Would you take a 13-hour train ride instead of a six hour drive? I did. I took an Amtrak train from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay, which is about about 400 miles.
I live in Los Angeles and had elective surgery in the Bay Area. I opted to take the train from Los Angeles to San Francisco for my surgery. I took the Coast Starlight between these two California cities. This plan worked for me but might not work for the average traveler. Here’s what you need to know about taking the Coast Starlight from LA to San Francisco.
Cost Comparison: Flying vs. Taking The Train Between LA and The Bay Area
I first considered flying. Depending on the time of year that you go and how far in advance you make your reservation, roundtrip economy airfare between LA and the Bay can run anywhere from $200 to $500.
Amtrak one-way tickets from LA to the Bay run $50 to $100 for coach, $75 to $200 for business class, and $275 to $400 for a roomette. You’ll pay more for a larger bedroom, which has more room and a private bathroom.
Typically, you will get a better deal on Amtrak if you book farther in advance. This massive cost difference alone often makes people opt for a flight. It’s also easier to sit in coach for an hour than 12-13 hours without a designated place to lie down. This is why traveling in a sleeper car is ideal, even if you don’t go to sleep.
I Traveled With Points
I had 25,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points and that covered my train ticket. If I’d paid cash for my ticket it would have cost about $600 roundtrip for my roomette.
Is The Roomette on The Amtrak Coast Starlight Worth It?
If this trip is for medical travel, it is worth it. You’ll be on board for 12-13 hours, and your roomette ticket includes meals, drinks, and a place to sleep in addition to comfortable and private seating. You don’t need to check bags so you can take food and other items from home into your roomette to make the trip more comfortable.
As you can see from my pictures, the roomette isn’t spacious. But since I needed to spread out after surgery and required extra time to get around, I was glad I chose Amtrak despite it taking twice as long as a flight or road trip.
Whether you’re recovering from surgery or just need a little more time to move around, in general, the train offers more freedom of movement than planes.
A Comfortable 13 Hour Trip
The travel time on the Coast Starlight is 12 to 13 between the two cities. You can see almost all of the west coast in a full day and a half. In addition to your private room, breathtaking views can be found in the observation car, dining car, and the picture windows between these areas.
While Amtrak brochures say that the roomette fits two people, it’s just enough for one person. Two people will get sick of each other before you’re out of LA County. If traveling with a companion, consider upgrading to the standard bedroom.
Each chair has a super soft pillow, so I was glad I had both to myself. The medications I was on after my surgery kept making my body temperature plummet. That’s how I discovered the attendant would bring you blankets if you requested them.
Dining Onboard The Coast Starlight
The sleeper car has dedicated attendants who will take your reservation for each meal, where you can eat in the dining car or take your food back to your roomette.
The dining car is only available to passengers who have purchased a sleeper car (roomette or bedroom.)
There are different items offered for lunch and dinner. If the dinner menu isn’t that appealing, especially if you’re a vegetarian or vegan, the Amtrak kitchen often has leftover salads and other vegetarian items left from the lunch shift. All you have to do is ask if they have any left.
But to give you a head’s up: breakfast is only served if you slept on the train. Even though you’re boarding at 9:30 AM, have breakfast at home or take something with you if you don’t have time. You can make your lunch reservation between 11 AM-1 PM.
On-board Menus Published in Advance
When your travel date gets closer, check the Amtrak website for the current menu for your route. The menus vary by route and change seasonally. Pack food before the trip if nothing sounds appealing or meets your dietary needs. The beauty of traveling with Amtrak is that you can bring plenty of food and drink. Take that full-size jar of keto peanut butter if you must.
Water and coffee are free at all hours of the day at the top of the sleeper car. However, there are no microwaves or mini fridges in the roomettes or bedrooms. Your food items must be durable enough to sit in your cabin all day.
Stunning Views Replace Wi-Fi
Not all Amtrak trains have Wi-Fi and the Coast Starlight is one of the trains without it. If you plan on getting any work done, you’ll need to do so offline. You’ll need to download any movies, ebooks, music, and other files before you board if you want to access them on your trip. There are outlets in the roomette, although you should bring a power strip if you want to charge more than two devices at a time.
Or you can just look out the window: you’ll see a whole new side of California. Check with Amtrak in advance of your trip if you’re not sure if your train will have Wi-Fi.
The first half of the Coast Starlight’s route follows the Pacific Ocean, which is utterly breathtaking. It’s a view that’s best taken in behind the expansive windows of the observation car or your private window, rather than seeing a tiny sapphire from a plane or having to focus on the road.
Once the train hits the journey’s midpoint in San Luis Obispo, the ocean gets swapped for miles of mountains, chaparral, and agricultural fields. It’s not practical if you have other options, but it shows you parts of California that often get glossed over, even though it’s colossal. You’ll feel like you’re in the B-roll of a Clint Eastwood movie.
The Coast Starlight Runs Slow – Here’s Why
Even with American infrastructure being worse for the wear, it seems bizarre that it would take twice as long to travel by train between two major cities as it would to drive or fly.
The train has to move like a snail on Valium because of a bitter agreement between freight operators. Once the Coast Starlight moves out of Lompoc and more inland, the speed must reduce to 15 mph, and it stays like that for several hours.
A few hours could be shaved off the long journey if this agreement was modified. Infrastructure improvements would also improve the speed. But this is probably why most people just drive or fly if they need to travel between these two tech and entertainment hubs.
What You Need To Know About Amtrak’s Disabled Access Car
Since I had mobility restrictions post-surgery, I decided I needed to book the Disabled Access Car for my return journey. I needed assistance with my luggage and wanted to avoid stairs. Disabled Access Cars on the Coast Starlight are on the ground level and include a private bathroom.
The private bathroom connects directly to the room where you’ll eat and rest, only separated by a curtain. The disabled access car was more spacious than the regular roomette and had an extra seat.
When I made my Amtrak reservation online, I didn’t see an option to get an accessible car. There’s one accessible car on the Coast Starlight but you must call Amtrak to book it. It’s annoying that disabled travelers need to jump an extra hoop to do this, and it would be nice if there were more accessible sleeper cars.
Don’t Forget to Tip
It’s customary to tip the attendant at the end of your trip. I tipped more generously for special assistance. My room attendant the disabled car assisted me with getting meals from the dining car and an Amtrak Red Cap assisted me with handling my luggage handling.
The Verdict
There are definitely more convenient ways to go between LA and the Bay Area but I appreciated the comfortable roomette after traveling post-op with 23 stiches. Now that I’ve seen the incredible sights on the Pacific coast and inland valleys, I probably wouldn’t do it again for an important business trip or see friends in the Bay.
But if I need to go under the knife for a procedure I can’t get in LA, I’ll be in that sleeper car asking for more baked brie empanadas.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.