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Based upon recent posts, it sounds like folks are planning some pretty nice trips:)

I've been planning a LD rail trip to northern Arizona to visit the Grand Canyon and other parks. I'll probably checkout the Grand Canyon Railway and perhaps the Verde Canyon excursion train as well. Of course, I hope to take in as much of northern Arizona's grandure and history as possible!

Has anyone visited Flagstaff, and if so what lodging and sights would you recommend? I'm looking for hotels relatively close to the train station. I understand there are a couple of historic hotels, one of which claims to be haunted :ph34r:

This will be my first trip on the Southwest Chief and I can't wait.

Thanks!

Deimos
 
I can't really help you out with hotel recommendations, but a small company called Open Road Tours is based in the Flagstaff Amtrak Station and operates a variety of tours from there to Phoenix, the Grand Canyon, Scottsdale, Verde Valley for the scenic excursion train, etc. Be sure to check out their website.

I have traveled on their shuttle from Flagstaff to Phoenix (to connect to/from the Southwest Chief trains, Amtrak will ticket you through on it as a valid thruway motorcoach connection) and have taken their Grand Canyon tour. Their staff is knowledgable and friendly; the tours are awesome. This is one of the best tour companies I have ever run across.
 
I took the SWC to Flagstaff about three years ago. I stayed a night at a LaQuinta Inn in Flagstaff, and found the accommodations more than acceptable. It was a very short ride from the Amtrak station. Flagstaff LaQuinta website

You'll thoroughly enjoy the Grand Canyon. Words and pictures cannot do it justice...it's absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to do the Grand Canyon Railway.

The entire crew aboard the Chief was also excellent. It made for a very enjoyable trip.

Have a great time!!
 
If you take the Grand Canyon Train, it is worth upgrading to the dome or rear observation car. Plenty of free eats and drinks and the view is much better, The rear observation car has a platform you can stand on and watch the world go by.
 
Deimos

When are you heading out on the SWC? My wife and I will be in Mid-May, We will be getting off in Winslow as my aunt will be coming up from Payson to pick us up and that is the shortest distance for her.

My parents and aunt have taken Verde Canyon and have found that to be a really nice trip. We'll be taking that one as well. We'll be at the Grand Canyon that week, but will be driving. I considered the train, but we needed to keep things under budget (I *really* wanted to take a dome car). Oh well, something for next time.

Have a great trip!! Let us know how it goes.

dan72
 
Thanks for the excellent ideas!!

The current plan is to head west in October, but I wish I could go sooner! Basic schedule is: SWC into Williams JCT; GCRR to the Canyon; a few days in the park; then back to Williams on GCRR; stay in Flagstaff for a few days; back home courtesy of the Chief. I still need to work out some details, like hotels, and figure out what sites I can checkout in 2+ days at Flagstaff.

Dan - Sounds like you have a winner of trip lined up! You'll have to let us know how your May trip to Grand Canyon and Verde Canyon goes. I originally thought about stopping in Winslow and then driving to the canyon. Being a novice astronomer, I thought I'd checkout Meteor Crater (another hole in the ground) on the way. But, I think I'll visit the crater on one of my layover days in Flagstaff.

MrFSS & qswager - you talked me into the GCRR upgrade! I was reading older posts about folks taking the this train to the canyon and I must say it sounds like alot of fun. I could probably do without the singing cowboy (just not my thing), but I can see where kids may enjoy the entertainment.

JC - thanks for the tip about Open Road Tours. They will make transit between Williams and Flagstaff pretty easy. Looks like the schedule will allow me to take the GCRR from the Canyon into Williams, where I can get a quick bite to eat, and then hitch a ride on Open Road to Flagstaff.

Guest - Michigan - (Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue! - sorry I felt like I needed to pay honors to a work colleague) . I have to agree with you - the Grand Canyon is simply amazing! I visited there a few years back and quite simply felt overwhelmed.

Thanks again everyone !

Deimos
 
MrFSS & qswager - you talked me into the GCRR upgrade! I was reading older posts about folks taking the this train to the canyon and I must say it sounds like alot of fun. I could probably do without the singing cowboy (just not my thing), but I can see where kids may enjoy the entertainment.
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When we rode a few years ago, on the trip back to Williams, a bunch of "outlaws" rode up to the train on horses and tried to robe everyone. The kids really got a kick out of this. The sheriff showed up and "arrested" them all.
 
MrFSS said:
When we rode a few years ago, on the trip back to Williams, a bunch of "outlaws" rode up to the train on horses and tried to robe everyone. The kids really got a kick out of this. The sheriff showed up and "arrested" them all.
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Aww, now you spoiled the surprise for him. When I traveled on the GCRR, an eccentric elderly gentleman in the coach I was traveling in thought the thing was real. He pulled a gun on them and we thought he was part of the act until a couple repeat passengers told him it was just a joke. It still makes for a great laugh.
 
Thanks again for all of the info. I'll be sure to hide my wallet if I see suspicious folks chasing the GCRR train ;)

Cheers!

Deimos
 
We have been out to the Flagstaff Twice on SWC. The trip was great and the kids loved the train. When we were out there we stayed at the Hoilday Inn both times. I t was very nice and my wife found some great deals on the net. If you really like trains I would ask for one of the rooms closer to the tracks. It is great to see the freights run up and down the tracks and, believe me you will see a lot of train traffic. We didn't take the Grand Canyon Train. I would like to take it some time . I hope you have a great trip.
 
