Travelling by train from Southern States

SomeDude

Hi All,

I have 1 week to get to Boston. I've never been to any of the southern states of America. I thought a train journey up to Chicago and then fly to Boston might be an interesting way to spend a week.

Could you recommend where to start from? I was thinking New Orleans, but I'm open to suggestions, for example maybe flying into Tampa first and then making my way to New Orleans.

Any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Ponster

Have you already been to the US? And if so, what cities on the east coast have you been to ?

SomeDude

Yes, I've been to New York, Boston, parts of NJ (Cape May, Delaware), Philadelphia, Washington DC, San Fran and Las Vegas.

I thought experiencing some of the southern states might be interesting. Travelling on my own btw.

ProudDUB

OP, The US southern states are not well serviced by train service, so you don't have a heck of a lot of choice of where to go to and from really. There are only 3 routes that service the south east. Miami to DC, New Orleans to DC and New Orleans to Chicago.

New Orleans is very cool. You could easily fill a couple of days there & another couple doing day trips from it to the plantations, or tours of the bayous. However, the New Orleans to Chicago train only stops in Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee. There is nothing to see or do in Jackson, and Memphis, well it's is a bit of a dump. If you are into Elvis, the blues and good BBQ restaurants, it can be good crack for a couple of days. That's about all there is to it really.

The landscape from there to Chicago will be very, very dull and boring...just flat open farmland, with not much to look at. Don't think there is much to see or do on the train to occupy you for a week. You could always rent a car and get out and do some day trips from Memphis...Nashville if you are into country music, Natchez if you are into historical architecture etc etc. But all that driving kinda defeats the purpose of going by train in the first place really imo. If you are going to rent a car, you may as well do it for the whole trip, so you can get off the beaten track and explore places that the train doesn't go to.

If it were me, I'd go the Miami to DC route. That train stops in Palm Beach (fun to stop off in and see all the glitzy homes) Orlando (if you are into theme parks) Jacksonville (close enough to the likes of St Augustine, and some really great beaches) and Savannah, Charleston & Richmond which are three very, very cool, old world southern cities. They are very easy to explore on foot, and they have lots of things to see and do. Great cities too if you are into historical stuff. The scenery will change on that route too, giving you something different to look at along the way.

The only other option is to travel from New Orleans to DC via Birmingham, Atlanta, Charlotte and Charlotte. There isn't a whole lot in any of those cities to impress a tourist, or give you a real feel of the south, at least not as well as the cities on the route above can. You'd deffo need a car to explore them too.

Here is the Amtrak route map. Click on south east to see that area.

http://tickets.amtrak.com/secure/content/routeatlas/index.html

Have never traveled on Amtrak, so I have no idea how much getting on/off you can do along the way.

InTheTrees

Sorry its not a Southern Route but...

Just got off the train from Minneapolis to Seattle just yesterday. 2 Nights. Through the plains of north Dakota and Montana and through the Rockies and Cascade mountains to Seattle. Amazing countryside. I never get bored even though the absolute barren nothingness of the country in Montana. I'm like a kid with my face pressed to the window. We saw a pair of Grizzly bears romping in a little meadow in the rockies. You zip through places you'd never drive to. The oil fields of North Dakota are fascinating, lowest unemployment in the US. Its like the old west with people flocking there to work. I talked to a kid right out of college who was going to be bringing home $80k (after tax!) for a year out there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakota_oil_boom

Really fun. In a relaxed, do nothing at all way. There's an observation car with a glass roof, and there was an old fella from the National Park Service who described stuff as we went by. We'd never have seen the bears if we hadnt been looking out for them on his recommendation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_National_Park_(U.S.)

Remarkable amount of Amish on board too. There's communities in Pennsylvania and Montana and they use the train a lot. Beautiful people really, its like encountering farmers from the 1800's. I never got a chance to talk to any though but they seemed friendly(!) and were chatting to other passengers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish

If you're going overnight I'd get a mini-cabin. They work really well. Cramped but you get some privacy. Meals are included too (The food was good). And they'll bring it to your cabin, no extra charge. Loos and washing facilities were good. Not great but good, there's three loos and a shower room for each 13 double-cabins. Service was great though.

