What is the best way to travel the US?
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I have traveled cross country in the US many times and I think it is the best way to travel. Whether it is worth it depends on you. It was worth it to me.
My starting location was always Orlando, where I reside. If you do not reside in or near a station location and plan to fly, maybe Chicago is a good starting point.
My starting location was always Orlando, where I reside. If you do not reside in or near a station location and plan to fly, maybe Chicago is a good starting point.
Best way, for starters, is to familiarize yourself with where Amtrak goes by studying the Amtrak System Route Map: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...lic/documents/Maps/Amtrak-System-Map-1018.pdf
As far as starting location - that's a tough one and depends largely on what you want to see, your budget and how much time you have. For seeing the most without repeating any sights, start at Hudson NY and follow this route:
As far as starting location - that's a tough one and depends largely on what you want to see, your budget and how much time you have. For seeing the most without repeating any sights, start at Hudson NY and follow this route:
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What's the goal for your whole-country trip? Train travel is decent for certain kinds of travel, and not so good for other kinds.
If the goal of this trip is to see the natural beauty of America, see the varied landscapes across the country, and see a small slice of America via train passengers, then rail transportation is great as long as you're not in a hurry and are okay with seeing it mainly through the window. Many of the most beautiful areas do have some public transit links when you get there, but they may not be very good and your options may be limited. In small towns on the prairies of the Midwest or Great Plains, you'd almost certainly have to spend 24ish hours there and hope there's a hotel within walking distance of the station.
If you have certain sights in mind you want to see, or you want to be able to experience a larger slice of America (particularly small towns, roadside attractions, and the "traditional American road trip") then take a car. Trains are enjoyable but extremely limited in most of the country, and public transit, even in larger cities, is often infrequent or simply unavailable. If you have the time, doing some parts by train and some parts by rental car would be a decent compromise, especially if there's large sections where you're not really wanting to stop anywhere and there's a decent rail connection.
If the goal of this trip is to see the natural beauty of America, see the varied landscapes across the country, and see a small slice of America via train passengers, then rail transportation is great as long as you're not in a hurry and are okay with seeing it mainly through the window. Many of the most beautiful areas do have some public transit links when you get there, but they may not be very good and your options may be limited. In small towns on the prairies of the Midwest or Great Plains, you'd almost certainly have to spend 24ish hours there and hope there's a hotel within walking distance of the station.
If you have certain sights in mind you want to see, or you want to be able to experience a larger slice of America (particularly small towns, roadside attractions, and the "traditional American road trip") then take a car. Trains are enjoyable but extremely limited in most of the country, and public transit, even in larger cities, is often infrequent or simply unavailable. If you have the time, doing some parts by train and some parts by rental car would be a decent compromise, especially if there's large sections where you're not really wanting to stop anywhere and there's a decent rail connection.
Devil's Advocate
⠀⠀⠀
In a sleeper? I'm not sure I follow your intended meaning.
Amtrak is the slowest and most expensive option in most of the country but "worth" is an opinion.
Chicago? Los Angeles? Seattle? It's unclear what the focus or criteria is for these questions.
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Qapla
Engineer
That depends on where you live or where you will arrive if coming from another country
But that route completely misses Florida - if you start in Miami, you could see more places and still end in NY covering most of the same places without any more backtracking than shown.
Your profile indicates your are in the USA, and your original question asks about Amtrak in particular. What we don't know is how much time and money you can budget for Amtrak, and whether you want to make one grand trip or lots of different trips over time. So, I will make a couple of assumptions in providing my feedback: you have all the time you need for a single grand trip, and you have all the money you need to do it. It's kinda like my daydream. 
Where to start? That's easy. Start at the nearest Amtrak station to your home.
But before deciding on your route, I would follow Niemi24s's advice to familiarize myself with Amtrak's route map. Then, I would watch as many videos about Amtrak as possible on YouTube (assuming you haven't already done so). But take some of the comments on those videos with a grain of salt, because they may be incomplete or downright incorrect.
Then I would plan my trip on the map. If you look at the intersecting long distance trains, you can see that the routes very loosely describe the pattern of the Union Jack flag. Very broadly speaking, there are routes around the edges of the country, routes that run diagonally from the four corners, and routes that run through the middle both north/south and east/west. (You have to assume that Chicago is smack-dab in the middle of the country where the north/south, east/west, and diagonal routes intersect for this imagery to make sense.)
