Liverpool wears its music history in the street, not only in display cases. Mathew Street and the Cavern Club are where the Beatles played their way to fame, and the club still showcases new and established artists today.

The Beatles Story at the Royal Albert Dock traces the band through memorabilia and recreated sets, while Strawberry Field in Woolton tells the story behind the song. The British Music Experience, in the Cunard Building, widens the view to British music as a whole.

UNESCO named Liverpool a City of Music in 2015, a designation about the living scene as much as the heritage, so check what is on while you are here.

Start with scouse, the stew of meat and root vegetables that gave Liverpudlians their nickname. It arrived with sailors as the Scandinavian lobscouse, fed 19th-century dockside households, and is still served in pubs and cafes across the city, so it takes no hunting to find.

Beyond that one dish, Bold Street and the Baltic Triangle are the two areas to head for when you want to eat and drink. Both reward an unhurried wander more than a fixed plan, so leave the afternoon open.

Build a day around a bowl of scouse and a slow stretch in either area, and you will have covered how the city actually eats.

Liverpool gives out onto the coast, and the open air is never far from the center. Crosby Beach is the destination worth the trip, where Antony Gormley's Another Place sets 100 cast-iron figures along the sand facing out to sea.

Closer in, Sefton Park covers 235 acres of Grade I listed parkland with a Victorian Palm House at its heart, a short journey from the city center. It works as a slow morning or an afternoon with a book.

Add a Mersey ferry crossing from Pier Head, and you can spend most of a day outdoors without leaving the city region.