Stansted to Liverpool - Monday, 14th of September

We are a family of 4 traveling from Slovenia on September 14th. We land at London Stansted at 11:30 AM and want to go straight to Liverpool, stay 2 nights, and then head to London on September 16th.
We’ll have luggage with us and would appreciate some quick advice from locals/rail experts:

- Best Route: What is the easiest and most practical route from Stansted to Liverpool for a family with bags?
- Buffer Time: Our flight lands at 11:30 AM. How much buffer time should we build in before booking a train out of Stansted?
- Advance vs. Airport Tickets: Should we book Advance tickets online now, or buy them at the airport station when we land? How severe is the price difference?
- Flight Delays & Cancellations: If our flight is delayed and we miss a fixed Advance train, are we out of luck, or is there any flexibility/insurance?

Thanks for any help!

Best route is train to Nuneaton then connecting train to Lime Street. You could do into London Liverpool Street then tube to Euston then train again to Lime Street.

Firstly, I would suggest getting a family and friends railcard (assuming at least one of you is under 16). If not, consider a pair of two together railcards. These can save alot of money

In terms of routes, there are the following:
Cross Country / Greater Anglia to Ely, then East Midlands Railway to Liverpool (very slow, likely cheapest if booked in advance, also a single easy change)
Stansted Express to London, then Avanti to Liverpool (most hassle transferring across London)
Changing at Nuneaton as mentioned above is also a good option (also a single change of train, not much hassle)

Ticket wise, I would recommend an off peak return, route any permitted. £90.35 adult £25.75 child each. This allows you to travel via any permitted route, either via London or avoiding London with the above suggestions. This allows you to take any off peak* train, and also is the same price if purchased on the day from a ticket office.
My suggestion would be to use the outward portion, changing at the aforementioned locations. I recommend using https://www.fastjp.com/ to work out where to change. Your trip to London on the 16th can then use the return portion of the ticket. If you are travelling from London to Stansted, you can use the remainder of the return portion of your ticket.

* https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=SSD&dest=LIV&grpd=0435&rlc=FAM&ldn=1&tkt=SVR has the time restrictions. It is very unlikely you will be affected

andrejkoman said:

We are a family of 4 traveling from Slovenia on September 14th. We land at London Stansted at 11:30 AM and want to go straight to Liverpool, stay 2 nights, and then head to London on September 16th.
We’ll have luggage with us and would appreciate some quick advice from locals/rail experts:

- Best Route: What is the easiest and most practical route from Stansted to Liverpool for a family with bags?
- Buffer Time: Our flight lands at 11:30 AM. How much buffer time should we build in before booking a train out of Stansted?
- Advance vs. Airport Tickets: Should we book Advance tickets online now, or buy them at the airport station when we land? How severe is the price difference?
- Flight Delays & Cancellations: If our flight is delayed and we miss a fixed Advance train, are we out of luck, or is there any flexibility/insurance?

Thanks for any help!

Click to expand...

Btw - your first post. Welcome to the forum.

GRALISTAIR said:

Best route is train to Nuneaton then connecting train to Lime Street. You could do into London Liverpool Street then tube to Euston then train again to Lime Street.

Click to expand...

There are few, if any diirect trains between Nuneaton & Liverpool - you would need to change trains at Crewe, (or sometimes Tamworth.) The easiest route is Stansted to Ely, then Ely to Liverpool. That may be slower, but avoids the messy transfer across London with luggage between Liverpool Street & Euston stations.

You can check train times at this website:


Adjust the station name & date of travel to meet your requirements. If you wish, you can also buy tickets via that website.

GRALISTAIR said:

Best route is train to Nuneaton then connecting train to Lime Street. You could do into London Liverpool Street then tube to Euston then train again to Lime Street.

Click to expand...

As previously said Liverpool trains do not stop at Nuneaton only each hour at Tamworth or Lichfield Trent Valley.They could stay on until Birmingham New Street and change for Liverpool there.

childwallblues said:

As previously said Liverpool trains do not stop at Nuneaton only each hour at Tamworth or Lichfield Trent Valley.They could stay on until Birmingham New Street and change for Liverpool there.

Click to expand...

Yes sorry about that.

andrejkoman said:

We are a family of 4 traveling from Slovenia on September 14th. We land at London Stansted at 11:30 AM and want to go straight to Liverpool, stay 2 nights, and then head to London on September 16th.
We’ll have luggage with us and would appreciate some quick advice from locals/rail experts

Click to expand...

Crithylum said:

Cross Country / Greater Anglia to Ely, then East Midlands Railway to Liverpool (very slow, likely cheapest if booked in advance, also a single easy change)

Click to expand...

A word of caution about changing trains at Ely.

Trains from Stansted usually call in platform 1 at Ely. Trains to Liverpool usually depart from platform 3. Getting from platform 1 to platform 3 requires a long walk through a subway which only has ramps, there are no lifts.

GRALISTAIR said:

Yes sorry about that.

Click to expand...

To be fair, this used to pretty much be the recommended way to do it if not travelling via London. The first time I did Liverpool->Cambridge just over 30 years ago, I changed at Nuneaton. I believe the ticket office staff at Lime Street advised this.

Unfortunately nowadays the Avanti services don't stop at Nuneaton, and the connection onto the LNWR Crewe services is rubbish in both directions (both involve a 40-45 minute wait) and then requires an extra change at Tamworth/Lichfield/Stafford/Crewe. Going via Birmingham is quite a bit longer and itself requires a ~30 minute wait, but you get there at the same time and with only one change.

Magdalia said:

A word of caution about changing trains at Ely.

Trains from Stansted usually call in platform 1 at Ely. Trains to Liverpool usually depart from platform 3. Getting from platform 1 to platform 3 requires a long walk through a subway which only has ramps, there are no lifts.

Click to expand...

I'd hardly call it a long walk no matter how much luggage you have , a couple of minutes tops and the fact that it is a subway with step free access makes it even better.