Wenatchee WA station from Seattle

[Skimmy]

Good day, looking at attending a wedding in June in Wenatchee. Thought I’d fly to Seattle or Portland and take train to Wenatchee. Reading the time table for the empire builder, it has something about a thruway bus. Can someone advise me? Suggestions?

Separate question; how difficult commute from Seattle/Portland to train stations?

Thankyou

 

[jis]

Good day, looking at attending a wedding in June in Wenatchee. Thought I’d fly to Seattle or Portland and take train to Wenatchee. Reading the time table for the empire builder, it has something about a thruway bus. Can someone advise me? Suggestions?

Separate question; how difficult commute from Seattle/Portland to train stations?

Thankyou

Your best bet is to fly into Seatac (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport) take the Light Rail north (towards Seattle) from there to International District/Chinatown station which is across the street from the Seattle Amtrak station, and then catch the 4:55pm departure Empire Builder which gets into Wenatchee at 8:51pm.

It is much harder and takes much longer to get to Wenatchee from Portland so that is not recommended.

 

[oregon pioneer]

Getting from PDX Portland airport to PDX Union Station is a simple trip on the Max Red Line. But as Jis says, getting from Portland to Wenatchee... well, you'd want to take a Cascades or Coast Starlight from PDX to SEA, and then you might want to include an overnight and do the tourist thing before boarding the EB to Wenatchee. Just depends on how much time and money for hotels you plan to incorporate into your plans. You can make it as elaborate as you want!

And I'm not sure I'd want to try to plan a switch at Spokane from the 8 to 27 (or 28 to 7). A circle trip including a journey through the Columbia Gorge would sure be tempting to try, but it seems tricky. They WILL book it in either direction, but it involves waiting at least three hours in Spokane in the middle of the night for the (often late) westbound EB, so not the most pleasant thing to do. Has anyone actually done this?

 

[Northwestern]

If you go to the Alaska Airlines website, it does show a once a day flight from Seattle to Wenatchee as well as a return flight.

https://is.gd/OpwG5P
Flight 2155 for SEA and Wenatchee:.

Leaves Seattle at 11:30 AM and arrives in Wenatchee at 12:23 PM.

For the return, flight number 2155 (same flight number) leaves Wenatchee at 1:03 PM and arrives in Seattle at 1:53 PM.

This, of course, would negate a train trip on the EB to Wenatachee. However, the 8:51 PM arrival on the Builder is kind of late.

 

[Willbridge]

Getting from PDX Portland airport to PDX Union Station is a simple trip on the Max Red Line. But as Jis says, getting from Portland to Wenatchee... well, you'd want to take a Cascades or Coast Starlight from PDX to SEA, and then you might want to include an overnight and do the tourist thing before boarding the EB to Wenatchee. Just depends on how much time and money for hotels you plan to incorporate into your plans. You can make it as elaborate as you want!

And I'm not sure I'd want to try to plan a switch at Spokane from the 8 to 27 (or 28 to 7). A circle trip including a journey through the Columbia Gorge would sure be tempting to try, but it seems tricky. They WILL book it in either direction, but it involves waiting at least three hours in Spokane in the middle of the night for the (often late) westbound EB, so not the most pleasant thing to do. Has anyone actually done this?

Before Amtrak there was a Northwest Triangle fare for travel in either the clockwise or anticlockwise direction. In September 1966 I rode UP Pool > GN Empire Builder > UP Spokane > UP Idahoan from Portland, on a Milwaukee Road ticket.

On the current schedules it would be worth doing the Northwest Triangle in summertime, but the SPK layover in winter would be no fun and too much scenery would be missed.

The Thruway bus was operated by Northwestern Trailways and it provided a complementary service with the Empire Builder. The service information is screwed up right now as it transitions to another firm, Salt Lake Express. Through flixbus.com there are multiple trips a day between Sea-TacAirport and Wenatchee Amtrak Station, run by Wenatchee Valley Shuttle. They also stop at Bellevue on the way.

https://www.wenatcheevalleyshuttle.com/schedules

 

[Skimmy]

If you go to the Alaska Airlines website, it does show a once a day flight from Seattle to Wenatchee as well as a return flight.

https://is.gd/OpwG5P
Flight 2155 for SEA and Wenatchee:.

Leaves Seattle at 11:30 AM and arrives in Wenatchee at 12:23 PM.

For the return, flight number 2155 (same flight number) leaves Wenatchee at 1:03 PM and arrives in Seattle at 1:53 PM.

This, of course, would negate a train trip on the EB to Wenatachee. However, the 8:51 PM arrival on the Builder is kind of late.

Thankyou, that seems the option that makes the most sense. Coming from Michigan, Alaskan flies out of Detroit as far as I know.