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Trains can take you to the doorstep of majestic national parks. The Rocky Mountaineer drops you in Moab, Utah, the gateway to Arches and Canyonlands national parks. Courtesy Rocky
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When Amtrak’s Empire Builder train pulled into Montana’s East Glacier Park station, the view was unlike anything I had ever seen. There stood a stunning century-old lodge built from Douglas
fir timbers, and behind it, a row of snow-speckled mountains made the grand structure look minute. Above it all hung a sky so big and blue that I simply stared in awe. The magnitude of this
magical place at that moment in 1998 left an indelible impression on me. This was my introduction to Glacier National Park, the Crown of the Continent. It was also my first-ever trip on a
long-distance overnight train.
In the decades since, I’ve traveled by train every chance I get: crossing the Australian outback aboard the iconic Indian Pacific, traveling through Norway’s breathtaking fjord landscape on
the Flåm Railway and booking a sleeping berth for the nearly 10-hour journey from Bangkok to Surat Thani, a coastal city in southern Thailand. I’ve taken trains on five continents and
crossed most all of the U.S. by rail numerous times. I find the rhythm of the tracks relaxing and love looking out the window at what’s basically a real-life moving picture show. There are
also my fellow passengers, many of whom love train travel as much as I do. We often spend an hour or two swapping stories about our favorite railway journeys.
While I’ve driven to Glacier National Park a couple of times in the years since that first visit, nothing beats my Amtrak arrival. In fact, the Great Northern Railway built the park’s hotels
specifically to house visitors arriving by train. Disembarking at the East Glacier Park depot feels like going back in time to another era, a nostalgic journey that begins the moment you
step on the railway platform and continues while you enjoy the park’s glacial lakes and hiking trails.
According to AARP’s 2024 Travel Trends Survey, 63 percent of travelers 50-plus are planning to take only domestic trips this year. Why not do so via train and swap long airport layovers,
hefty gas prices and hours behind a steering wheel for jaw-dropping views instead? Now that I’m 50, I prefer this slowed-down form of travel even more than I did a decade or two ago. The
seats are often comfy, and with much more space than a typical economy plane ticket, I can get up and stretch as much as I like. Plus, with someone else navigating, I’ve got plenty of time
to sit back and enjoy the ride.
Although I can cross the Empire Builder experience off my list, here are some epic train rides I’m ready to explore that take riders right to the doorstep of some of the United States’ most
spectacular national parks — which happen to be another one of my favorite things.
The Denali Star Train runs daily service to Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska from May 9 tomid-September. Courtesy Brandon Rathgeber Denali Star Train to Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska
As Alaska Railroad’s flagship train, the Denali Star pulls out all the stops along its 356-mile journey — a service that runs daily, from May 9 through mid-September. Of course, the route’s
shining star is Denali National Park and Preserve, 6 million acres of remote wilderness filled with boreal forest, alpine tundra and white-capped peaks, reachable in just over six hours from
Anchorage, the line’s southern terminus, and less than four hours from Fairbanks in the north.
On a clear day, passengers traveling south of the town of Talkeetna should be able to spot the 20,310-foot-tall Denali — the highest peak in North America — rising above the Susitna River.
Although the train’s adventure class offers superb picture window views, the GoldStar Service railway cars feature glass-dome ceilings and an upper-level outdoor viewing platform, ensuring
that you’ll have every chance to bask in Denali’s beauty. This premium class also includes a full-service dining room and an onboard Alaskan tour guide who can answer questions like “Is that
a black bear or a grizzly?”
For those looking to spend a couple of days exploring Denali, the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is just a mile outside the park’s entrance and offers rail tour packages that include
transfers and baggage handling to and from the train depot.
Cost: Prices start at $67 for adults in adventure class between Fairbanks and Denali during May and September, then increase depending on the mileage covered, the class and the specific
dates (June through August is high season).