired Strawberry Fields Forever. Behind the red gates there is now an exhibition on the home, Lennon’s childhood and the making of the song, gardens to walk through, and the piano on which Lennon composed and recorded Imagine, on loan from George Michael’s estate. It is open daily from 10am to 5pm and closed over Christmas and New Year. Adults pay £12.45 and concessions £9.45; children 16 and under go free with a paying adult. Bus 76 from the city centre stops on Beaconsfield Road, and parking is free. Some coach tours only stop at the gates for a photo, so check if you want to go inside.

Penny Lane and the suburbs

Penny Lane, the street and the roundabout area at its end, sits between the city centre and Woolton and is a stop on most Beatles tours. It is a normal residential and shopping street, so be considerate when taking photos.

The waterfront and the river

The Mersey Ferries’ 50-minute Liverpool Sightseeing River Cruise, £14 for adults, is the trip immortalised in Ferry Cross the Mersey by fellow Cavern stars Gerry and the Pacemakers; the Pier Head terminal is named after Gerry Marsden. Mersey Ferries sells a combined cruise and Beatles Story ticket.

A suggested Beatles day

Take a morning Childhood Homes tour from South Parkway, then a short bus or taxi to Strawberry Field for lunch at its café and the exhibition. Head back into the centre for The Beatles Story in the afternoon (last winter entry 4.15pm on weekdays), then finish on Mathew Street with an evening at the Cavern. If the National Trust tour is full, swap the morning for the Magical Mystery Tour.

Getting around

The city-centre sights are walkable. For the suburbs, every adult bus fare is £2, and the 500 airport bus and the 86A also link the centre with South Parkway. An off-peak Saveaway (£6.80 all areas) covers a day of buses, trains and ferry crossings, but not the sightseeing cruise.