Birkenhead travel guide

Birkenhead, United Kingdom

By the Travel Wiki editorial team

Birkenhead

Introduction

Birkenhead is an industrial port town on the Wirral Peninsula, sitting along the west bank of the River Mersey directly opposite Liverpool. Part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, it lies within the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, though it has been administered as part of Merseyside since 1974.

Before you go

Birkenhead grew around the vast Cammell Laird's shipbuilding works, and its fortunes have long been tied to the shipyard and the river. The town's population peaked at the time of the 1921 census, and it remains a place shaped by its industrial and maritime past rather than by tourism. If you are interested in parks and landscape design, it is worth knowing that Birkenhead's public municipal park made a strong impression on the American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted when he visited in 1850; he later carried many of its features into his work on New York's Central Park.

Getting there

By road, you can reach Birkenhead through the Mersey tunnels from Liverpool, where a toll is payable, or via the M53 from Chester. The famous Ferry 'cross the Mersey also deposits you at Birkenhead Woodside, in the riverside area of the town, with the Woodside ferry terminal on Hamilton Street.

Merseyrail's Wirral line runs from Liverpool James Street to Birkenhead in three minutes, with each additional loop station in Liverpool adding two minutes to the journey. Hamilton Square is the best station for Woodside, Hamilton Square and the museum, and is served by all Wirral line trains. Conway Park is best for the shopping district and is reachable from Liverpool on trains to West Kirby or New Brighton. Birkenhead Central sits across the A552 from the shopping district and is the closest station to the Priory, served by trains to Chester or Ellesmere Port. Birkenhead Park is the best station for the famous park, also reachable on West Kirby or New Brighton services. By sea, Twelve Quays ferry terminal on Tower Road is served by Stena Line ro-ro ferries from Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Getting around

Merseyrail's Wirral line is the backbone of local travel, with frequent and reliable trains linking the town's stations and running under the Mersey to Liverpool. Pick your station by purpose: Hamilton Square for Woodside, the square itself and the museum; Conway Park for the shopping district; Birkenhead Central for the Priory; and Birkenhead Park for the park. Because it is one connected network, you can hop between these stations by train rather than walking or taking a bus, making it easy to combine a shopping trip with the park or the waterfront in a single outing. An extensive bus network covers the parts of town and the wider Wirral that sit away from the rail line.

Saveaway tickets are valid on all public transport in Birkenhead, so you can mix rail and bus without buying separate fares; buy them at any staffed railway or bus station in Merseyside and use them off-peak. An "all areas" ticket suits you if you also plan to travel to Liverpool, Chester, Ellesmere Port, Formby or Southport, while a slightly cheaper "area B" ticket covers most of Wirral for local trips. For the classic river crossing, the ferry deposits you at Birkenhead Woodside, convenient for Hamilton Square station and, on the Liverpool side, James Street for Pier Head. Drivers can reach Birkenhead through the Mersey tunnels, which carry a toll, or from Chester via the M53, and a separate terminal at Twelve Quays on Tower Road handles Stena Line ferries from Belfast. The main visitor areas are close enough together that walking is realistic, particularly around the waterfront and town centre, so you can pair a train ride with a short walk to reach most sights.

Where to stay

For a short stay, look to the residential edges of town rather than the centre. In Rock Ferry, the Yew Tree Hotel offers straightforward rooms on Rock Lane West, convenient if you want to be south of the centre. Alternatively, the RiverHill Hotel sits in Oxton Old Hall on Talbot Road in Prenton, with its own Bay Tree Restaurant on site. Reaching the RiverHill takes a little planning: arrive at Birkenhead Park or Birkenhead Central and continue on foot, a walk of roughly half an hour.

