Palmetto Train With Kids: Every Stop, Table Seats and Kids Tickets
Yes, the Palmetto works with kids if you ride the daylight half: it’s Amtrak’s daytime train between New York and Savannah, kids 2 to 12 pay half fare, and Business Class has four-seat tables. There are no sleeping cars, so picture a long day in a seat, not a night in a bed. Our pick for families is the northbound train. It leaves Savannah at 7:35 a.m. and crosses South Carolina and North Carolina by early afternoon.
The short version
- Kids 2 to 12 ride for half the adult fare, and with no sleepers on board, that discount covers the whole ticket.
- Want to face each other? Business Class has two four-seat conference tables per car, but those seats don’t turn, so you may ride backward.
- Northbound leaves Savannah at 7:35 a.m. and reaches New York at 11:23 p.m.; southbound doesn’t reach Savannah until 12:21 a.m.
- Southbound, the current timetable has about three hours between arriving and leaving Washington.
- Dillon, Wilson and Selma are Palmetto stops that the Silver Meteor skips.
Palmetto at a glance
- Runs between
- New York City and Savannah, Georgia, by way of Washington, Richmond, Fayetteville and Charleston
- States
- New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia
- Distance
- about 830 miles by the timetable mileage
- End to end
- about 16 hours northbound and about 18 hours southbound
- Trains
- one round trip per day (trains 89 and 90)
- Train cars
- single-level coaches, a Business Class car and a cafe car
- Four-seat tables
- yes in Business Class: two four-seat conference tables per car
- Upstairs seating
- none
- Quiet Car
- none listed on Amtrak’s Silver Meteor and Palmetto page
- Food
- cafe car with sandwiches, snacks and drinks; no dining car
- Sleeper rooms
- none; the Palmetto dropped its sleeping and dining cars in 2002
- Checked bags
- yes at larger stops, including Savannah, Charleston, Florence, Fayetteville, Wilson, Richmond and Washington
Look inside the book
Palmetto table booked? Read Rally there.
The window seat page in Rally Takes the Train fits the morning run north from Savannah. Peek at a few pages here.
Rally Takes the Train
Eight pages from the book
Turn the page
That's 8 of 25 pages
See who’s waiting at the station
Grandmommy and Papa are at the last stop. Get the full hand-painted book, $13.99 on Amazon.
See the full bookPage 1 of 8
Like it so far? See the full book
25 hand-painted pages, paperback, $13.99 with fast shipping from Amazon.
Every page is real watercolor on paper, painted by hand by Leslie Dunn. Nothing in this book was made with AI.
Do kids need a ticket on the Palmetto?
Kids 2 to 12 ride for half the adult fare when an adult 18 or older is on the same reservation. One baby under 2 rides free on each grown-up’s lap, and any extra baby pays the child fare.
Here’s the nice part about a train with no sleepers: there’s no room charge billed at full price. The half-price fare is the whole cost of a child’s coach ticket, which keeps a family trip cheaper than a sleeper room on the overnight Silver Meteor.
Business Class costs more, but it gives families something they care about: a chosen seat. Picking or changing your seat there is free, each Business Class car has four-seat tables, and Amtrak says Business Class tickets are fully refundable if you cancel before departure. When a kid spikes a fever the night before, that refund matters.
Four Palmetto stops are in North Carolina (Rocky Mount, Wilson, Selma and Fayetteville), and NC By Train lists the Palmetto on its schedule pages. Its Kids Under 12 Ride for Half Off Every Day deal is the same child fare Amtrak already gives, not a second discount on top.
Free for train families
Free Palmetto printables for the ride
Screen-free fun for the whole ride: track all 23 Palmetto stops, spot landmarks out the window, play train window bingo and earn an “I rode the Palmetto” certificate. Free to print at home.
Get the free Palmetto activity bookEvery Palmetto stop, from New York to Savannah
The Palmetto makes 23 stops between New York and Savannah. It skips Princeton Junction, New Brunswick, Quantico and Fredericksburg, but it does stop at Metropark, BWI Airport and New Carrollton, which the Silver Meteor does not.
