Fun Not Frumpy: Budget Liverpool!
2008 Capital of Culture Liverpool Offers a Year Full of Free Events
A dollar is worth only half a pound, but you can really get to know Liverpool for a pittance. This sensible advice applies anywhere, even in wallet-gobbling London.
Free and Easy Liverpool
Liverpool, as a 2008 Capital of Culture, is packed year-round with free events and cultural venues that make budget travel sense. in this music- and art-filled town, finding these opportunities is fun not frumpy. Plus, budget travel strategies like grocery shopping, while painfully necessary when the dollar to pound exchange rate is 2 to 1, they also give you a glimpse of real Liverpool, even if your stay is brief.
Where to Stay?
The first thing you should ever do, of course, is get a city map in order to plan where to stay. A good on-line Liverpool city centre map is on the Liverpool Museums web site.
Boundary Lines: Where not to stay
Look for a place with a southern boundary of Brunswick train station just south of the Cathedral, a northern boundary of Leeds Street. Draw the eastern boundary down the Scotland Road/Lime Street/Renshaw Street line, but stay anywhere along the river to the west.
Liverpool's city centre is relatively small; you'll always be close to a bus or train station to head to further flung sites cheaply rather than spending time and money heading into town every day. These boundaries keep you in comfortable walking distance through safer neighborhoods.
Although it's important to note that neighborhoods like Toxteth, often have a reputation for truculence. But Toxteth's beautiful synagogue, Greek Orthodox church, Prince's Park, and the oasis of Sefton Park beyond, should not be beyond the pale. Just, as in any city, it's important to be cautious and sensible.
Self-Catering Apartments Are Best Bargains
A self-catering apartment in the city is a more economical choice than a hotel because it will have a washer, possibly a dryer (often in one machine), and most importantly, a kitchen. Grocery shopping is a good way to save money. Shop at grocery stores like Sainsbury's (there's one in the Central train station) or Tesco Metro dotted around the city's walking streets. Then, the Liverpool Farmer's Market on genteel Hope Streeet, the third Saturday of each month, for local fare like Garstang cheese, Cheshire apple juice, granary breads, and chocolate imported to the Wirral. A youth hostel - there are two in Liverpool, both with decidedly youthful vibes- can also a sensible choice economically.
Five Free, Accessible Liverpool Culture Venues
Once you've arrivede, make the Tourist Office your first stop for a map to identify all the museums, churches, squares, tunnels, and warehouses locations and ask about outdoor and free events going on during your stay.
Here are five free, accessible venues that will give you a solid sense of what Liverpool is, was, and intends to become.
for an urban garden stroll. They are both open daily from 8:00 to 18:00.
- Liverpool Tate at Albert Dock - 'Tate' of course is Liverpudlian sugar baron, Henry Tate. This is the smaller, more intimate twin of London's Tate Modern, but the Liverpool Tate is no country cousin hosting world reknown artists, workshops, family activities, music and film events. The last Thursday of each month, join Late at Tate for music and events until 21:00.September - March Open Tuesday - Sunday 10.00-17.50 Closed Mondays (except Bank Holiday Mondays)April - August Open Monday - Sunday 10.00-17.50 Open until 21.00 on the last Thursday of every month for Late at Tate Liverpool
- The River Mersey Walk - Go for a run or walk along this river that changed the world. It runs from the iconic waterfront buildings and ferry terminal, six miles south to Otterspool with historical markers along the way and views of Birkenhead, Wales, and the Wirral peninsula.
- St. Luke's - Amid the ruins of a small gothic church in the city centre bombed during the air raids of 1941, ultra-hip Urban Strawberry Lunch, a musical performance troupe, make music using hub caps from noon til two on weekdays.
- The World Museum Liverpool - Dinosaurs, totem poles, whales, and bees in the cafe, the Liverool World Museum is aswarm with thought provoking, wildly educational, and physically interactive exhibits (see its slavery awareness project Make the Link, Break the Chain)
- Bootle Warehouses - Drive or walk quickly down the rather seedy Dock Road. The Tate and Lyle Sugar silo just north of Liverpool is a giant concrete quonset hut . Its rusting conveyor belt system sweeps over the road from the warehouse to the docks. The warehouse is considered a masterpiece of 1950's industrial architecture. The Victorian Stanley Tobacco Warehouse, designed by Lyster and completed in 1901, is the largest brick structure on the planet. Solid and no-nonsence, like a dam or a cliff, it is whimsically ornamented with 300 foot tall pilasters and its name and date of construction worked out in colored brick into the upper floors.
The Cafe at Liverpool's Museum or the Walker Art Gallery
At last, spring occasionaly for a cuppa tea (about 2 pounds a pot) at the fourth floor cafe overlooking St. George's garden. They raise bees on the cafe terrace outside.
Next door at the Walker Art Gallery, just by loitering in the stairwell refinement will seep in unbidden since the sweeping marble stairway leading to the gallery itself (4 pounds), is lined with sculpture and art.
