The train
TransPennine Express and Northern both run between Manchester and Liverpool. From Manchester Piccadilly to Liverpool Lime Street, the faster services are about 35 to 50 minutes. Stopping trains take longer and are the ones that look cheap until you notice the extra half-hour and the change. Manchester Victoria also has Liverpool services and can be the smoother departure if your hotel is already on that side of the city. Check which Manchester station is printed on the ticket.
Lime Street
Liverpool Lime Street is on the edge of the centre, a short walk downhill toward the shopping streets and about fifteen to twenty minutes on foot to the Royal Albert Dock if you are not weaving through a match-day crowd. Moorfields and James Street, on the Merseyrail underground, are the local hops if your hotel is on the waterfront and your bag has had enough. Merseyrail is the city network. It is not the train from Manchester.
Coach, car, and why not to fly
The coach is about an hour in normal traffic and slower when the M62 is not normal. Driving is 45 to 75 minutes on that same motorway, plus parking at both ends, which removes most of the advantage unless you are keeping the car for north Wales the next day. There is no serious reason to fly between these cities.
What changes when you stay the night
A day trip gets you the waterfront and a queue. A night gets you the cathedrals in the morning, when the light is on the river and the coach parties are still on the motorway, and a proper evening in Ropewalks or the Baltic Triangle. Beatles sites are scattered — a tour or a deliberate walk, not something you pass on the way to the dock.
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