New York- New York, Moynihan Train Hall (New York Penn Station)Look for: Before you board, have them look way up. The boarding hall sits inside the historic James A. Farley Post Office, lit by skylights 92 feet overhead.
- Newark Penn Station
- Iselin (Metropark)
- Trenton
- Philadelphia (William H. Gray III 30th Street Station)
- Wilmington
- Baltimore Penn Station
- Linthicum (BWI Marshall Airport)
- New Carrollton
- Washington Union Station
- AlexandriaLook for: This depot opened in 1905, in a city founded in 1749 as a Potomac River port. Watch for local VRE commuter trains, which stop here too.
- Richmond (Staples Mill Road)
- Petersburg
- Rocky Mount
- WilsonLook for: Look for the purple posts! They hold up a 378-foot canopy, painted in the old railroad’s colors, on a 1924 Mission-style station.
- Selma-Smithfield
- FayettevilleLook for: Point out the barn-shaped gambrel roof on this 1911 Dutch Colonial Revival depot. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- DillonLook for: Find the four-faced station clock, which doubles as a thermometer. The depot first opened to passengers in 1904.
- Florence
- Kingstree
- North CharlestonLook for: Count the stripes: red brick and green concrete bands under a big front porch. The station is part of the North Charleston Transit Center.
- YemasseeLook for: You’ll board beside a 1955 Charleston and Western Carolina Railroad depot, in a small town famous for its shrimp festival.
- Savannah
What kids can see from the Palmetto
Ride north for the daylight
In fall and winter, the southbound Palmetto crosses South Carolina in the dark. It reaches Fayetteville at 6:57 p.m. and Savannah after midnight. Northbound flips that around: you leave Savannah at 7:35 a.m. and stay in daylight through Charleston, Florence and Fayetteville, reaching Rocky Mount at 2:13 p.m.
On that morning run, heading north, the low sun is on the right-hand (east) side. Seat a sun-sensitive sleeper on the left, and let your bird watcher take whichever side has less glare.
The Fayetteville Cutoff
Between Wilson and Florence, the Palmetto rides the Fayetteville Cutoff, a 141-mile line built in pieces from 1885 to 1892 to shorten the Atlantic Coast Line’s main line by 61 miles. Here’s one kids like hearing: Dillon got its depot because J.W. Dillon gave land for the tracks in exchange for a station in his town.
Engine change at Washington
North of Washington, the train runs under electric wires. At Union Station the crew swaps the electric engine for a diesel, and southbound trains then leave through the First Street Tunnel under Capitol Hill. On the current timetable the southbound Palmetto arrives at 9:46 a.m. and leaves at 12:55 p.m., so keep the activity bag handy for a long wait.
A train that changed names
From 1996 to 2002 this train was called the Silver Palm, and it ran all the way to Miami with sleeping and dining cars. The Palmetto name came back on May 1, 2002, and the sleepers and diner went away. Since November 1, 2004, the train has ended in Savannah.
Where to sit with kids on the Palmetto
Our favorite family tip for the Palmetto is in Business Class. Amtrak says each Business Class car has two conference tables with four seats each, so a family of four can face each other across a table all day. One catch: the crew turns the regular seats to face forward, but the table seats don’t turn, so you may ride backward.
Business Class is normally the last car on the train, though Amtrak says a schedule or equipment change can move it. Choosing a seat there is free, so grab a table when you book or switch later in the app.
In coach you get a reserved seat but not a chosen one, and Amtrak seats people on one reservation together when it can. Every car has restrooms. Car seats can’t be fastened to Amtrak seats, so lap babies ride on a parent.
When your family ends up scattered on the Palmetto
The surest fix happens at booking: a Business Class table, chosen for free when you buy. For coach, buy every ticket together on one reservation, since Amtrak seats one reservation together when possible, though coach tickets promise you somewhere to sit, not a chosen spot. At Moynihan Train Hall, staff often bring families with small children aboard early, so wait within earshot of the gate.
