10 best rail journeys in the USA

There’s no getting around the sheer size and scale of the USA – it’s an absolute, supersized whopper – and the best way to see it all is by train. From epic, overnight long-distance runs to short, scenic day-trips, the best rail journeys in the USA pack in a mighty haul of scenery per mile.

If you’re planning a trip to America, you'll already know that you have a lot of ground to cover. The country covers more than 3.8 million sq miles of epic mountain ranges, massive deserts, dense forests and seemingly endless prairies, sprinkled with lively cities, both world-renowned and lesser-known.

Sure, road-tripping is an iconic way to get around the USA, but if you’d rather leave the navigating to someone else so you can soak up the scenery, the train is the way to go. You'll probably end up paying more than the equivalent journey by air, but you'll see so much more at ground level. 

While the USA can't quite match the abundance and variety of routes of rail-crossed Europe, and the network is much reduced from its 20th-century heyday, Americans are falling back in love with rail travel. Amtrak, the national train company, posted record ridership numbers in 2025.

And while track improvements and new trains are in the pipeline, for now, the rails are rarely the fastest way to get anywhere, but that’s not why you’re here. Disconnect from your devices (many routes don’t offer wi-fi) and instead connect with your fellow passengers in the observation car, or simply sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

To get you rolling, here is our pick of the best rail journeys in the USA.

1. California Zephyr

Best for a sense of journey

Route: Chicago to Emeryville (near San Francisco)
Distance: 2438 miles
Duration: 52 hours

No train journey in the USA – or perhaps the world – is quite as epic as the California Zephyr. It’s the furthest you can go within the US by train, and this epic multiday route packages up the best of the country in a little more than two days on its route between Chicago and California.

Heading west from the Windy City, the prairies of the Midwest roll out a green carpet for miles in every direction until the Rocky Mountains start to peek over the horizon. The train snakes through impossibly narrow gorges along the Colorado River before rumbling through the lunar-like salt flats of Utah and Nevada and then winding up mountains once again – this time the Sierra Nevada.

Grab a seat in the observation car early to get front-row views through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Between Reno and Sacramento, volunteer guides from the California State Railroad Museum often narrate the journey. And while the journey is worth seeing through from end to end, plenty of tempting stops might lure you away temporarily.

Salt Lake City, Utah, is a particularly good option for keeping the train theme going. In November 2024, the Asher Adams hotel opened in the city's gorgeous former Union Station, built in Second Empire style in 1909. Its rooms hark back to the golden age of train travel, and the hotel’s whiskey bar is named No 119 after one of the two trains that met when the country was joined by the first transcontinental railroad.

That famous event took place just north of Salt Lake City at the Golden Spike National Historical Park, where you can see a replica No 119 in action as it steams toward its west-coast counterpart Jupiter in a daily reenactment.

Planning tip: Note that US trains can run late, so don't plan things too tightly at the far end. On overnight and multiday routes such as the California Zephyr, you can take your pick from coach class seats, roomettes, or a range of classy (and pricey) bedroom options with a private bathroom and shower.   

2. The Coast Starlight

Best for a sea view

Route: Seattle to Los Angeles
Distance: 1377 miles
Duration: 35 hours

Tracing most of the USA’s western shoreline, the Coast Starlight is just as dreamy as its name promises, and it shows off just how naturally diverse the "best coast" can be. South of Santa Barbara, this 2-day sleeper route curves atop high cliffs with Pacific Ocean waves often dotted with brave surfers crashing below. At times, the water will feel within touching distance. 

An hour or so before sunset is a particularly good time to nab a seat in the observation car as the Golden State enters golden hour. On the Coast Starlight’s northern stretches, the tracks head further inland, swapping the water for a sea of trees, including California’s famous towering redwoods, and the often snow-capped mountains of the Cascade Range.

3. Empire Builder

Route: Chicago to Seattle or Portland
Distance: 2764 miles
Duration: 46 hours

Amtrak’s Empire Builder connects three excellent epicenters of culture over two days and nights, via a natural rise and fall of American landscapes. Wisconsin woodlands and Great Plains prairies that are as long and low as the horizon eventually give way to snow-capped Rocky Mountain peaks.

Keep your eyes peeled from the observation car to try to spot bears, moose and bald eagles. Nature enthusiasts can also get off the train and step right into Glacier National Park from the station at East Glacier (open from April to October), which is close to the historic Glacier Park Lodge, built by the Great Northern Railway in 1913.

Beyond this log-cabin-style building, glacial blue alpine lakes and wildflower-filled meadows await. For yet more natural scenery, passengers on the Portland branch of the Empire Builder route travel along the Columbia River Gorge, a designated National Scenic Area of thick forest and deep water-carved cliffs. At the end, you'll be well placed to continue into Canada. 

4. Sunset Limited

Best for views of the South

Route: Los Angeles to New Orleans
Distance: 1995 miles
Duration: 48 hours

Sunset Limited, Amtrak’s southernmost line, might not have the wow factor of other nearly cross-country trips like the California Zephyr, but it’s a quiet classic, spread over two days and nights. At its eastern end, the route rolls along Louisiana’s alligator-filled bayous and 153ft above the Mississippi River on the Huey P Long Bridge outside of New Orleans.