Thanks for the helpful information trainbuff :)

I''ve done a bit of research about Flagstaff hotels since I made my original posting - and have been considering everyone's advice...decisions, decisions. Right now its a toss up between the historic and apparently haunted Monte Vista Hotel (within walking distance of the train station), the tried and true Holiday Inn (lots of guest points to use), and La Quinta.

Everyone seems to really like the Southwest Chief given the scenery, history, charm......I'm eager to experience the ride.

Thanks again

Deimos
 
Be sure to post a report after your return. Have a great trip!

I know it's been a few years so I don't know what the odds are, but I hope you have the same crew that I did. Everyone was really pleasant, and seemed to enjoy their jobs. I remember that the LSA in the dining car (I think that's the correct term for the person in charge of the Diner. If not, someone please feel free to correct me) had an expression he used when making announcements for the diner over the PA system. He would mention the community seating, and then say something to the effect of "you may be seated with a stranger, but you'll have dinner with a friend".

The entire dining car staff seemed to promote a friendly environment. There was a particular server (I don't remember his name) that all of the kids in the car loved. I think he had every child wanting chocolate milk, because of the way he poured it....he would hold the glass at about the height of the table, and pour the milk from the carton while holding it at about the height of his head. I probably saw him do that 20 times, and he never spilled a drop.

I just hope that this kind of service can and will continue with the Simplified Dining program.

Enjoy your trip.
 
"you may be seated with a stranger, but you'll have dinner with a friend".
Click to expand...
I definitely like it!

I'll have to make a point of requesting chocolate milk - one of my all time favorite drinks. Of course then I'll need a double decker PB&J :D I'm trying to imagine how it must have appeared when the waiter poured the milk as you described, and then while standing on a moving train.

I'll be sure to post a report when I get home.

Cheers
 
Hey Everyone! I've been in the middle of the move to Grand Canyon Village where my new job is at Grand Canyon National Park.

I'll mention two things about visiting Grand Canyon, either by rail or shuttle bus (using Open Road Tours).

There are six hotels within Grand Canyon NP, GRCA as it's known locally or GCN for Amtrak code finders. Four are right across the street from the Grand Canyon Railway (Santa Fe) station and the other two are easily accessible using the park shuttle system which is free to all users (paid by your park entrance fee built into both shuttle and train tickets).

Of course, the most "railroady" hotel in GRCA is the El Tovar, built by the Santa Fe and Fred Harvey Company to entice travelers to use the railroad to visit the canyon. It's not extremely expensive by resort standards, but nothing here is moderately priced, at least by my standards. However, like anything else in the world, it's an experience and you pay for rooms at a very popular tourist attraction. There are a few hotels outside the park in the village of Tusayan (Quality Inn, Best Western, Holiday Inn Express, Red Feather Lodge, Grand Hotel, 7 Mile Inn) that the local taxis will take you to daily for a fee. It's worth noting that if you stay overnight at the canyon, make your reservations early to ensure availability at any lodging or camping facility in a 100 mile radius of the South Rim during peak summer and fall travel periods.

The second thing is about Open Road Tours. They use nice 20 seat shuttle vans with very little baggage capacity. If you use ORT as part of your visit to GRCA, you may have difficulty getting space for your bags if you pack for a standard cross country train trip. Baggage isn't a problem with the Grand Canyon Railway as they use a van (the same used for the WMJ-WMA connection) to pull a trailer with overnighting passenger's baggage to Grand Canyon Village. I've met most of the people associated with Open Road Tours and they'll be more than happy to accomodate baggage issues with some notice. If you book a ticket using Amtrak's codeshare and get Arrow tickets for the Thruway motorcoach on ORT, be sure to contact the company directly to ensure that your on their reservation manifest and request baggage space needs if you have more than a day bag on your shuttle trip.

Other than that, sounds like a great trip. Best of luck and let me know when your in town. I give great tours of the canyon and can get you to place that most visitors don't have access to during the peak summer travel period to protect the resources here.

Randy
 
Randy (trainboy325)

Thanks sharing all of your first hand knowledge. I've read alot about the El Tovar and the Bright Angel lodges, and of course the cabins at the North Rim. Fortunately, I was able to get most of the accomodations I wanted when I called Xanterra a few months back. I knew certain accomodations need to be reserved a year in advance - and that's no joke! I also knew I'd have more time with reservations in Flagstaff - and in fact I just finalized a reservation at the "haunted" Monte Vista. As a techno-geek type person - I am a firm believer in first hand observations, but I'll be sure to report any ghostly sightings along with the other details of my journey.

I did in fact make my ORT reservation via Amtrak. I'll be sure to contact them directly about my reservation several weeks before I head west. Good tip about baggage. I'll have two "Amtrak" sized duffel bags containg clothes and hiking gear (and probably a few souvenirs).

Let me know where I can locate you when I arrive in the Canyon (October). I have lined up a pretty busy schedule, to include a rim-to-rim-to-rim hike, but would certainly like to say hello. I hope your move to the canyon has gone smoothly and that everything is working out for you.

Cheers,

Deimos
 
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