Apart anyway? Do a slow lap of your car and the neighboring coach, and park within sight of each other while you look. When you ask a stranger to trade, ask before they’ve unpacked, and keep it brief: “Sorry to bother you. I’m trying to sit next to my preschooler.” Offer a seat like the one you’re asking for, and leave anyone at a table alone unless you have a table seat to give. If they decline, that’s their call.
Conductors are worth a word at the door or the ticket check. Say you’re a family of four with a toddler, for example, and ask whether another coach has space. A conductor can lead you to free seats and ask that bags come off seats meant for people, but won’t move someone who is sitting there. On a 16-hour day, a young child never sits alone in another row or car.
The best first Palmetto ride with kids
With one train a day each way, the trick is finding two stops where the morning and evening trains both work. Otherwise, plan to ride one way and drive back.
- Fayetteville to Wilson and back, about 1 hour 20 minutes each way. Northbound train 90 leaves Fayetteville at 12:22 p.m. and reaches Wilson at 1:43 p.m. Southbound train 89 brings you home, leaving Wilson at 5:33 p.m. and arriving in Fayetteville at 6:57 p.m.
- Savannah to Charleston, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Train 90 leaves Savannah at 7:35 a.m. and reaches North Charleston at 9:15 a.m., passing Yemassee on the way. The southbound train gets back to Savannah after midnight, so treat this one as one way.
- New York to Philadelphia, about 1 hour 30 minutes. The southbound Palmetto leaves Moynihan Train Hall at 6:02 a.m. and reaches Philadelphia at 7:32 a.m. Good for the kid who’s up at dawn anyway.
Amtrak posted service adjustments south of Washington for October 16 to 26, 2026, so check the alert page if you’re booking those dates.
Food, bathrooms and naps on the Palmetto
There’s a cafe car on the Palmetto, which NC By Train describes as a lounge car selling sandwiches, snacks and drinks. There’s no dining car, and Business Class adds a free non-alcoholic drink.
For the full ride, bring lunch and dinner. Northbound from Savannah to New York is 16 hours in a seat, and that’s not the day to test a new food on a picky eater. Between meals, a few free Rally printables fill the gap better than one more cafe run.
No beds means naps happen in the seat. A reclining coach seat or a Business Class table seat both work for a toddler curled up on your lap. Nobody posts where the Palmetto’s changing tables are, if any, so pack a portable pad.
A train book for the ride
Rally’s favorite spot in Rally Takes the Train is the window seat, where he watches a white bird outside. On the northbound Palmetto, the first two hours out of Savannah cross the South Carolina Lowcountry around Yemassee and Charleston in morning light. Ask your kid to keep watch for a bird like Rally’s.
A Business Class table is a great place to read the book together, and the free Rally activity pack and coloring pages lie flat on it.
A table-time book for the PalmettoRally Takes the Train follows a real corgi on his first train ride, told in rhyme and hand-painted in watercolor. About five minutes to read, ages 0 to 8, $13.99 on Amazon.
Buy on Amazon
More for train families
- Every Amtrak route with kids: find another train by city or station
- The complete guide to Amtrak with kids: tickets, car seats, changing tables, family tables and what to pack by age
- Free Rally activity pack and coloring pages to print before your trip
- Silver Meteor with kids
- Carolinian with kids
- Northeast Regional with kids
- Floridian with kids
Sources
- Amtrak: Silver Meteor and Palmetto route page
- Amtrak: Palmetto timetable
- Amtrak: Reserved seating (Palmetto Business Class tables)
- Amtrak: Child discounts
- NC By Train: Palmetto schedule
- NC By Train: Kids Under 12 Ride for Half Off Every Day
- Amtrak timetable archive, effective September 2026 (juckins.net)
- Wikipedia: Silver Service
- Wikipedia: Fayetteville Cutoff
- Wikipedia: Washington Union Station
Checked against Amtrak and partner railroad pages in October 2026. Schedules and policies change, so confirm on amtrak.com before you ride.
Palmetto with kids: questions parents ask
How much is a kids ticket on the Palmetto?
