Taking Amtrak- Tips and Recommendations

I took my first Amtrak trip from Reno to Seattle and back with my Mom in May of 2026. These are my tips and recommendations if you are considering taking an Amtrak trip.

Photo of one of the Amtrak trains for the California Zephyr

The Plan-

The plan was to take the train from Reno, Nevada to Sacramento, California on the California Zephyr. We would have Coach seats and this segment of the trip was estimated to take approximately 5 hours and 41 minutes. We would then have an approximately 8 hour layover and then board the Coast Starlight to Seattle. We would have a bedroom on this leg and it would take approximately 20 hours and 2 minutes. After 5 days in Seattle we would then reverse this to return to Reno.

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What Happened-

Our first train was running 12 hours late. Amtrak offered us a bus from Reno to Sacramento so that we would not miss our connections. We decided to turn this down and receive a refund for this portion of the trip. My husband drove us down to Sacramento so that we would not miss our transfer. Since we had a room, the train station held our luggage for free while we explored Sacramento before our train arrived at approximately midnight. If you have a coach seat you will need to pay for your luggage to be stored.

Turned out that the train we were supposed to be in arrived 2 minutes before our train departed, so we could have taken it. We would have been nervous the whole time, so I think we made the right decision.

Boarding our first train at midnight was not ideal as it was late, we were tired and our room was already in sleep mode. Our trip was okay, but could have been better if we followed some tips I have for you below.

Tip 1- Check if your train is running on time

You can use the Amtrak website or app, but a friend told me about https://asm.transitdocs.com/  and it was easy to use and appeared more accurate and up to date than the Amtrak app. We could even see the speed we were going and what we were going pass on the map (only when we had cell reception). It is nice to see the routes.

Tip 2- Pack Right

Before I talk about how to pack, I think I need to explain a bit about the different types of tickets you can book.

• The cheapest option is Coach. In coach the seats are two on one side of the aisle and two on the other side. The chair is much bigger than an airplane seat in economy. There is also a lot more leg room. There is room where you enter to leave any larger luggage you have and you can keep smaller bags with you and put them on the shelf over your seat. You have a few shared bathrooms in each car. You have access to the observation car, and can buy food at the snack bar, but access to the dining car is not included with your ticket. Sometimes they will let you pay to eat in the dining car, but it seemed to be different on each train.

  

  Coach Seats

• Roomette is the next type of ticket. This is a private area for up to two people. You will have two chairs that face each other. The chairs fold down to create a bed at night and a bed pulls down from the wall. You access this by almost steps on the side of one of the seats. On the West coast trains they do not have bathrooms and you use communal bathrooms down the hall. I have seen that some of the East coast trains have a sink and some have a sink and a toliet, which looks really awkward as it is right next to the seat or the bed if the cabin is in night mode.

  

  Roomette

  

  Roomette Floor plan in night mode

• Bedroom is the next type of ticket you can get, and this is what we got for the longer legs of our journey. Durning the day it has a bench and a chair to sit in. It has it's own bathroom (very small). At night the bench pulls out to a bed and a bed folds down from the wall. You use a ladder to get up into the bed. I always felt like the ladder was going to slip and I was going to fall, but maybe that is just me and my lack of coordination.

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• The last type of ticket is a Family room. There are very few of these. They sleep more people and have windows on both sides of the train, but they do not have a bathroom. I did not get to see what one of these actually looked like.

Okay so here is where I get to the actual tip. Leave any bigger bags that you have down in the luggage storage area by the door. Try to pack everything you will need for the train trip in a smaller bag, like a backpack. Whichever type of seat you pick, you will not have a lot of extra room, so don't fill your space with unnecessary items.

Tip 3- Dining on the Train

All tickets except for coach include dinning. You get breakfast, lunch, and dinner, assuming you are on the train at the time that they are serving those meals. All the trains seemed to handle reservations a bit different and if you don't want to go to the dinning car they can deliver your meal to your room. We never did this as we enjoyed getting out of our room for a bit. They will seat you with other people. I found the food okay. It was a lot to eat and some things were better than other. There are also different menus on different routes, but you can check on the Amtrak website which menu you will have on your route. You also get a free drink with each meal and it can be alcohol at dinner (beer, wine, or a cocktail.

Tip 4- Temperature

I am always warm, but I was okay on the train. My mom on the other hand was very cold. I would recommend bringing layers, and if you are somebody who gets cold easy, maybe bring a blanket. If you are in a room, you will have a blanket for at night, but it is not always easy to get that blanket, or might not be warm enough for you at night.

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Tip 5- Visit the Observation Car

Take a few minutes when you are on scenic parts of the route to visit the observation car. It is open to everyone and the views are so much better thanks to the large windows. They have all sorts of different seating arrangements in it.