The best hotels in Liverpool
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Few cities blend the old with the new as well as Liverpool. Once a thriving home to industry and trade, wealth poured into the port city during the height of the British Empire and some spectacular buildings arose from its wind-sculpted streets. Though a post-war decline was inevitable, the billion-pound regeneration around Liverpool’s waterfront from the 1990s onwards has maintained its heritage while adding sleek new hotels, museums, restaurants, apartments and more.
Becoming European Capital of Culture in 2008 was huge, while more recently hosting Eurovision in 2023 and Taylor Swift concerts in 2024 has only added to the city’s already-strong cultural cache alongside the demand for quality accommodation. Whether it’s repurposing spectacular existing sites like The Municipal or creating slick new hotels from the ground up like The Halyard, Liverpool is a city unafraid of moving with the times. Expect more in the years to come as the city on the Mersey goes from strength to strength.
hotelFirst in: The Municipal Hotel Liverpool - MGallery
Topped by a soaring pyramid-like spire, Liverpool’s Municipal Building on Dale Street was a grandiose council building completed in 1868. 150 years later, it’s as grandiose as ever but now houses the Municipal Hotel & Spa Liverpool. Opened in 2023 as part of Accor’s boutique MGallery arm, the Grade II-listed building underwent a £60m renovation and its 168 rooms with 11 suites form arguably the city’s most luxurious offering.
Design studios Koncept ID and architects Falconer Chester Hall have done a magnificent job transforming the space, most notably with the glittering palm court that houses the central bar and flagship Seaforth restaurant. With its marble floor, Art Deco lamps, bouncy jazz soundtrack and white columns, it’s the shimmering centrepiece of a hotel that impresses everywhere.
Restored features include a cast iron lift, original tiling and a grand stone staircase with mahogany bannisters, while an extension was built to house the spa which has a 16m swimming pool alongside steam, salt and laconium saunas (£30 for guests off-peak and £50 peak). Neutral-tone rooms with ornate floral headboards and high ceilings are connected to bright marble bathrooms with button-operated Grohe rainfall showers and Culti Milano essences.
Local touches are everywhere, too, especially in the Palm Court with its carved Liver Bird, fruity Mersey Paradise cocktail and Seaforth’s magnificent deconstructed Scouse stew.
Address: Municipal Building, Dale St, Liverpool L2 2DH
Price: From around £199 per night
Titanic Hotel Liverpool
Though Titanic never visited Liverpool, the city has a deep history with the world’s most famous ship and lends its name to this repurposed warehouse on the historic Stanley Dock. Architects ADI Studio renovated the Grade-II listed North Warehouse – built in 1846 – and turned it into a sleek and spacious boutique hotel that maintains original exposed brickwork, steel columns, vaulted ceilings and windows.
Opened in 2016, there are 153 rooms that feature nostalgic artwork and photography on the neutral walls harking back to the Titanic and the White Star Line, alongside toffee-caramel sofas and double beds dressed in Egyptian cotton. Downstairs is the underground Maya Blue spa, boasting a hydrotherapy pool, treatments, sauna and steam room, where the pool beneath rust-orange brick arches feels like a bizarre Byzantine-Victorian mash-up.
Stanley’s Bar and Grill continues the industrial-chic aesthetic in a slick and yawning great space facing Stanley Dock, and a quality plant-based section complements the menu’s meat-heavy mains. Copious amounts of rum and tobacco were once stored in these warehouses, so it’s no surprise cocktails are poured at a bar called the Rum Bar, where classics like Old Fashioneds line up alongside Titanic specials.
Address: Stanley Dock, Regent Rd, Liverpool L3 0AN
Price: From around £125 per night
Tim WinterMalmaison Liverpool
Located just north of Pier Head’s iconic ‘Three Graces’ buildings and facing Princes Dock, Malmaison Liverpool is the budget-luxe chain’s first-ever newly built property. The 11-floor building has a cool grey Tetris-like exterior and its waterfront setting is surprisingly peaceful despite the busy Strand road rumbling right behind.
Stepping inside, the dark and airy high-ceiling lobby is inviting, with burnt orange half-moon sofas and potted aloe vera dotted about, bringing a botanic warmth. This leads straight down to a jazzy bar lined with convivial red stools and a couple of TV screens above for watching sports. The single malt whisky collection behind the bar isn’t bad, either. Next door, the Brasserie is mysteriously hidden behind a high purple curtain, eventually revealing a restaurant lined with 60s-inspired psychedelic art and a heavy focus on steak cooked on their Josper grill, with rib-eye, t-bone and New York strip all vying for attention.
The 130 rooms are spread across six floors, with a couple of junior suites paying homage to the city’s football clubs - Liverpool (‘The Kop’) and Everton (‘The Toffee Shop’). With a deep purple, charcoal black and cool grey palette, there’s a moody feel to the rooms and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, with the crushed velvet making things a little cosier. The rooms facing south towards the soaring Liver Building and its 18-ft Liver Birds on top have the finest views.
Address: 7 William Jessop Way, Liverpool L3 1QZ
Price: From around £75 per night
Christopher BakerAloft Liverpool
Rising up on North John Street, the Grade II-listed Royal Insurance Building is now Aloft Liverpool and one of the better repurposed hotels in the city. Built from Portland Stone in 1903, this grand Neo-Baroque building is topped by a three-stage campanile with a gilded dome and the high carved-ceiling lobby is just as grand.
Aloft comes under the sprawling Marriott umbrella and the 116 contemporary light grey rooms are fairly uniform, but brightened by pops of orange from the Fatboy beanbags. Bathrooms are well-stocked with easy walk-in showers.