Ages 2 to 12 travel at 50 percent off the adult coach fare as long as someone at least 18 shares their booking. Because the Palmetto carries no sleeper rooms, there’s no full-price room charge on top, so that discount is a child’s whole coach cost. NC By Train’s Kids Under 12 Ride for Half Off covers the four North Carolina stops, but it’s the same deal, not a second one.
Can a baby ride free on the Palmetto?
Yes. On the Palmetto, an under-2 baby is free on the lap of a parent paying adult fare, one baby per parent. Twins? The second one needs the child fare, same as a baby you’d like in a seat. A lap baby only gets an empty seat if no paying rider claims it, so for a guaranteed spot to stretch out, buy one.
Do I need a car seat on the Palmetto?
No. Nothing on a Palmetto seat can anchor one; Amtrak has no way to lock a car seat in place. Your car seat may rest on a spare seat if nobody paying needs it; if the train is full, the baby goes on your lap and the car seat is stored with the bags. Need it for the drive from Savannah or Charleston? It travels free, counted as one bag.
Where can I change a diaper on the Palmetto?
We couldn’t confirm changing table locations for the Palmetto, and Amtrak has no official policy on them, so expect it to vary by car. Pack a fold-up pad and, when it’s free, use the accessible restroom, which is the larger one. With 16 to 18 hours end to end and no sleeper room to retreat to, a well-stocked diaper bag at your seat matters more than usual.
What are the restrooms like on the Palmetto with kids?
There’s a restroom in every Palmetto car, and since nothing is upstairs, it’s a flat walk. A little light shows when someone’s inside. Walk young kids there and stay with them, and tell them the flush will roar. If you’re in Business Class, usually the last car, the closest restroom is in your own car, which saves a long walk with a wiggly kid.
Can I bring a stroller on the Palmetto?
Yes. Fold it up and it boards free, taking the spot of one regular bag. Parents of under-2s also get a bonus infant item, like the stroller or a diaper bag, that doesn’t eat into the carry-on limit. Big jogging or side-by-side strollers could need checking, which the Palmetto offers at larger stops such as Savannah, Charleston, Florence, Fayetteville, Wilson, Richmond and Washington.
Can I breastfeed or make bottles on the Palmetto?
Nurse wherever you like on board; the law in all 50 states allows breastfeeding in public. Bottles are on you, though. The Palmetto’s food comes from a cafe car only, with no diner crew to help prepare them. Pack formula, water and enough clean bottles to cover your whole leg, plus a few extra in case the Washington stop runs long.
What food is on the Palmetto for kids?
The Palmetto’s cafe car has sandwiches, snacks and drinks for sale, and Business Class includes a free drink (non-alcoholic). No dining car runs on this train, so for a full day we’d bring lunch and dinner from home, plus extra snacks for the Carolinas. Pick foods your kids already like. Hour ten of a train ride is a bad moment to discover they won’t eat the cafe sandwich.
How do I keep kids entertained on the Palmetto?
Give them stations to hunt for. Wilson has purple posts holding up a 378-foot canopy, Dillon has a four-faced clock that’s also a thermometer, and Fayetteville’s depot has a barn-shaped roof. Spread our printable Rally activity pack across a Business Class table. A walk to the cafe car breaks up the long Virginia stretch.
Can we sit together at a table on the Palmetto?
Yes, in Business Class: each car has two four-seat conference tables, and choosing seats there is free, so grab the table when you book. The table seats don’t turn to face forward, so someone may ride backward. Business Class costs more, and the kids discount doesn’t reduce that part of the fare. In coach, seats are reserved but not chosen.
What if our family gets split up in Palmetto coach?
Don’t resign yourselves to a whole day apart. Hunt through your coach and the next one for two open seats side by side, keeping each small kid next to an adult in the meantime. Look again after big stops like Washington or Richmond, when some riders get off. If you ask a stranger to swap, offer a seat that matches theirs.
Can the conductor help us sit together on the Palmetto?
