ftbargain

We did a train 'cruise' on California Zephyr last summer and it was awesome . Kids ( 5 and 7) are asking for another trip. We are thinking about Coastal Starlight (Seattle/Portland - LA) or Empire Builder (Chicago - Seattle/Portland. We can start from any of these cities as our main intention is sight seeing.

Having said that ,which route would you recommend for us..and what time of the year. (Fall foliage / snow would be awesome.)

Coast Starlight : (35 hours)

• seattle 9:00 am -----> Portand 2:00 pm -----> LA 9 pm
• LA 10 am -----> Portland 4:00 pm -----> Seattle 9:00 pm

Empire builder : (46 hours)

• chicago 2:15 pm -----> Portland/seattle : 10:30 am
• Portland/seattle 4:40 pm -----> chicago : 4:00 pm

3Cforme

The Empire Builder and Coast Starlight may have their fans, but I would pick the Southwest Chief over either. Open jaw plane tickets into Kansas City*, out of Los Angeles. Travel anytime April to October (early might get you high elevation snow) as one wants to have some warm sun, best to flatter the red rock formations.

* Kansas City to Lamar, CO, will be in darkness much of the year.

bchas

For sightseeing, the California Zephyr from Sacramento / Denver in either direction is hard to beat.

home92345

I've ridden all their western routes would recommend the Starlight if sight seeing is what you want. I prefer northbound on the Starlight. The first day you get all the running along the coast in California. Southbound some of the coast might be in the dark if you travel in the shorter days or the train is late. On the second day you will have the Cascades in Oregon, maybe Mt. Shasta early in the morning. Southbound, other than in the summer, a lot of the best mountain scenery in Oregon will be after dark. The Starlight gives you two nice sightseeing days with only one night on the train, some of the other trains will be the other way around, two nights and one good day. If you take the northbound, consider getting off at Portland instead of Seattle with it's fairly late arrival.

I'd recommend the Empire Builder be done in the summer, the Rocky Mountains in the Glacier Park area are passed by the eastbound in the morning and westbound in the evening, you'll see much more of them in the summer. On the Empire Builder in any season I also like the ride along the Mississippi River between St. Paul and La Crosse and the ride along the Columbia River on the Portland sectIon of the train.

My children like train rides too, next week I'm taking my daughter LA to Chicago. We've already done the Starlight on the California portion this year and two years ago took it to Portland and back.

One more thing, look into the train in Canada, especially Vancouver to Jasper or Edmonton.

KenHamer

Not directly related to visuals, but perhaps interesting nonetheless.

The Empire Builder seems to be unique in the Amtrak system in that the roomettes and bedrooms start out cheap (booked well in advance) and get more expensive closer to travel while the family bedrooms start out super expensive and then nosedive as the departure date approaches. In the week before the departure, you can often find that a family bedroom is several hundred dollars less than a roomette, and as much as $1000 less than a bedroom.

I'm guessing that the reason for this is an assumption that anyone requiring a family bedroom would likely need lots of advance time to make arrangements for the trip. Therefore, if there are unsold family bedrooms close to departure the assumption follows that it is unlikely that anyone who needs the family bedroom would be unable to put the trip together on such short notice.

Note that this doesn't apply so much in the summer.

Also, Seattle is likely to be much less expensive than Portland, particularly if you want a bedroom, of any sort.

Not the biggest difference, but still a close in example of this phenomenon:

darben

If doing it on points why not try to do both?
The empire builder/coast starlight to LA is a legitimate booking option
Two zone award

ftbargain

We did Zephyr last summer. Looking for other options.

Thank you.


Very intresting. I dint know that...did not even think about it.

Yes, its points redemption. and I have 40150 points barely enough for two 2-zone roomettes.

Just to clarify, Can I book LA to Seattle on Starlight (reach seattle at 9 pm) , stay at a hotel (on my dime) for a night and continue from Seattle (next day 4:30 pm) to Chicago on Empire Builder and this (rommette) is possible with just 20000 points ? When I look on their website they dont list this option in amtrakguestrewards (but they have LAX-PDX- {on Starlight} PDX - CHI {on Empire} as an itinerary on their regular website) .

BobH

This route should be given some priority because it now goes over Raton Pass in New Mexico, but could switch to a different route in the not that far away future.

Best time of the year to do this type of trip is late May to early June because there's more day light then.

Bob H.

darben

Ask nicely for chi-sea-lax but my bet is they will not do it. this thread seems to suggest it may be possible
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amtra...-required.html

But my guess is they will book you chi-pdx-lax.

By the way there are a couple of different car rentals close to Amtrak LA but they are closed when you arrive. There is an okay hotel close to train station and there is dedicated bus service to airport from station as well.

Hotels near all Amtrak stations can be found here
http://kevinkorell.com/hotels/hotels.htm

3Cforme

Thanks for mentioning that. Raton Pass is a highlight but not the only scenery offered by the Southwest Chief, IMHO. Are there public discussions about alternative routes between La Junta and Albuquerque?

CMK10

I've done both. The Coast Starlight has the advantage of great scenery almost the whole way. You'll get right along the ocean outside LA, then Central Valley of CA and then my favorite part, the Cascades of Oregon before you roll into Portland.

With the Builder your ride through Glacier National Park is stunning, the best views I've seen from a train and I've done all the big named Amtrak runs. However, once you get past that it's mainly flat prairie which can get old fast. Plus, the Coast Starlight has the Pacific Parlor Car.

In terms of the best scenery I say:
1. Coast Starlight
2. California Zephyr. Emeryville to Denver is unparalleled, however it gets lame after that
3. Empire Builder
4. Southwest Chief

Jwebber57

I think starlight northbound would be better, I did the southbound leg for my 30th birthday it was beautiful and going along the pacific is something you need to experience , words alone can't describe it

BobH

There are rumors that pop up from time to time on some of the rail oriented discussion boards such as Trainorders.... I think it's only a matter of time with "how much time?" a big unknown.

Bob H

ftbargain

We are considering LAX-PDX-CHI but the problem is there is only an hour connecting time at PDX. What if Starlight was delayed and we were not able to connect ? (Sorry, not used to train transfers).

How far are the transit 'gates' ? Is 1 hour enough for a transit ? As Amtrak lists it as a published route it should be enough, but I'm not sure how it works with luggage and two kids 5 and 7.

CHI-PDX-LAX has a 4 hour trnsit at PDX. But, the problem is that one reaches LDX at 9 pm and I'm afraid we may lose the scenery of the coast if its delayed.

darben

If it is published route (available for booking on Amtrak.com) then it is a guaranteed connection. If you are running late they will try to hold your connection for you. It will actually take you less than 10 minutes to get to next train..
If the train has departed they will put you on next train regardless of class of service. If no train is available you will be put in a hotel until the next day when a train is available. YOU MAY NOT GET A ROOM and have to be sat in coach all the way to Chicago or until the 2 sections join where a room MIGHT be available.
As far as luggage your checked luggage will probably go directly to Chi on a train out of LAX probably on the SouthWest Chief