The train glides around sweeping bends as its whistle sounds repeatedly, making the journey feel remarkably smooth despite the twisting route.
On our right, sun-baked hills ripple beneath blankets of golden grass and sagebrush. To the left, the sea is a deep blue-grey, resembling the worn fabric of a giant’s favourite pair of jeans.
The glittering specks that might be mistaken for rhinestones are actually offshore oil platforms, catching the midday sun.
This spectacular stretch near Santa Barbara, California, is among the highlights of the Coast Starlight route.
The long-distance Amtrak service follows America’s West Coast from sunny Los Angeles to Seattle in the cooler Pacific Northwest. The roughly 2,216km (1,377-mile) journey can take close to 36 hours.
Younger travellers appear increasingly drawn to ‘slow travel’, judging by the flood of Instagram and TikTok posts devoted to river cruises and railway adventures.
My fiancée and I decided that travelling on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight would be an ideal way to experience a less familiar side of the U.S. during its 250th birthday celebrations, without rushing between destinations or taking the wheel ourselves.
The adventure begins before we even reach the platform. From the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on the Walk of Fame – reputedly haunted by Marilyn Monroe’s ghost – it takes around 40 minutes by taxi to cross Los Angeles’s maze of concrete and palm trees to the city’s Art Deco and Mission Revival-inspired Union Station.
The Coast Starlight travels roughly 2,216km (1,377 miles) up America’s West Coast, linking sunny Los Angeles with Seattle in the Pacific Northwest. The trip can take nearly 36 hours
The popularity of river cruises and railway adventures on Instagram and TikTok suggests younger travellers are embracing the idea of ‘slow travel’
Large windows line the dining car, where cosy booths have tables with a plastic finish reminiscent of oversized aircraft tray tables
The Hollywood-familiar scenery takes on an even more cinematic quality in the observation car, which offers the finest views on the train
Our taxi, however, has no driver. Waymo’s autonomous vehicles operate in several cities, including Los Angeles.
We book through an app, and the car pulls up quietly outside the hotel. A female voice with an unmistakably AI-like tone welcomes us before we set off.
From the soft leather seats in the back, we are guided through busy, disorderly streets by what feels like an invisible hand – or, more accurately, the sensors housed in the white conical unit on the roof of the Jaguar I-Pace. Music plays through the car, streamed from a Spotify playlist linked to my fiancée’s account.
We had read alarming accounts of robotaxis crashing, becoming stranded or driving in circles, as well as stories of vehicles moving off before passengers had retrieved their bags. Instead, we are impressed by the car’s precision. At one point, it brakes sharply when a pedestrian suddenly turns back while crossing the road. Even so, watching the steering wheel rotate by itself is undeniably eerie.
Union Station feels like the West Coast counterpart to New York’s Grand Central Terminal, complete with vast concourses, huge chandeliers and coffered ceilings. Marble and terra cotta floors, along with travertine sections of wall, help explain why the station has featured in films and television shows including Blade Runner, The Dark Knight Rises and Euphoria.
Before boarding, we unwind in the Metropolitan Lounge. It brings to mind a Qantas Club, with a small buffet, polished wood details, a staff member checking guests in and regular announcements about departures.
Because the trip lasts more than a day, the double-decker Coast Starlight offers several accommodation options. Travellers can choose a standard seat similar to premium economy on a plane or book a private, air-conditioned first-class compartment with an aircraft-style ensuite toilet, armchairs and seats that staff transform into bunks overnight.
We choose the private compartment. It feels roomy enough for two, although it is still smaller than a cruise-ship cabin. There is a sink, a small wardrobe with hangers and luggage racks, while the walls and floor are finished in the train’s characteristic dark-blue carpet.
Our taxi has no driver: Waymo operates autonomous vehicles in several cities, including Los Angeles
Before boarding, we relax in the Metropolitan Lounge, which has a small buffet, lacquered wood details, a staffed entrance and regular departure announcements
A few minutes later, we stop at Klamath Falls in Southern Oregon. We have slept through breakfast, but the scenery makes an excellent substitute
Towering fir trees flank the tracks as we pass sapphire-coloured lakes edged with marshes and winding reeds, while large dark birds circle above
Scenery streams past as the train gathers pace. There is no Wi-Fi on board, but we barely notice because of the views. Downtown Los Angeles’s glass-and-steel towers soon give way to Californian suburbia, with low-rise homes, big-box shops and car parks stretching like lakes.
The landscapes, so familiar from Hollywood, feel even more cinematic from the observation car, which offers the best vantage point on board. Its huge windows and skylights frame the blue sky overhead. The main difficulty is finding a seat on one of the blue leather recliners, since the carriage is open to all passengers and cannot be reserved.