Food & drink

For eating out, Argyle Street and Conway Street in the town centre give you plenty of choice, from the pub fare at The Brass Balance to the buffet at Buffet 88. Capitol Restaurant on Argyle Street is generally considered the best Chinese/Canton/Peking restaurant in Merseyside, with award-winning dim sum, banquets and specials, and friendly service. Elsewhere, you can find Italian food at Venezia, opposite Tranmere Rovers' Prenton Park stadium, a Greek taverna in Yiamas on Borough Road, and neighbourhood spots such as Fraiche and Oxton Bar & Kitchen in Prenton and Oxton. Home, at Woodside Ferry Terminal, is handy if you are catching a ferry. For a very late-night stop-off on the way back from a night out in Liverpool, Mr. Yummie on Oxton Road serves pizzas, kebabs, burgers and vegetarian options with congenial staff. For a drink, The Stork Hotel on Price Street is a must-visit for the pub architecture and real ale fan: the Edwardian tiling, mosaic floor and etched windows make for a sumptuous drinking experience, there is always a selection of real ale, and cheap hearty food is served at lunchtimes. It sits a short walk from both Hamilton Square and Conway Park stations. You can also drink at The Caernarvon Castle on Bidston Road in Prenton, near Birkenhead Park, or at The Brass Balance on Argyle Street.

What to see and do

Start with Hamilton Square, a Georgian square with gardens at its centre designed by James Gillespie Graham and the largest cluster of Grade I listed buildings outside Trafalgar Square. From there, Birkenhead Park is a short walk away: designed by Joseph Paxton and acknowledged as the first publicly-funded civic park in Britain, its features influenced Frederick Law Olmsted's design for New York's Central Park, and it offers wooded areas and duck ponds that are especially popular in summer. Nearby on Slatey Road, the Williamson Art Gallery and Museum holds a fine collection of artwork. History runs deep at Birkenhead Priory, the oldest building in Merseyside, where monks once ferried passengers across the River Mersey. At Woodside, the riverside affords an excellent panorama of the Liverpool skyline and its iconic buildings, and the U-Boat Story sits at the ferry terminal. The outlying docklands hold a wealth of industrial buildings, structures and artefacts, some well-kept and others derelict, including the Shore Road Pumping Station, the Pacific Road Business Hub in a former railway goods transit shed, the Cheshire Lines Building, the One o'Clock Gun, Egerton Bridge, the derelict Central Hydraulic Tower and Duke Street Bridge. Cammell Laird's shipyard, established in 1824, is closed to the public but is best seen from the Mersey Ferry. Further out, Bidston Hill's heathland holds the windmill, the observatory and the lighthouse.

For indoor entertainment, the Wirral Transport Museum and the Vue Cinemas at Conway Park are options, and the indoor pool on Conway Street has a wave machine, flumes and a competition pool. In summer, take a vintage tram along the Wirral Tramway between Woodside ferry terminal and the transport museum on weekend afternoons. The Ferry 'cross the Mersey, immortalised in song, runs between Birkenhead Woodside and Liverpool Pier Head and is considered essential on any trip to Liverpool. Football fans can watch Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park, a mile south of the town centre. On Bidston Hill, the Tam o'Shanter Urban Farm keeps a variety of animals that love to be hand-fed.

Three days in Birkenhead

Day one: Start in Birkenhead itself, on the Wirral Peninsula across the River Mersey from Liverpool. Hamilton Square is the natural first stop, with its Georgian surroundings and its Merseyrail station linking you to Liverpool James Street and to Conway Park, Birkenhead Central and Birkenhead Woodside. From Woodside you can take the Mersey Ferry across to Liverpool, or simply watch the river traffic. Birkenhead Park is the other essential stop, and it matters beyond the town: Frederick Law Olmsted drew on it when he designed Central Park in New York.

Day two: Head out along the Wirral to West Kirby and New Brighton, both reachable by Merseyrail, and take in the peninsula's edges. Cammell Laird sits on the Mersey at Birkenhead, a working shipyard that has shaped the town's identity. If you want a longer run, Chester and Ellesmere Port are within reach, and the Merseyrail network ties the whole Wirral together.

Day three: Cross the water properly. From Woodside or Twelve Quays, ferries run to Liverpool, and from Twelve Quays on Tower Road the Stena Line sails to Belfast in Northern Ireland. Pick your crossing by how much time you have: a short hop to Liverpool for the day, or a longer sailing if you are heading onward. Because the Mersey and the Wirral sit so close together, you can end your three days on either bank.

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