The vowel-free NYL Restaurant and WXYZ Bar are slick but fairly personality-free too, and it bears mentioning that the jaunty bars and music of the Cavern Quarter are literally around the corner from here on Mathew Street. A more playful touch near the bar is the inclusion of pool and foosball tables, which might tempt you to stay here a little longer and downstairs there’s a gym if partying is of no interest at all. But overall, this is a solid spot slightly overinflated by its lavish exterior.
Address: 1 N John St, Liverpool L2 5QW
Price: From around £150 per night
The Halyard Liverpool
Rising from the fringes of Liverpool’s lively Ropewalks district, The Halyard opened on Duke Street in 2024 as a slick well-located option for a weekend city break. As a new build in a historic neighbourhood, its warm redbrick shell and gold-accented vertical name stands out and it’s the latest in IHG Hotels & Resorts’ relatively new Vignette Collection brand. Inside, the lobby is bright and airy, with zigzag tiles, hanging umbrella plants and splashes of turquoise and gold.
There are 133 contemporary rooms spread across seven floors, with king and queen-size beds, night creams and bath oils from Temple Spa, natural light pouring in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and fine city views from the fourth floor up. Naturally, the top-floor suites with balconies bring the best views from St John’s Beacon to Liverpool Cathedral.
Paying homage to the produce that once flowed in through this port city, the laid-back Voyagers restaurant menu has an international influence with an Asian touch (think pork belly and crispy fried duck). This neighbourhood is packed with quality food options, so don’t feel you need to eat here every night. But for a weekend away, the Halyard is a cosy, well-placed base.
Address: 123 Duke St, Liverpool L1 4JR
Price: From around £125 per night
Jonathan Cosh, Visual EyeRadisson RED Liverpool
Towering over Lime Street Station, the Radisson RED Liverpool is comfortably the best hotel in Liverpool for anyone arriving by train. It’s spectacular, too, having opened in 2022 following a £30 renovation by Deansgate Contractors. Originally built in 1871 as the North Western Hotel, it was one of Britain’s first railway hotels and is a huge Rennaissance Revival edifice with baroque details in the Second Empire style.
But in keeping with Radisson’s playful RED brand, the marble doric columns and whitewashed arches of the plush lobby are joined by bright red mopeds, Beatles memorabilia and some bizarre animal-like porcelain sculptures. The 201 bedrooms are given pops of red, from the retro Roberts radios to overside coffee cups. The rooms themselves are smart, with a light grey and charcoal black colour scheme blending well with exposed brick, with the ones facing St George’s Hall providing the finest views. The spacious suites come with white freestanding bathtubs, and there’s an unsurprisingly red-splashed fitness room too.
Hearty British fare is served up at the airy and open-plan Stoke Brasserie & Grill, while weekend evenings take on a livelier vibe with occasional live music and cocktails freely flowing.
Address: 7 Lime St, Liverpool L1 1RD
Price: From around £75 per night
The Baltic Hotel
With the hulking Anglican Cathedral looming over its graffiti-splashed industrial streets, nowhere else in Liverpool looks quite like the Baltic Triangle. This hub of creativity and craft beer is one of the city’s most vibrant districts and the Baltic Hotel on Jamaica Street is impossible to miss, with its ornate baby-pink entrance lined with cartoonish flowers and its name in blinking lights hovering above.
This playful budget boutique spot offers nine types of rooms across six floors, and they all feature touches that nod to pop culture and music, from gig posters on the wall and complimentary record players to their signature Marshal Amp mini-fridges. Rooms come in a variety of neutral colours though the elegant white-tiled bathrooms are fairly uniform, with walk-in showers and LED halo mirrors.
Part of the Countrywide Hotels group, downstairs there’s the on-site pub and restaurant Duck and Swagger which serves up beer-friendly pub food like generously-sized cheeseburgers and the chef’s homemade scouse. There’s also a classic Wurlitzer jukebox if you want to throw a tune on.
The Baltic Hotel is an exuberant spot in a unique corner of Liverpool, and make sure to duck into the quirky Hobo Kiosk bar across the road once you’re settled in.
Address: 16 Jamaica St, Liverpool L1 0AF
Price: From around £70 per night
The Shankly
Located around five minutes’ walk from Lime Street Station and named after legendary Liverpool FC manager Bill Shankly, The Shankly is housed inside a stylish former council house that brings a touch of Manhattan redbrick chic from its facade. Inside the polished bronze reception there’s no doubt you’re in Liverpool though, as the sepia-toned face of Shankly himself stares back alongside some of his famous quotes.
Opened in 2015 following a £20m investment by developer Signature Living, the lobby’s elegant beige, bronze and rust-orange colour palette is followed into the 83 bedrooms, where leather and rich wood furnishings are just as prominent. That element of glamour (and its good central location) means the hotel has become something of a party destination and there are a variety of large multi-bed rooms decked out in bright floral decor, neon splashes and gaudy chandeliers.
The airy Bastion restaurant offers modern British fare including a pan-fried seabass and pan-roasted chicken supreme, as well as party-friendly cocktail masterclasses, bottomless brunches and afternoon tea with the option of extra fizz. And opened in May 2024, there’s now a breezy rooftop terrace with some fine views of the nearby Municipal Hotel’s pyramid spire and the St John’s Beacon (though it’s only open at weekends).
Address: Millennium House, 60 Victoria St, Liverpool L1 6JD
Price: From around £130 per night