Eureka! Science + Discovery

About this place

The best exhibit is the journey. The Mersey Ferry leaves Pier Head, in front of the Three Graces, roughly once an hour, and about ten minutes later you step off at Seacombe on the far bank with the museum inside the terminal building itself. Children treat it as a voyage to a science island; parents get the finest view of the Liverpool waterfront there is, from the water, for little more than the price of the crossing. Eureka! opened in November 2022 in the former Spaceport building and is the second outpost of the well-known Eureka! in Halifax. The idea is the same: science done with hands rather than eyes, for children from birth to around fourteen. The zones are Bodies, Homes, Nature and a Make Create workshop, there is a dedicated area for the youngest called The Burrow (ages 0-7) so toddlers are not trampled by the big kids, and there is picnic space outside on the bank of the river. Everything is meant to be turned, pushed, built and taken apart, and you will struggle to find a sign that says do not touch. Two to three hours is plenty. Your ticket automatically becomes a free annual pass, which matters little to a visitor from the Gulf unless the family is staying in the north-west for weeks. Be clear about what this is: a children's venue and nothing else. An adult without kids will find an expensive soft-play. Even with children, the explanations are all in English, though touching and testing need no translation. Booking ahead on the official site is effectively compulsory: you book a date and arrival slot in advance, the walk-up price is two pounds higher, and the museum itself says it cannot guarantee space at busy times without an existing booking. The building is flat and pushchair-friendly, with accessible toilets, baby-changing and a Changing Places room, a chill-out room, and a cafe serving hot and cold meals with no advertised halal option. Watch the hours, because they shift. In term time the museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, shuts at 15:00 Wednesday to Friday and at 16:00 at weekends; in school holidays, including July and August, it opens every day, usually with longer hours, so check the site before you go. If not by ferry, drive through the Kingsway Tunnel from central Liverpool in about fifteen minutes (small toll); the adjacent car park is about 3.50 pounds for three hours. Merseyrail to Hamilton Square in Birkenhead then a bus or a half-hour walk also works, but it is a far duller way to arrive than the water.