The Coast Starlight is Amtrak's only line that provides private lounge space reserved solely for sleeping car passengers in its Pacific Parlour Cars. Other luxury amenities in the Parlour Car include fresh flowers, a library, floor-to-ceiling windows and a deluxe movie theater. Daily wine tastings featuring sparkling and other wines from the vineyards the train passes on its journey and meals are prepared from local foods. Enjoy the spectacular scenery between Seattle and Los Angeles through the Cascade Mountains and along the Pacific Ocean. The three-night, four-day tour departs either from Los Angeles or Seattle and includes accommodations at the Crowne Plaza in Seattle and Millennium Biltmore in Los Angeles at the beginning and end of the tour.
Traveling from Chicago to Oakland, the California Zephyr offers perhaps the greatest scenery of all United States rail tours. Going through the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas, the Zephyr offers double-decker Superliner cars with first-class suites and a deluxe Sightseer lounge car with floor-to-ceiling windows. The tour begins with a night at Chicago's Hilton Palmer House and a sightseeing tour of Chicago, followed by two days and nights of train travel past sights like Winter Park, Colorado and the Moffat Tunnel. It ends in Oakland following a night at the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.
For the ultimate luxury experience, a trip aboard a restored vintage train cannot be matched. Amtrak offers several vintage train car tours. The Glacier National Park and Canadian Rockies tour travels from Seattle to Glacier National Park and includes several nights in Banff, Canada, aboard a restored 1940s Pullman sleeping car. Meals are prepared by a trained chef, and the restored dining car is complemented by fine-linen tablecloths and floral arrangements.
The Great Alaska Adventure is a 17-day journey from San Francisco to Alaska aboard a classic 1960s-era streamliner train, with meals provided by a gourmet chef and welcome gifts, intimate cocktail hours, dinner in the classic Pinnacle Grill and afternoon tea included. The Great Alaska Adventure stops in Seattle and Vancouver en route to Alaska and makes another stop in Vancouver before the train journeys back all the way to San Diego.
The Glories of the West tour, aboard a 1950s-era streamliner train, limits passengers to 30. Each traveler receives personal attention from attendants, waiters and chefs. The 13-day tour allows you to visit Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier National parks while it travels from Chicago to Utah and back.
Lastly, the Yosemite National Park to Denali combines travel aboard a restored vintage streamliner with a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska where you take two more train trips aboard the White Pass and Yukon Route and McKinley Explorer, whose staterooms include a whirlpool bath.
