We all love a road trip or a quick escape flying at 600 mph across the skies. But sometimes, we need to trade busy roads and packed airport lines for a laid-back rail journey. This is exactly what this Amtrak train ride offers, which was even listed as one of the most scenic rides in the country by Conde Nast Traveler. The reason? The journey allows passengers to experience a “sample of America’s diverse natural landscapes, all in one.”
What to know about Amtrak’s Coast Starlight
The Coast Starlight is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak that runs daily between Los Angeles and Seattle, covering more than a thousand miles of West Coast scenery in about 35 hours. Within California, the daily route starts at Union Station and stops in these cities:
- Burbank – Bob Hope Airport, Van Nuys, and Simi Valley, moving out of the L.A. metro area toward the coast.
- Oxnard and Santa Barbara, where the tracks run close to the Pacific Ocean.
- San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles, in the Central Coast region.
- Salinas and San Jose Diridon Station, connecting the rural coastal stretch to the Bay Area.
- Oakland Jack London Square and Emeryville, which serve the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Martinez, Davis, and Sacramento Valley Station, as it moves inland through NorCal before crossing into Oregon.
The lounge everyone loves
The Coast Starlight runs with multiple cars designed for different kinds of passengers. It’s built from double-decker Superliner equipment and includes several sleeping cars with roomettes and bedrooms, coach cars for standard seating, a dining car for full meals, and the Sightseer Lounge car.
The lounge is by far the most talked-about part of the train thanks to its “glass-domed” style observation car with large floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides, giving riders uninterrupted views of the passing landscape from ocean to hills and valleys. All passengers, whether in coach or sleeper, can go there, and that’s often where most people spend their daytime hours because the views are so accessible and clear. It’s the go-to spot for panoramic coastal and inland scenery.
What you’ll see on the Coast Starlight
Shortly after leaving Los Angeles and Oxnard, the train hugs the coast for over two hours as you head north. You’ll see deep blue waves, rocky shorelines, and sandy beaches dotting the edge of the continent. Once you pass the coast, the route cuts inland through the Salinas Valley and wine country near Paso Robles, with endless fields of crops and grapevines stretching toward the hills. Around Point Conception, where the coast turns, you can catch glimpses of the rugged cliffside and historic lighthouses.