Yes, within limits. At boarding or during the ticket check, explain who’s traveling and the kids’ ages, then ask if a different car has room. A conductor can guide you to open seats and have riders clear bags away. They may also ask that a lap baby’s spare seat go to a paying passenger, but nobody gets pulled from a seat they’re using.
Is there a Quiet Car on the Palmetto?
Amtrak’s Silver Meteor and Palmetto page doesn’t list one, so we can’t promise a Quiet Car on this train. Either way, kids’ shows and games need headphones on Amtrak. If your family wants a calmer setup, a Business Class table is our pick, since you choose your seats ahead of time and can keep everyone together in one spot.
What should I pack for a toddler on the Palmetto?
Pack for a long seated day: northbound takes about 16 hours, southbound about 18, and there are no beds or dining car. Bring two real meals, snacks, a refillable water bottle, headphones, spare clothes, wipes, diapers, a changing pad and a small pillow. Put the toy that settles your kid fastest and some free coloring pages for the train right on top.
How do kids sleep on the Palmetto?
Sitting up, since the Palmetto dropped its sleeping cars in 2002. A reclining coach seat or a Business Class seat works for a toddler curled on your lap. Northbound, you leave Savannah at 7:35 a.m. and reach Rocky Mount at 2:13 p.m., so an early riser’s afternoon nap lands in North Carolina. Seat a sun-sensitive sleeper on the left.
What is a good first ride on the Palmetto with kids?
Fayetteville to Wilson and back works in one day. Train 90 leaves Fayetteville at 12:22 p.m. and reaches Wilson at 1:43 p.m., and train 89 brings you home from Wilson at 5:33 p.m., arriving at 6:57 p.m. For a one-way ride, Savannah to North Charleston takes about 1 hour 40 minutes on the 7:35 a.m. train, passing Yemassee.
Can my child ride the Palmetto alone?
Not at 12 or younger; Amtrak never allows it. A 13 to 15 year old can ride under the unaccompanied minor policy only if the booking is made by calling 1-800-USA-RAIL, the trip is in daytime, both stations are staffed, there are no transfers and they pay the adult fare. The southbound train’s after-midnight Savannah arrival wouldn’t fit the daytime rule. Teens 16 and 17 may go alone.
How early should we get to the station for the Palmetto?
About 30 minutes early. Business Class is normally the last car, though a schedule or equipment change can move it, so leave time to walk the length of the platform with bags. At big stations like Moynihan Train Hall, staff often wave families with small children aboard before the crowd. For the 6:02 a.m. southbound from New York, that means a pre-dawn wake-up.
What if my child gets nervous on the Palmetto?
Name the surprises ahead of time. Southbound, the crew swaps an electric engine for a diesel in Washington, and then the train heads into the First Street Tunnel under Capitol Hill, so it goes dark for a bit. The horn is loud, too. Read Rally’s tunnel page together the night before, and hold a hand when the windows go black.
Is the Palmetto safe for little kids?
Yes, with the usual rules. Small hands stay in yours on the platform, and the whole family waits behind the line, especially on the long walk back to Business Class. Once moving, keep kids seated or holding on, and cross between cars together. Shoes stay on all day. During the three-hour southbound stop in Washington, ask the conductor before stepping off, and come back early.
What if the Palmetto is delayed?
Track it on the Amtrak app’s live map and read travel advisories before you go. Amtrak flagged adjusted service south of D.C. from October 16 through 26, 2026. A late southbound train can push a 12:21 a.m. Savannah arrival even later, so pack extra snacks, extra diapers, a free printable maze and word search and a plan for carrying sleepy kids off the train at the end.
Should we take the Palmetto or the Silver Meteor to Charleston or Savannah?
Northbound, the Palmetto is the daytime choice, and it’s the only one of the two that stops in Dillon, Wilson and Selma. The Silver Meteor keeps going to Florida and has sleeping rooms. Southbound, the Meteor reaches Charleston at 4:56 a.m., so with small kids we’d usually pick the northbound Palmetto, leaving Savannah at 7:35 a.m.