In Texas, the cars slow down high above water once again, this time on the Pecos River High Bridge, once the tallest in the country. If you want to see it, make sure you’re traveling westbound (headed east, you’re in the dark). Stark Southwestern desertscapes of cacti and tumbleweeds fill the observation car windows through New Mexico and Arizona before you reach California’s mountains and beaches.

Unlike most of Amtrak’s other long-distance lines, Sunset Limited trains depart only three times a week, but in another way, the Sunset Limited has become less limited. Before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the eastern terminus of this line was Miami, and in 2025, the route was partially reopened to Mobile, Alabama, with daily trains from New Orleans as part of Amtrak's Mardi Gras Service.

Planning tip: Check the current schedule before making travel plans, as the train only runs on certain days of the week.

5. Pacific Surfliner

Best seaside day trip

Route: San Luis Obispo to San Diego
Distance: 351 miles
Duration: 9 hours

The southbound Coast Starlight route ends in Los Angeles, but that doesn’t mean your oceanside journey has to. The route of the Pacific Surfliner overlaps with the Coast Starlight, giving West Coast travelers more daily departure options, but only the Surfliner carries on all the way to San Diego.

If you don’t have the days to dedicate to the Coast Starlight, the Pacific Surfliner is the perfect option for a shorter train trip, taking in all the highlights of Southern California by train. If you’re traveling the whole west coast without a car, you can also cross the border into Tijuana, Mexico, on foot at the end of the line.

6. Amtrak Cascades

Best for views of the Pacific Northwest

Route: Eugene to Vancouver, Canada
Distance: 467 miles
Duration: 10 hours

Similar to the Pacific Surfliner, Amtrak Cascades has some of the same stops as the Coast Starlight, but this train heads north beyond the US border and into British Columbia in Canada. The 1-day Amtrak Cascades route is a great way to soak up the green and gray landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, as the train winds through a fairy-tale scene of rushing rivers and waterfalls and forests full of moss-covered trees.

The tracks get so close to the mirror-like water of Puget Sound that it feels like you could reach out the train window and dip your hand in. If you can’t get enough of the ride and want more mountain landscapes, Rocky Mountaineer trains set off from Vancouver on three super scenic routes through mountain country.

7. Adirondack

Best for fall colors

Route: New York City to Montréal, Canada
Distance: 381 miles
Duration: 10 hours

Budding and dedicated autumn leaf peepers shouldn’t miss Amtrak’s Adirondack route as the trees start to change color, though it’s a gorgeous journey no matter what time of year you ride. Over a long but lovely day, the train cars sweep through verdant vineyards in the Hudson Valley and past Lake Champlain and Lake George, as well as the train’s namesake mountain range.

Connecting two of North America's top cultural hubs, this international line will whisk you right into the province of Québec, Canada, where Francophone culture shines. If you’re headed on the northbound route from New York City during the summer, the trip is almost all during daylight hours – from about 8:30am to 8:30pm – providing ample opportunities to gaze out the window for as long as you’d like.

8. Canyon Spirit

Best for canyon views

Route: Denver to Moab or Salt Lake City
Distance: 350 miles
Duration: 2–3 days

Amtrak is the only national passenger train service in the United States, but private companies run seriously scenic trains on a few lines across the country. One of the best is the luxe Canyon Spirit (formerly operated as one of the routes of the Rocky Mountaineer), an unforgettable 2- or 3-day ride through Colorado’s winding Glenwood Canyon and Utah’s almost Martian deserts.

You'll get touching-distance views of stunning desert scenery through the enormous windows of its glass-domed train cars. The landscapes only get more enticing and otherworldly if you leave the train in Moab and venture to the nearby national parks of Arches and Canyonlands.

Though it covers just a short distance over a long stretch of time, the Canyon Spirit isn’t a sleeper train – it stops for the night in Glenwood Springs, Colorado (a hotel is included in the ticket price), where you can soak the day away in the hot springs. On the 3-day route to Salt Lake City, you'll add a second night in Moab. 

9. Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad

Best for railroad nostalgia

Route: Durango to Silverton, Colorado
Distance: 45 miles
Duration: 9 hours round trip

Opened in 1881, the Durango & Silverton Railroad once hauled silver and gold out of the San Juan Mountains but now has snap-happy travelers filling up its carriages as it rolls between the Colorado towns of Durango and Silverton. One of the best things to do in Colorado, this heritage line still runs old-school steam trains, and this incredible journey through the mountains lurches along rocky cliffs that tower high above the fast-flowing Animas River.

This train ride is often done as a day trip – there’s a two-hour stop in Silverton for you to grab lunch and wander around this mountain town, perched at 9318ft above sea level – but it’s also possible to stay overnight, perhaps at the Grand Imperial Hotel, which opened in 1884.

10. Grand Canyon Railway

Best national park train experience

Route: Williams to Grand Canyon Village, Arizona
Distance: 64 miles
Duration: 8 hours 15 minutes round trip

Arrive in one of the country’s most popular national parks like a traveler of yore aboard the historic Grand Canyon Railway, a line that has been bringing visitors to the Grand Canyon for longer than the canyon has been a national park.

This family-friendly, day-long journey begins in the town of Williams, where you might witness a Wild West gang attempting to pull off a train robbery. At the end of the line, you arrive within walking distance of the canyon rim.

The train stops in Grand Canyon Village for three hours before returning to Williams. Railfans should time their visit for Saturdays, when steam locomotives pull the trains, or book tickets to ride in the refurbished 1923 Pullman cars with open windows.