SFO

[shill]

Hi,

I am a woman traveller, plan to take a trip on amtrak over the thanksgiving break of 4 days alone. I am in SFO, please suggest which would be the best place on the amtrak route I can travel on. Just looking to relax and enjoy the culture.

tc

shill

 

[Rail Freak]

I seriously thought about your question, & . my honest response is "Throw a dart at the Time Table Map, & go for it!" I really do enjoy Long Distance Train Travel & I pray I never get tired of it!!!

Have Fun

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Depending on your time and budget, to enjoy some good train time and some of Amtrak's best scenery, might I recommend a Circle Trip, taking the Coast Starlight to Portland, transferring to the Empire Builder to Chicago and returning home on the Cal Zephyr. That would mean having to overnight in Chicago, but there's a thing or 2 to do there

 

[BeckysBarn]

Hi,

I am a woman traveller, plan to take a trip on amtrak over the thanksgiving break of 4 days alone. I am in SFO, please suggest which would be the best place on the amtrak route I can travel on. Just looking to relax and enjoy the culture.

tc

shill

4 days...Hmmm. Go either north (Portland or Seattle) or south (LAX) on the Coast Starlight. Overnight at the end point & return. Possibly Emeryville to Denver & back.

 

[zepherdude]

Hi! The first trip I thought of was EMY (Emeryville) to DEN. I crunched some numbers for yah... Leave EMY at 0910 on Thanksgiving Morning and arrive DEN at 6:30 on Friday. Spend the night in DEN with dinner and a movie and leave out at 0805 on Saturday morning and back in EMY at 4:10 on Sunday. Total price was $315.00. Thanksgiving Day must be off peak and a low bucket because the return trip was $192.00. Train would maybe be packed coming back from DEN. I think the snowfall scenes would be very cool and worth the trip. It would be great going through Donner Pass. DEN Amtrak is downtown just across the interstate and close in by taxi. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Chicago]

Some good ideas here.

I think the Empire Builder to or from Portland is better in the summer when it is light enough to see the Columbia River that the train follows for a while. The Empire Builder from Portland and the Empire Builder from Seattle meet in Spokane and the Portland section is put on the rear of the Seattle section making it a long walk from the Portland section to the diner which is in the Seattle Section. The Portland section does not have a diner and the sleeping car passengers have a cold meal included for dinner. There is a food service car but not a diner. The Empire Builder is a beautiful route through the Cascade Tunnel rich in history. After months alone in bitter cold, the railroad surveyor found the passage that Lewis and Clark had tried to find. This tunnel opened up the mid-west to trade from the Orient through Seattle. When you pass the Issac Walton Inn be sure to wave - the guests at this inn come out and wave to the Empire Builder as it passes.

If you do the Emeryville to Denver route the Amtrak transfer to San Francisco must be purchased with your ticket. There are a couple of hotels very near the station in Emeryville if you want to overnight there and have a very short taxi ride to the station in the morning. In Denver there are lots of hotels, one of them you call when you arrive at the station and the bellman walks over with a cart for your luggage. It is in the LoDo (Lower Downtown) area with lots of restaurants around. Of course, high tea and or brunch at the Brown Palace are not to be missed. The best scenery on the California Zephyr is between Glenwood Springs and Denver.

If you go to Seattle, it might be very cold but there is a hotel connected to a mall with a connection to the space needle. It also has a very nice restaurant. We were there Thanksgiving weekend one year and all of the Christmas specials were starting in the mall - very festive.

If you have any more questions about the trains or the cities, just ask. I have done these routes several times.

 

[jimhudson]

The Coast Starlite to/from LA is hard to beat,the Denver turnaround is a good price, Id suggest taking the one thats the best price of these two, the Empire Builder tends to be very pricey (High Bucket) most days! Cant go wrong with any of these routes/ideas the others proposed! Im envious and Ive ridden all of them also! :wub:

 

[shill]

excellent suggestions .. thanks so much.. I love train journeys .. its uncomparable to any other transport.

I will try to book it tonight and will let you know what I decided on.

Thanks so much.. you are all awesome.