You can then draw your route any way you want along those lines with very few repetitive rides. You my have to add one or two spurs (e.g. Florida and New England) but most of the rest of it will be original trackage.
So that's my daydream solution. You, of course, will be limited in your planning by all sorts of factors not dealt with here.
Two things about travel I firmly believe in: half the fun is in the planning, and there's no part of North America that is boring scenery. And that includes the endless central plains and the arid southwest desert.
So go ahead and turn your daydream into reality!
Where to start? That's easy. Start at the nearest Amtrak station to your home.
But before deciding on your route, I would follow Niemi24s's advice to familiarize myself with Amtrak's route map. Then, I would watch as many videos about Amtrak as possible on YouTube (assuming you haven't already done so). But take some of the comments on those videos with a grain of salt, because they may be incomplete or downright incorrect.
Then I would plan my trip on the map. If you look at the intersecting long distance trains, you can see that the routes very loosely describe the pattern of the Union Jack flag. Very broadly speaking, there are routes around the edges of the country, routes that run diagonally from the four corners, and routes that run through the middle both north/south and east/west. (You have to assume that Chicago is smack-dab in the middle of the country where the north/south, east/west, and diagonal routes intersect for this imagery to make sense.)
You can then draw your route any way you want along those lines with very few repetitive rides. You my have to add one or two spurs (e.g. Florida and New England) but most of the rest of it will be original trackage.
So that's my daydream solution. You, of course, will be limited in your planning by all sorts of factors not dealt with here.
Two things about travel I firmly believe in: half the fun is in the planning, and there's no part of North America that is boring scenery. And that includes the endless central plains and the arid southwest desert.
So go ahead and turn your daydream into reality!
Qapla
Engineer
A thought about how to accomplish such a trip - several years before the pandemic a friend and I thought about riding the train to the four corners of the country. We had been looking at using the USA Rail Pass. It seemed like it would save us money and allow us to plan places to get off the train for a few days to visit with friends and family along the way.
Thanks question what is the difference between the orange lines and the black lines ?
Looks like the orange lines were the suggested route, and the black lines were bits of Amtrak's route map which would be skipped on the suggested route.
Is rail travel the best way to see the USA? You take the trip on the ground, see many small towns and on some routes there is beautiful scenery to enjoy. While we are dedicated rail travelers I must say that seeing American by car, although less convenient gives you more of an opportunity to get out on the back roads. We seem to do both by renting a car at our destination enjoying the local city and also taking a road trip. We will do this in 2023 by arriving in Winslow, AZ and then driving up to the Grand Canyon North Rim.
Rambling Robert
Lead Service Attendant
It would be great to have a railpass for several months and not just one. It’s cool to think Amtrak is being a hotel room, coach or sleeper. If I time it right I’d arrive at a point of interest in the daytime. Or it might mean sleeping in the station (if safe) at night. Visiting friends and family - a friend just bought a home near Orlando so I’d explore Orlando/Florida.
I’m good with eating once a day and the Cafe is fine. The fact of cost of staying overnight - in cities there are inexpensive hostels and that would be the biggest unknown and require research hostels and inexpensive places for overnights.
I haven’t used busses much but would need to research Amtrak Thruway and other busses. My experiences with Enterprise - I feel like never wanting to rent a car again.
Traveling by coach is by the best value but a railpass of three to six months would allow a lot of time on the rails.
As a home base I like the Wells Maine Amtrak station - easy to request to the station or town to park for weeks just so they know it’s not abandoned. It’s free with 24/7 monitoring.
I’m good with eating once a day and the Cafe is fine. The fact of cost of staying overnight - in cities there are inexpensive hostels and that would be the biggest unknown and require research hostels and inexpensive places for overnights.
I haven’t used busses much but would need to research Amtrak Thruway and other busses. My experiences with Enterprise - I feel like never wanting to rent a car again.
Traveling by coach is by the best value but a railpass of three to six months would allow a lot of time on the rails.
As a home base I like the Wells Maine Amtrak station - easy to request to the station or town to park for weeks just so they know it’s not abandoned. It’s free with 24/7 monitoring.
