West Coast of America trip - recommendations?

Tigsteroonie

If you fancy doing a bit of a tour by Amtrak, many many years ago I flew to Boston (Mass) and then did a loop: Boston - Chicago - New Orleans - Washington - New York - Boston.

Just an idea!

WolfSong2000

If you're looking for somewhere lovey and chilled, look at North Carolina...I spent a lot of time in Cherokee (Indian Reservation) which is stunningly beautiful and rather secluded...Asheville is a little more cosmopolitan and is a few hours away - also really beautiful.

pcg2001

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

If you fancy doing a bit of a tour by Amtrak, many many years ago I flew to Boston (Mass) and then did a loop: Boston - Chicago - New Orleans - Washington - New York - Boston.

Just an idea!

Is there a way to do this cheaply? I mean cheaper than the standard rates on amtrak (for example the cheapest I could find for NY - Washington was $72 single). I recall trains were really expensive in the US. Perhaps there is a type of railcard you recall using that was good value.

Do you recall how many days this tour took you? it seems really interesting, but may be very time consuming.

TIA

Tigsteroonie

pcg2001 wrote: »

Is there a way to do this cheaply? I mean cheaper than the standard rates on amtrak (for example the cheapest I could find for NY - Washington was $72 single). I recall trains were really expensive in the US. Perhaps there is a type of railcard you recall using that was good value.

Do you recall how many days this tour took you? it seems really interesting, but may be very time consuming.

TIA

This was about 18 years ago! The rail tickets weren't purchased separately, it was some kind of rail pass that we got.

ETA - Ouch! I've just seen how much the passes cost now! I don't think it was a USA-wide pass, we were restricted to the eastern side, but they don't seem to offer that now. Have you looked into Greyhound buses at all?

We spent two nights in Boston, two nights in Chicago, four nights in New Orleans (festival!), three nights in Washington, two nights in New York, and two nights again in Boston, Wish we'd spent longer in NY and less in Washington. It was very much a whistle-stop tour!

It was the days before tinternet, so most places we were in cheap chain hotels, but still walking distance to city centres. In NO we stayed in a B&B in the garden district, found through the local tourist office (but in advance).

pcg2001

Thanks Tigsteroonie for following up. Yes, train tickets do hurt just to look at. Bus might be a good option, now with Megabus and boltbus available cheaply. My intuition says it would make some sense to make this into a roadtrip... but I am still in the pre-planning stage.

Back to the OPs thread.

lavandergirl_2

you can get a megabus ticket for $1 if you plan your trip in advance. Some (or all?) megabus have free wifi as well. Plus you can get to enjoy watching the scenery.

Like what all people said, Amtrak is ok but it's not cheap.


£1500 is a lot of money for two weeks. Some people who have travelled alone stayed in hostel which is great for saving money and meeting new people. Hostelling International have free movie nights, free diner nights, free walking tours, and free comedy shows.

djleekee

Please feel free to discuss everything to do with any multi-centre trips to America!

Im open to any suggestions and inspiration!

The £1500 figure is just the extreme figure i could goto for the holiday but dont really want to pay anywhere near that at all - thinking if the return flight to NY is £300 and then allowing another £200-£300 for train tickets between places and maybe somemore on hotels etc? Im sure I could do it for well under £1000!

Apart from your Trek America's there doesnt seem to be much info online with respect to doing such a trip so all this info is VERY valuable to me!

Thanks for all your replies so far!

lavandergirl_2

Are There Any Other Travel Restrictions?

The USA Rail Pass is valid for travel on all Amtrak trains except:

• Auto Train
• Acela Express
• Thruway motorcoach connections (7000-7999 series)
• The Canadian portion of trains operated jointly by Amtrak and VIA Rail Canada.

Travel is restricted to four one-way trips between two cities, and to all cities in between, over the same route. For example, the following trips would use up the four trips over the Washington, DC to New York route segment:

• Trip 1: Washington, DC to New York
• Trip 2: New York to Washington, DC
• Trip 3: Washington, DC to Philadelphia
• Trip 4: Philadelphia to Washington, DC

A 15 day AMTRAK USA Rail only gives you 8 segments and costing $389.00 which is far more expensive than using Megabus or Bolt (as it could be as low as $1 each way if planned properly. Then you will have more money for hotel and food.

You can go to NY, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Niagara Falls

djleekee

Looking at the Amtrak website i see a 'Monthly Amtrak Ticket' costing about £240

I wondered whether I could get better value from doing my trips individually and this is what I conjured up from their website.

New York - Philadelphia £21
Philadelphia - Washington £20
Washington - N Charlston £53
N Charlston - Orlando £34
Orlando - Miami £22

Totalling only £160

Therefore it seems better value to book them individually than the one month AmTrak ticket!