Grand National 2022: The best way to get to and from Aintree Racecourse

With a series of road closures and traffic management systems in place for the duration of the Grand National Festival the main advice is to use public transport.

The world-renowned event has reopened to spectators after two years of COVID restrictions and thousand of racegoers are expected to descend on Aintree Racecourse over each of the three days of the festival, from Thursday, April 7, to Saturday, April 9.

Make sure you allow plenty of time for your journey and check relevant social media feeds or websites for service updates.

TRAIN

Merseyrail will be running a train service every 10 minutes between Liverpool city centre and Aintree station on the Northern Line branch.

On Thursday and Friday they will run from Central Station and Moorfields from 10:30am to 1:50pm before the races and from 4:25pm to 8:25pm after the races.

On Saturday, the service will run from Central Station from 10:30am to 1:50pm before the races and from 5:35pm to 9:00pm after the races have finished.

Merseyrail will also be giving out their ‘cult’ Grand National flip flops at Aintree station for racegoers with sore and weary feet at the end of the day.

BUS

Bus services will depart from the main hub at Queen Square in Liverpool city centre.

The 300, 310 and 345 services run regularly to Aintree but for the latter the last service is at 4:00pm on Thursday and Friday and 5:00pm on Saturday.

Arriva and Stagecoach will also be running a Grand National shuttle service on Friday and Saturday.

The 922 will run from Commutation Row in the city centre to Aintree between 10:00am and 2:00pm and return from Aintree (Deltic Way/Park Lane) from 5:30pm until 8:00pm.

Road closures will mean detours and alterations to other services to the area and you can find out more on the MerseyTravel website.

ROAD

Not recommended unless your are on one of the bus services as road management measures will be in place to ensure official race traffic can get to and from the course smoothly.

Residents who are not attending the festival are advised to avoid the A59 Ormskirk Road from Switch Island through to the Black Bull junction.

Ormskirk Road (A59), as well as Park Lane between Bridle Road and Ormskirk Road, will be closed between 4pm and 9pm on all three festival days.

Heavy traffic is expected on the A59 from 10:00am - 2:00pm.

During the closure, traffic will be diverted via Switch Island, Dunnings Bridge Road, Netherton Way and Southport Road.

Liverpool City Council have also confirmed that road works on County Road will be paused for the duration of the world’s most famous horse racing festival.

Since February, the road in L4 has been closed overnight from 7:00pm to 6:00am for upgrading but the closures from Spellow Lane to Hale Road will be paused after Wednesday night.