Its about 36 hours between Seattle and Minneapolis, and you add an extra night from Minneapolis to Chicago, which I would skip. 2 nights is fun, 3 nights may be a little long (for me anyway). My better half is from Minnesota and all her family is there which is why we started there and its also where the landscape/countryside starts to get interesting as the line heads north to close to the Canadian border.

http://www.amtrak.com/empire-builder-train

Aprilmay

http://www.amtrak.com/south-train-routes

Here is the routes for the south, I live in Charlotte NC , I also recommend Charleston as a destination to visit

SomeDude

Many thanks for your detailed advise and suggestions. It is much appreciated and has given me plenty of food for thought!

I very much like the suggestion of the Miami to DC route. Good beaches mixed with old world cities sounds like a nice combination!

I still need to reach Boston by the end of the journey, so I'm thinking of flying from DC to Boston. Is there anywhere else prior to DC that I could fly to Boston from? Fortunately I've been to DC previously, so I'm not particularly interested in spending more time there.

Also, any further suggestions on where to stop, stay and what to do from Miami up woud be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

ProudDUB

In Charleston and Savannah, a lot of the old historic homes have been converted into boutique hotels and B&B's. If your budget will stretch to it, I'd deffo suggest staying in one of them, as opposed to your typical Marriott chain hotel. It will give you a wonderful sense of atmosphere & what life was like back in the day. They'll very often have outdoor verandas and balconies & tucked away little patios and courtyards with fountains. They are lovely to sit on and watch the world go by, especially if you get one overlooking one of the historical squares.

Trip Advisor is good for feedback on some of the best ones. The Gastonian in Savannah is generally regarded to be amongst the best (and most expensive) of the bunch, but there are probably cheaper ones out there.

http://www.gastonian.com/

Killer Wench

I went from San Antonio, TX to New Orleans by rail once and I would say avoid doing it during the summer. Our train was delayed 20 hours because of the heat. The heat expands the rail resulting in the train having to delay until it is safe enough to travel. I imagine this summer is going to be a hot one.

InTheTrees

Killer Wench wrote: »

I went from San Antonio, TX to New Orleans by rail once and I would say avoid doing it during the summer. Our train was delayed 20 hours because of the heat. The heat expands the rail resulting in the train having to delay until it is safe enough to travel. I imagine this summer is going to be a hot one.

And americans like it warm inside so they may be well equipped with a/c but it'll be set at 80 degrees.

ProudDUB

InTheTrees wrote: »

And americans like it warm inside so they may be well equipped with a/c but it'll be set at 80 degrees.

Not true imo. I lived in the Deep South for over 15 years & I found the complete opposite to be the case. Indoor temps are normally set on the low end of cool, so as to give people immediate relief when they walk in the door from the blazing heat outside. It is very common for people to need a light cardigan when in restaurants, cinemas, shopping malls etc etc to counteract the chilly effects of the AC being on full blast, especially in summer time.That's not to say that there aren't places that are roasting hot, coz the AC is broken, or they are too cheap to pay for it to be on all day, but they certainly wouldn't be the norm.

InTheTrees

ProudDUB wrote: »

Not true imo. I lived in the Deep South for over 15 years & I found the complete opposite to be the case. Indoor temps are normally set on the low end of cool, so as to give people immediate relief when they walk in the door from the blazing heat outside. It is very common for people to need a light cardigan when in restaurants, cinemas, shopping malls etc etc to counteract the chilly effects of the AC being on full blast, especially in summer time.That's not to say that there aren't places that are roasting hot, coz the AC is broken, or they are too cheap to pay for it to be on all day, but they certainly wouldn't be the norm.

I stand corrected!... my southern experience is limited!