{"id":2433,"date":"2025-02-19T21:21:59","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T02:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myredsuitcase.com\/blog\/?p=2433"},"modified":"2025-02-21T08:41:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T13:41:33","slug":"ive-spent-300-hours-on-amtrak-heres-how-to-see-america-for-dirt-cheap-your-definitive-amtrak-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myredsuitcase.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/19\/ive-spent-300-hours-on-amtrak-heres-how-to-see-america-for-dirt-cheap-your-definitive-amtrak-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"I’ve Spent 300+ Hours on Amtrak. Here’s How to See America for Dirt Cheap. [Your Definitive Amtrak Guide]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have spent 317 hours on Amtrak and traveled 23,000 kilometers (14,300 miles) on their trains. Among my friends, I’m known as an Amtrak guru. Here, let me share some of my best-kept secrets with you — to make you a true Amtraker, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, to set the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The views aboard the California Zephyr are breathtaking. Day 2 takes you through several canyons only accessible by raft — or train. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Amtrak’s longest rail service is the Texas Eagle, connecting Chicago to Los Angeles via the name-giving state. Traveling the Texas Eagle is a mammoth journey of 4,390 kilometers \u2014 approximately the same distance as Hamburg to Moscow AND BACK. Only Russia, China and Canada have longer passenger rail services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip takes a scheduled 67 hours to get you from America’s third to its second-largest city. On the way, you traverse seven states: Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. It takes you through empty deserts and fields, along the feared border wall and tall mountain ranges, and through both a remote volcanic field and several bustling megacities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The California Zephyr, too, is a mammoth journey, going from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area over the course of three and a half days and covering 3,924 kilometers on the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I traveled both of these spectacular routes (and many others) entirely in coach class. That means no bed, no restaurant car; only a seat, Amtrak’s bistro, and whatever you packed for the trip (hopefully lots of water<\/s> snacks). And believe it or not, it’s actually quite an enjoyable way to travel and, above all, extraordinarily affordable. So much so that I did some of these huge journeys several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have traveled more on Amtrak in a few short years than most Americans have in their lifetimes, so here I’ve collected some lessons learned to help turn you from a beginner into a veteran Amtraker<\/strong> (plus, stay for some secret discount links<\/span>!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A map of all the train routes I have taken in the U.S., some of them multiple times. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Things to pack on a long-distance Amtrak trip in coach class<\/span>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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The best way to see America is by sitting in Amtrak’s panorama car and letting it come to you.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n