Qapla
Engineer
Except that, most people, when they travel by car, take the Interstates so the country wizzes by at 70-80 mph with semi-trailers blocking the view
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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I am with @dlagrua on this. It still remains true that a car gives you access to a much much larger swath of America than trains do. The fact that many people just travel on highways does not change that. For example, when I wished to visit Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower, there was no point in wasting time looking for a train. The obvious choice was to fly to Rapid City and rent a car.
That is true and while we love trains we also rent a car at every destination we arrive at and get out on the smaller roads. For instance the year we went to Mt Rushmore, we took the CZ into Denver. Then we began a long road trip through Wyoming to Hot Springs, SD stayed an overnight and drove through Wind Cave National Park, then Custer State Park finally arriving in Rapid city for a next day trip to Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Then we worked our way up to Deadwood for two nights, then headed back stopped in Boulder and worked our way to Denver to catch the CZ to home.. We enjoy a train trip combined with a road trip on our vacations.
Qapla
Engineer
I agree. I have been on more backroads in more states than I can remember. But then, I also like riding the train. I was not saying that driving a car is not a good way to see the country - it is a very good way.
I was just pointing out that many people who complain about the train not being a good way to see things because it is too slow, doesn't go to as many places or in some other way is deficient are the same ones who fly over the country because it's faster or, when they drive, take the Interstate and mostly go to theme parks or "destinations" and still don't really see the country.
I was just pointing out that many people who complain about the train not being a good way to see things because it is too slow, doesn't go to as many places or in some other way is deficient are the same ones who fly over the country because it's faster or, when they drive, take the Interstate and mostly go to theme parks or "destinations" and still don't really see the country.
The parts of the "whole country" that you can see by train are, indeed, limited. There's the Northeast, parts of the Southeast, the Midwest (lines radiating out of Chicago), and service in California and the Pacific Northwest. You can see a lot of interesting things from the long-distance trains that connect these regions, but a good portion of the long-distance routes involves travel at night, so you miss that part of the country. There are really only 4 transcontinental routes connecting Chicago with the West Coast (one of which also connects to New Orleans), and only 3 routes connecting Chicago with the Northeast, so if you want to see interesting places in between these routes, you will need to stop off somewhere and rent a car.
Actually, if you want to see the United States outside of a few of the major cities, you will either need to drive a car, have someone drive it for you, or take a bus tour, which is a more economical way to have someone drive for you.
Actually, if you want to see the United States outside of a few of the major cities, you will either need to drive a car, have someone drive it for you, or take a bus tour, which is a more economical way to have someone drive for you.
Rambling Robert
Lead Service Attendant
Hopefully someday the various modes of transportation are integrated into a database and include arrival times, layovers, costs, etc.for ALL different modes selected. The Amtrak Thruway busses is integrated, even to local MBTA trains - but all busses local/city that’d be an alternative.
Boston to “viaTheOcean”? How? I know I should soon schedule my planned trip before my dates are sold out. - but in 2023 will the MBTA extend to Springfield MA? Vermonter to Montreal? Can I travel in a circle from PortlandME to Springfield to Montreal to Halifax NS to lYarmouth NS to Bar Harbor ME to Bangor to Portland ME?
Maybe the database wil mention future connection?
Boston to “viaTheOcean”? How? I know I should soon schedule my planned trip before my dates are sold out. - but in 2023 will the MBTA extend to Springfield MA? Vermonter to Montreal? Can I travel in a circle from PortlandME to Springfield to Montreal to Halifax NS to lYarmouth NS to Bar Harbor ME to Bangor to Portland ME?
Maybe the database wil mention future connection?
I am in agreement. While I love (for the most part
) Amtrak, there have been so many things I've seen by car than I could have ever seen by train. I live close enough to Mt. Rushmore and Devils Tower (about a day and a half drive from my home in Eastern Washington) that when I visited there in 2015 I drove my own car. On the way back, I took the Beartooth Highway over Beartooth Pass and then through Yellowstone. Spectacular scenery, which I never would have seen by train.
This comes back to my initial question - what's the purpose of the trip? Yes, most people fly because it's faster, but that's also because that extra speed is worth missing out seeing scenery at ground level. There's also the enjoyment of seeing a birds-eye view of the world (there's still a lot of beauty to the Rockies when flying over them!) and being able to see the city skyline on final approach back into MSP and feeling like I'm back home. Same with driving - yes, once in a while if I have extra time I'll take the back roads, but if my goal is to visit family for the 52nd time, I'm just going to take the highway because my goal is to get to my family, not to see the sights along the way.
