You see a canyon from a glass car in the West, you sit down to dinner as the station lights fall behind in Europe, and a hotel night covers the gap where the trains do not connect.
Choose a route
Each train has its own page. The canyons, the dining car, and the nights off the train are there.
California Zephyr
Chicago to Emeryville, and the canyons are the miles between the stations. You see them from the glass car.
Empire Builder
Chicago toward Seattle, or the cars that split at Spokane for Portland. Glacier is outside the sightseer lounge as the train crosses Marias Pass.
Southwest Chief
A two-night journey from Chicago to Los Angeles. You see Raton Pass and Apache Canyon from the sightseer lounge.
Coast Starlight
One night from Seattle to Los Angeles. You see Mount Shasta and the Pacific from the sightseer lounge.
Grand Canyon Railway
Williams to the South Rim takes about two hours and fifteen minutes, through the pines. After you get off, the Rim Trail is the paved path along the edge, and the canyon is below it.
Northeast trains
Daylight trains along the Hudson, the Connecticut River, or the Maine coast. A cafe car sells sandwiches, snacks, and drinks.
The Canadian
About four nights from Toronto to Vancouver. You see the lakes of the Canadian Shield, the prairie, and the Rockies from the Skyline and Park cars.
European sleepers
You dress for dinner as the station lights fall behind the train, and the dining car stays lamplit while the country outside goes dark. You sleep in the cabin. You wake beside a canal in Venice on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, on the road into Rome on La Dolce Vita Orient Express, under the hills above Sarajevo on the Golden Eagle Danube Express, or in a glen in the Scottish Highlands on the Royal Scotsman.
Alpine day trains
Board the Glacier Express for a daylight trip through the Swiss Alps. From the panoramic windows you see sheer rock, Alpine pasture, and snow on the peaks. The train runs between Zermatt and St. Moritz, across 291 bridges and through 91 tunnels, including the curve onto the Landwasser Viaduct. The Bernina Express continues from Chur or St. Moritz toward Tirano. You sleep in a hotel in Zermatt, St. Moritz, or Chur.
Planning a rail trip?
Tell us the journey: the Empire Builder through Glacier National Park, the Canadian across the Rockies toward Vancouver, or a European sleeper where dinner is served as the country goes dark. The hotel nights between trains are part of the trip.