Anfield

Anfield isn't pretty in the architectural-spread sense, and that's precisely the point. Wedged into a grid of Victorian terraces in north Liverpool, the ground sneaks up on you between corner shops and chippies until the new Anfield Road End looms overhead. The £80m expansion was finally signed off in March 2025, taking capacity to 61,276 and shoving the Reds into the Premier League's top five for size.

The Kop is the room everyone comes to see. Built in 1906 and named for the South African hill where hundreds of Liverpudlians died in the Boer War, it's a single-tier wall of 12,000-odd that still generates the noise other clubs spend fortunes trying to manufacture. Pre-kick-off, the Gerry & The Pacemakers recording of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' goes up, scarves stretch above heads, and even neutrals tend to shut up.

The 2025/26 season was a sobering one. Arne Slot followed his title-winning debut with a defence that unravelled in the spring: Arsenal sealed the league at Bournemouth on 19 May, and Mohamed Salah, in his ninth and final season, agreed to leave as a free agent after a public row with the manager and a meagre goal return. Expect rebuild talk to dominate the summer.

Outside the Main Stand on 97 Avenue, the Hillsborough memorial keeps its eternal flame burning for the 97 who never came home from Sheffield in 1989. Pause there before you go in.

Liverpool is a port city built on shipping, music and a particular brand of self-mythologising swagger. The waterfront, Beatles tourism and the Baltic Triangle's craft-beer-and-warehouse-party scene all sit within a 20-minute walk of Lime Street, but Anfield is a proper trek north into L4 territory.

The walk through Everton Park from the city is a decent introduction to the residential Liverpool that football built: Victorian terraces, corner pubs and a slow rise to the floodlights.

Bus

The 26 from Liverpool ONE bus station is the cleanest run, dropping you a two-minute walk from the ground. The 17 leaves Queen's Square and the 27 picks up around Sir Thomas Street; allow 25-30 minutes in matchday traffic.

Train + walk

Take Merseyrail's Northern Line from Liverpool Central to Sandhills (six minutes), then walk the signposted 25 minutes through Stanley Park. The dedicated Soccerbus shuttle that used to run from Sandhills was discontinued after Hill Dickinson took on the route sponsorship, so check the latest before you bank on it.

Walking

It's a 40-45 minute slog uphill from the city centre via Everton Brow. Doable on a dry day, miserable in November.

Driving

Don't. Residents-only parking zones extend for nearly a mile around the ground on matchdays and stewards are merciless.

Get there early. The Sandon on Oakfield Road is the club's spiritual birthplace (Liverpool FC was literally founded inside it in 1892) and fills up two hours before kick-off. The Albert, jammed against the Kop, is home fans only and loud with it. The Park, directly opposite, runs the same policy.

Away supporters head for The Arkles on Anfield Road, the long-established neutral pub, while The Flat Iron on Walton Breck Road is another home-leaning local with proper terraced-house energy. The Twelve, the newer fan bar on Anfield Road, is ticketed on big games.

Grab a scouse pie from the kiosks on Anfield Road rather than the chain options, and bring cash for the programme sellers around the Shankly Gates.