Every Amtrak route · 42 trip guides · About 12 min read

Take your kids on the train. I'll show you where to get off.

My name is Kelsey. I lost my mom in 2021, before my kids were born, and my dad a year later. There is a train trip I wish every day I could take with her. So I take it with my kids instead, and I write down everything: what's ten minutes from the platform, where the bathroom is, which stop has the goats, and which stops aren't worth getting off for. This page is every Amtrak route in America, as a trip you can actually take with a two-year-old or a ten-year-old. Start anywhere.

Written by Kelsey Lizee Cecil, author of Rally Takes the Train. Updated October 2026.
Watercolor of Rally the corgi and his family walking toward a red train at San Diego's Santa Fe Depot
Page two of our book is the real Santa Fe Depot in San Diego. Every trip on this page starts the same way: a kid, a platform, and a train coming.

Why a train, and why now

My mom talked for years about writing a children's book about our corgi riding the train to visit his grandparents. She called them his grand-paw-rents. She never got to write it, and she never got to ride a train with my kids. I wrote the book for her. Then I realized the book was only half of it. The other half is the ride.

Here's what I've learned taking my kids on Amtrak: a train is the only kind of travel where the going is the good part. Nobody is strapped in. There is a bathroom. There is a window that keeps changing, and a stranger who smiles at your toddler instead of glaring. You can walk to the cafe car together. You can read a whole book twice between stops. And at the end a door opens and someone you love is standing on the platform, or a beach is, or a museum is, and your kid remembers it. Mine do. They remember the tunnel. They remember the conductor who gave them a seat check to hold.

These are the trips kids never forget. I know, because I'm the kid who never got to take hers.Kelsey

So this is my project: every Amtrak route in the country, written up as a trip for families, one stop at a time. I'm building it in the order we can ride it. The first one is done, and it's the train from the book.

Start with the trip that started all of this

Watercolor of a red train car on a cliffside track above the ocean, from Rally Takes the Train

The Pacific Surfliner with your kids, all 29 stops

San Diego to San Luis Obispo along the beach, with a petting zoo 100 feet from one platform, a pier at the next, a tunnel to cheer through, and a children's museum across the street from the station in Santa Barbara. A half-day plan and a full-day plan for every single stop, including the ones I'd skip.

Read the Surfliner trip guide

Pick a trip by what your kid loves

Tap a button to narrow the list. Every route links to our parent guide for that train (tickets, seats, every stop), and the stop-by-stop trip guides are rolling out one route at a time.

Showing all 42 routes

West Coast (5 routes)

Mountain West, Southwest and Texas (6 routes)

Midwest (10 routes)

Northeast (12 routes)

Southeast (9 routes)

Looking for a specific town? Type your city on the route finder and it shows every Amtrak train that stops there, plus your closest station.

How I plan a train day with kids

  1. Pick the stop before the train. I choose a place that is fun within ten minutes of the platform, then find the train that gets us there before lunch. Every trip guide here gives walking minutes from the station door.
  2. Go short the first time. Under an hour, ending somewhere with a playground or sand. If it goes well, the next one can be longer. If it doesn't, you're home by nap.
  3. Sit on the right side. Literally. The ocean, the river, the mountains: each guide tells you which side of the train to sit on, in each direction.
  4. Pack the three things. Snacks they will actually eat, a soft bag that fits under the seat, and something to do that isn't a screen. Our free coloring pages are what we bring.
  5. Plan one moment. Not a whole itinerary. One thing: sunset on the pier, feeding a goat, the tunnel. That's what they'll talk about at dinner, and at dinner twenty years from now.
  6. Check the morning of. Trains get canceled for tides, track work and rockets. I say which to watch for, and the Amtrak alerts page (opens in a new tab) has the rest.

What these guides promise

  • Every stop, not just the famous ones. If a stop is a parking lot, I'll tell you it's a parking lot, so you can stay on the train.
  • Walking minutes from the platform for everything I recommend, because a two-year-old's legs are the real schedule.
  • A half-day plan and a full-day plan at each stop, with times, so you can match it to the next train.
  • Out-the-window notes so you know when to say "look."
  • Honest 2026 notes on closures and construction, checked against Amtrak and the attractions before publishing, and updated when things change.

A note for the parents who are here for the same reason I am

If you landed on this page because you lost someone and you're trying to make memories with your kids that feel like the ones you wish you had, I see you. I'm not going to tell you it gets easier. I'll tell you the train helps. It gives you two hours where the only job is to sit next to your kid and look out the window together. My mom would have loved that. I think yours would too. Here's our story, if you want it.

Questions parents ask

Is Amtrak a good way to travel with kids?

Yes, and it is the only way I know where the trip itself is the fun part. Nobody is buckled in, there is a bathroom on board, and the window changes every minute. Our complete guide to Amtrak with kids covers tickets, car seats, changing tables and what to pack by age.

How much do kids pay on Amtrak?

On most trains, kids 2 to 12 pay half the lowest adult coach fare, and one baby under 2 rides free on each paying adult's lap. A few state-supported trains are even better: kids ride free inside Washington on the Cascades, and the Hartford Line has one-dollar kids fares. Each trip guide says exactly what applies.

What is the best first train ride with a toddler?

Something under an hour that ends somewhere you want to be anyway. Our favorite is San Juan Capistrano to San Clemente Pier on the Pacific Surfliner, 13 minutes that end at a beach. The Hiawatha from Chicago to Milwaukee and the Downeaster to Old Orchard Beach work the same way.

Do I need a car seat on the train?

No. Amtrak does not require car seats, and most parents leave them home for day trips. If you need one at the other end, they ride free as checked or carry-on baggage on trains that allow it.

How do you pick which stop to get off at?

I look for three things: something fun within a ten-minute walk of the platform, a bathroom, and a snack. Every trip guide on this page rates each stop that way, and I say plainly when a stop is not worth getting off for.

Where do these trip guides come from?

I ride, I take notes, and I check the facts against Amtrak, the state rail agencies and the attractions themselves before I publish. Hours and prices change, so the guide tells you what to double-check the morning you go.

More for train families