Side trip to Liverpool

There's certainly plenty of Beatles stuff to do in Liverpool. If you're able to book the tours inside the houses (which I wasn't lucky enough to do), people have raved about those. For me the Beatles Story museum at the Albert Dock, the Magical Mystery Tour bus, an hour in the rebuilt Cavern Club, and a meal at the Hard Day's Night Hotel were all great fun and well worth doing. If you run out of Beatles experiences, Liverpool does have other points of interest and things to do.

Appreciate your suggestions!

P.S. someone jokingly told us that Liverpool is the unofficial capital of Ireland. By that standard, your "side trip" could be thought of as all in a (hard) day's work.

Let's talk about logistics.....flying from Dublin to Liverpool is not a big deal. There is no immigration on this route due to the Common Travel Area.

You may not have to get any British Pounds if you are willing to pay with credit cards.

You could fly out of London but that would include a train journey to London and then a local train/underground to the airport. I wouldn't suggest this. You could also look at departures out of Manchester airport which is about 90 minutes from Liverpool by direct train.

If you do go back to Dublin, you will, as a passport holder outside of the UK or Ireland, have to go through Irish immigration. Then, before boarding your flight to the USA, will go through US immigration and customs in Dublin. (When you arrive in the USA it will be like a domestic fight and you just collect your things and go.)

Great info! Many thanks!

Just to clarify, going from Dublin to Liverpool I don't have to go through customs but I do going from Liverpool back to Dublin, since I'd be flying on to the US from there? So if we did Liverpool at the beginning of our trip, let's say, and after spending a few days in Dublin, jet over to Liverpool, do the Beatles thing then fly back to Dublin to then commence our two week tour of Ireland, we wouldn't have to go through customs again until we leave Ireland to return to the states?If that's the case, it gives us a little more flexibility in our planning. The less time we spend at the airport the better is my thinking. On a side note; It sounds like Brexit was so complicated due to Liverpool being the unofficial capital of Ireland. 😉Thanks!

Hi... try to get on the Beatke bus tour to Kohn and Paul's homes it was alot of fun and just book early on. Liverpool has really changed over the years and we really liked its cosmopolitan feel.

Thanks! In your opinion, if one were to limit oneself to only Beatles related activities in Liverpool, could the most worthwhile sites be visited in 1 day?

I would ask your last question on the England part of the forum. There are numerous
people on there who live in England and am sure they may be better able to answer the question.

Let me answer your immigration question....

If you are holding a U.S. passport, anytime you enter Ireland, regardless of the length of stay or where you are coming from, you have to go through Irish immigration. So, when you go from Liverpool to Dublin you will go through Irish immigration (I know, it's confusing, but going from Ireland to the UK you don't go through UK immigration.)

When you fly from Ireland to the US, you go through US immigration in Ireland. It's known as "Pre-Clearance."

You also have to stop referring to it as "customs." Customs is for goods. Immigration is for you. YOU go through immigration, you stuff goes through customs. In most cases, customs is just a walk through and you won't get stopped. (Americans have this bad habit of calling the whole proceedure "customs.")

This has nothing to do with Brexit. The Common Travel Area (CTA) allows British and Irish subjects to travel freely between the two countries. Ireland still wants to talk to other passport holders. The UK trust the Irish immigration officers.

Thanks to all for the great info! Thanks also for clarification on the terminology! The Brexit comment was meant in jest. 😉

I am a big fan of the Beatles Experience at Albert Dock. If you are a SUPER FAN, that might be too "basic" for you, but it's a great collection of information and a little bit of an experience. If only doing one thing, that probably captures the most in the smallest amount of time.

If you hit the Museum of Liverpool, there is a great little theatre that plays the Imagine music video on loop. They have John's New York City T-Shirt and a board where everyone writes little notes on what they would "imagine." I think it's well done.

For photos, you can't miss the Fab Four statue along the Mersey.

If you watch the movie, Yesterday, there are some cool things in there that you can hit - real places.

Really love Liverpool. It's like Boston but with even funnier accents.