Have you taken the train from San Diego to LA / Little Tokyo?

[Losfrisco]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

I forgot to say, we did take the Amtrak Surf-liner from SD to LA's Union Station once back in like 2010, but it was just passing through. I would say it was convenient without delay. From the Surf-liner we connected to the Coast Starlight all the way to Seattle. My favorite part of the train ride was not the part with the ocean view in SoCal, but rather going through the forests of far NorCal and Oregon. We coupled the visit to Seattle with a visit to North of the border to Vancouver.

On the topic of bucket lists, I highly recommend that train ride as a bucket list item for anyone living in SD.

I've also heard the train that starts in Emeryville and ends in Chicago (I think it's called the Zephyr) takes you through some incredible scenery in the intermountain west.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

I forgot to say, we did take the Amtrak Surf-liner from SD to LA's Union Station once back in like 2010, but it was just passing through. I would say it was convenient without delay. From the Surf-liner we connected to the Coast Starlight all the way to Seattle. My favorite part of the train ride was not the part with the ocean view in SoCal, but rather going through the forests of far NorCal and Oregon. We coupled the visit to Seattle with a visit to North of the border to Vancouver.

On the topic of bucket lists, I highly recommend that train ride as a bucket list item for anyone living in SD.

Did you know you can buy a California rail pass for around $150, which allows you to ride in California any 7 days out of a consecutive 21-day period? It's a great way to see the state by train!

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by Losfrisco

This thread has been a strange read for me-seeing people talk about this train route as if its some kind of obscure, "bucket list" thing you do once.

It's one of Amtrak's biggest routes (behind only ACELA and northeast regional), between two of the largest cities in North America. I've taken it probably over 100 times, I took it yesterday. I'll never understand the leisure travel habits of San Diegans. There's always time to go to places like Las Vegas or Big Bear...but when it comes to taking the train to Los Angeles it's a big mystery.

To each his own obviously, I'm just sharing my observations aloud. It just seems people always have time and money to pump into trips into the desert/mountains (or Hawaii), but this seemingly obvious trip gets overlooked. You can go up on Saturday morning for a few bucks, partake in all kinds of FREE activities in L.A., come back the same night and drink on the train.

I go up to LA for day trips to museums, etc pretty often. I would take the train more if it weren't for price and scheduling issues. It's much more expensive to pay over $60 for a round trip on Amtrak than it is to drive (I have a fuel-efficient car, so YMMV) and on the weekends it doesn't take anywhere near 3 hours to drive up there (generally, unless there's some gnarly accident or something). Also if I'm going to LACMA or the Getty or someplace that's not easily accessible from the LA metro trains that adds another couple of hours of travel time to the day, as well as more money, so it just makes more sense to me to take my car up for a day trip.

[caliguy92832]

I've taken the Amtrak train from downtown San Diego to Fullerton (OC) many of times. It's a great ride.