There's certain trips where the train works well, as well as a certain set of priorities when traveling where the train is the best option. Disinvestment in our passenger rail system has limited that a lot, sadly, but it still has a place and should have more of a place if we decided to invest in passenger rail. Especially until we get large, transformative investments in passenger rail, though, there's going to be a lot of trips where driving (or flying) makes the most sense, and for OP it's hard to know whether this trip is best by car or train until we have a better idea for their goals of the trip.
Big difference between what you can SEE from a train vs getting off the train and spending a few days. What you can see from a train in Baltimore is slums, not the inner harbor. One of my favorite rides to get a feel for a area , by train, is NYC to Boston. Skyscrapers of Manhattan, neighborhoods in Queens, the Hell Gate Bridge, da Bronx, CT. suburbs, the Long Island Sound (with water and boats on both sides) and New England towns. A 4-state tour in less than 5 hours.
BoulderCO
Service Attendant
At the age of 79 and traveling the USA for at least 60 of them, I have some personal opinions about the "best" way to travel.
If AmTrak happens to go where you want to go, then it is hard to beat as a relaxing and fairly rapid way to get there. I've enjoyed every train trip I've taken. For over 20 years, I was living in Boulder and my wife was mainly in Chicago because of her business and family being there. On very short notice I could reliably get a Denver/Chicago coach ticket for less than $100 one way on the Zephyr and get back and forth easily and enjoyably, thanks to the Dining car on the train and good public transit on both ends. Did this many times a year. She is now in Boulder, so much less need for this. Also, with the dining car now being closed for coach passengers, it would have a lot less appeal.
The US has a very good infrastructure for car travel and I like to drive. So this transportation mode has also resulted in lots of good memories. Still enjoy a good road trip!
Air travel, in spite of it's headaches, does still provide a way to get to distant places very quickly at a reasonable price. I enjoy it once I'm in the air. To/from the airport and at the airport - not so much.
I've actually had almost no experience with long distance bus travel, so won't comment.
Actually, my very favorite way to travel over the years was by bicycle. For 3 decades, by main hobby was bicycle touring and it was an ideal trade-off between speed and experiences. And, I got some exercise along the way. Saw most all of the US and New Zealand and parts of Europe this way. Could easily cover over 100 miles a day while still having lots of time to explore. Decided to give up the bike a couple years ago (the risk/reward/age thing ;>)
For anything less than 5 miles, public transit or walking is the way to go!
If AmTrak happens to go where you want to go, then it is hard to beat as a relaxing and fairly rapid way to get there. I've enjoyed every train trip I've taken. For over 20 years, I was living in Boulder and my wife was mainly in Chicago because of her business and family being there. On very short notice I could reliably get a Denver/Chicago coach ticket for less than $100 one way on the Zephyr and get back and forth easily and enjoyably, thanks to the Dining car on the train and good public transit on both ends. Did this many times a year. She is now in Boulder, so much less need for this. Also, with the dining car now being closed for coach passengers, it would have a lot less appeal.
The US has a very good infrastructure for car travel and I like to drive. So this transportation mode has also resulted in lots of good memories. Still enjoy a good road trip!
Air travel, in spite of it's headaches, does still provide a way to get to distant places very quickly at a reasonable price. I enjoy it once I'm in the air. To/from the airport and at the airport - not so much.
I've actually had almost no experience with long distance bus travel, so won't comment.
Actually, my very favorite way to travel over the years was by bicycle. For 3 decades, by main hobby was bicycle touring and it was an ideal trade-off between speed and experiences. And, I got some exercise along the way. Saw most all of the US and New Zealand and parts of Europe this way. Could easily cover over 100 miles a day while still having lots of time to explore. Decided to give up the bike a couple years ago (the risk/reward/age thing ;>)
For anything less than 5 miles, public transit or walking is the way to go!
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Just to add to the conversation the train can go to parts of the USA that are not accessible by automobile and plane travel. This is especially true on the Western routes through the Rocky mountains, the Arizona Desert, and through the Cascades in Washington State.
danasgoodstuff
OBS Chief
Train is by far my favorite way to travel. If I could take one to Europe, I would. Did Oregon to Florida and back recently. Would do it again. I hope I live long enough to see a real rebirth of passenger rail in North America.