The dining car sits beside it. Our first-class tickets include lunch, dinner, breakfast and a second lunch. Soon after departure, a staff member comes to our compartment to record our preferred lunch time, a routine repeated several hours before every meal.
Large windows surround cosy booths in the dining car, while the tables have a plastic finish that recalls an aircraft tray table – though these are considerably bigger. The menu is classic American. Lunch might be a savoury grilled-cheese sandwich with honey-cured ham on sourdough, or an Angus beef burger with cheddar or Swiss cheese on a brioche bun. There is also a plant-based Beyond Burger.
Dinner is served in three courses, with mains such as steak, pan-roasted chicken breast or Atlantic salmon. Starters may include coconut shrimp or a green salad, followed by chocolate cake or white-chocolate blueberry cheesecake.
Breakfast brings familiar diner favourites including cheese omelettes, scrambled eggs, oatmeal and cereal with yoghurt and fruit. The portions are generous enough to make the snacks we had considered packing seem unnecessary.
Every meal comes with sides such as crisp kettle chips. Drinks include Starbucks regular or decaffeinated coffee, hot or iced tea, still or sparkling water, orange juice, soft drinks and milk.
We first see the ocean over lunch. The Pacific glitters beside us as the train follows the curving shoreline. In places, sandy beaches spread below; elsewhere, the tracks cling to cliff edges with open water directly beneath.
We first catch sight of the Pacific over lunch, with the train following a winding coastline of sandy beaches and dramatic clifftops
Our private compartment is comfortably spacious for two, although it remains smaller than a typical cruise-ship cabin
We had heard that whales and dolphins are occasionally visible from the train, but none appear during our journey. Perhaps we are simply unlucky.
We are fortunate that the weather is not unbearably hot – summer temperatures in Southern California regularly rise above 40 degrees Celsius – when we leave the train to stretch our legs. Most stops last only a few minutes, and passengers are told to disembark only if they are certain they will return in time. A handful of 15-minute ‘fresh air breaks’, however, allow for a brief walk.
Our first break arrives in the late afternoon.
San Luis Obispo station resembles a Spanish mission or hacienda, with white stucco walls and red clay roof tiles. Inside, a plaque explains that the nearly 27km (16.6-mile) stretch northeast to Santa Margarita was the most challenging section to construct on the Southern Pacific Railroad’s main line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Coast Starlight still follows this route, whose steep gradient and relatively high elevation made construction particularly difficult.
The route does not feel especially steep as we continue through broad green fields. California is, after all, famous for its fruit and vegetable orchards.
Whales and dolphins can reportedly be spotted from the train, but none make an appearance during our journey
Passengers can choose between a standard seat, comparable to premium economy, and private first-class compartments with ensuite toilets and beds made up by staff
Then we round a bend and seem to enter a different, almost Dickensian world. Dark metal oil derricks pump rhythmically like pendulums, drawing ‘black gold’ from the parched brown earth. The oil fields continue for mile after mile before another bend returns us suddenly to farmland.
After dinner, we return to find the couch in our compartment converted into a single bed, with a second bunk folded down from the wall above it. The white sheets are thin, but the pale-blue blankets are warm and fluffy.
The fields glow beneath a sherbet-coloured sunset of orange and pink. We have not yet reached the San Francisco Bay Area when sleep arrives, helped by pillows that are pleasantly free of lumps.
With such varied scenery, comfortable accommodation and meals included, it is easy to understand why we quickly decide we would happily take another long-distance train journey
When I wake, I initially have no idea where we are. Fir trees with green, needle-covered branches tower on both sides of the train. We pass enormous sapphire-blue lakes bordered by marshes and sinuous reeds, while large dark birds glide above us.
I am surprised by how refreshed I feel. A few minutes later, we stop at Klamath Falls, which means we are already in Southern Oregon. We have slept through breakfast, but I am content to watch the scenery instead.
The next several hours bring an endless succession of trees and lakes as we travel through Fremont-Winema National Forest and Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. Beaver dams seem more common than houses.
By late afternoon, buildings begin to appear as we approach Portland in northern Oregon. Even if Portland were not our destination, we would have to leave the train there: the conductor announces that a bus will carry passengers onward to Seattle because of a fire at a historic flour mill near Portland’s Union Station.
We cross the broad Willamette River on the aptly named Steel Bridge before grinding to a halt. The temperature is cooler than in Los Angeles, though still warm. Staff say their goodbyes, and we collect our luggage from a carousel inside the station, whose coffered ceilings date back to 1896.
We cannot believe how quickly more than 30 hours have passed. Yet the varied landscapes, comfortable accommodation and included meals make it easy to understand why we both so quickly agree that we would take another long-distance train journey.