A newbie trying to plan our train trip without making any mistakes!!

[drcool]

Hi all, I am a newbie from Australia trying to plan our holiday travel for later this year. Most of what people are saying on here is a different language to me!! We would like to do some train travel if possible but have little clue as to the best way to go about it, so I'm looking for any help I can get from the experts please. We will be in San Antonio and will be flying home to Australia out of San Diego. We have considered catching a train to San Diego but believe it would be mostly desert scenery. I have also considered flying up to Seattle and catching the coast train(s) down to San Diego. Does that sound like a doable proposition also?
I think we would rather see the mountains and along the coast rather than desert. Do we need to take two trains, firstly the Coast Starlight and then get off at San Luis Obispo and catch that train all the way down to San Diego? Are there train travel agents that take care of all your bookings and arrangements with train travel? I'd hate to stuff it up and miss our flight. Thanks again.

 

[caravanman]

Hi, welcome to the forum.
The first thing to know if you are catching a flight is that Amtrak trains are often late, and sometimes many hours late...
You can book trains your self on the Amtrak.com website, there may be travel agents you can use, but the website is pretty easy to use.
I guess a lot depends on your free time...
The Coast Starlight from Seattle gets into Los Angeles in the evenings, so catching another onward train to San Diego might mean it's dark and you miss a lot of scenery.
What time is your flight, do you intend to fly out the same day you arrive into San Diego, or the following day?
The California Zephyr has stunning scenery going west from Denver, maybe you might have time to fly to Denver and make your way west on the Zephyr?
I am a little rusty on todays connections, I am sure other folk will chime in with their ideas and suggestions. Good luck!

 

[tgstubbs1]

It's over six hours on the plane to Seattle and you will see some scenery out the window if the weather is clear.

The "CZ" goes from SEA to LAX, but you could get off before reaching LA and then continue on the regional Surfliner if that suits your schedule. Make sure you note the day of travel as well as the time because commuter trains change schedules on weekends.

https://www.pacificsurfliner.com/globalassets/pdfs/schedules/pacific-surfliner-train-schedule.pdf/

https://www.amtrak.com/pacific-surfliner-train

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Be aware. Do NOT use Amtrak Vacations to book your trip. They are a travel agent, but we have heard bad things about them. You're best off dealing directly with Amtrak (in case there are any issues).

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

You do need to transfer from the Coast Starlight to a Pacific Surfliner train to go to San Diego. The default option is to transfer at Los Angeles Union Station (9:11pm -> 10:10pm) and get to San Diego at 1:04am. If this is too late night an arrival for you, you could get off the Coast Starlight anywhere between San Luis Obispo and LA, stay the night, and get on the Surfliner the next day. You'd have to book two separate tickets, or click "add trip" on the home page to do this.

Santa Barbara is a nice choice for an overnight stop. Hotels are within walking distance, or a short shuttle/rideshare ride away, and it's right on the coast. If you overnight near LA Union Station, you get a bunch of places to stay and eat at, but it's the downtown of a big city, a different feeling from a small coastal town. There's not much to see at the other stops in between. San Luis Obispo is a pretty nice place too, but it's harder to make it work since Surfliner departures are sparse (6am, 4pm only).

Here's the Pacific Surfliner schedule. https://www.pacificsurfliner.com/gl...fliner-timetable_11-18-24_del-mar-phase-5.pdf

 

[turtlypo]

Welcome! You found a great community that loves answering questions.

https://railpassengers.org/resources/amtrak-timetables/
The Rail Passengers Association maintains good PDF timetables of every Amtrak route. Amtrak has their own versions that show the same information using a lot more pages.

I haven't been on the Coast Starlight in a long time, but it should be one of the more scenic routes Amtrak has to offer. You should be able to catch great views around San Luis Obispo in the afternoon! Transferring to the Pacific Surfliner at Los Angeles rather than SLO might be more common (plus only the Coast Starlight has sleepers if you're using that).

If you book on the Amtrak site specifying Seattle to San Diego, the connections are guaranteed. If for whatever reason the Coast Starlight is delayed past the Surfliner, Amtrak will put you on the next train, or maybe a hotel, or reimbursement.

 

[Maglev]

I think you'd be lucky to find a travel agent with as much collective experience as this forum.

To best appreciate Amtrak, I suggest getting a "Bedroom" accommodation on overnight trains. As an indication of how popular these rooms are, they are sold out on the date @turtlypo uses as an example above; they are available January 21 for $970.

The most scenic train in the USA is generally agreed to be the California Zephyr, which runs between Chicago and Emeryville (which is right across the bay from San Francisco). There are two overnights, but the best scenery is the second day after Denver, so you could board there if you want to save time and money. The Coast Starlight to Los Angeles (with a connection to San Diego) runs through Emeryville.