Travel By Rail? A Review of Amtrak From Vancouver WA to Seattle WA

Over my lifetime, I have traveled fairly extensively domestically and internationally. I’ve done a lot of air travel, bus travel (city and Greyhound), light rail travel, some other train travel (mostly in Europe) and a lot of travel by car. This year my wife and I will be doing our first cruise. I hesitate to write this, because it is a nice secret. On short to medium length trips, Amtrak rail is a really nice and viable option. On long trips, only if you have a private sleeper berth/car. Having said that. I discovered this week that rail is a very good option for short to medium length trips. In this article, I will give you the pros and cons as I see them. I have no dog in the fight. Amtrak did not sponsor this trip or this article. I paid for it all. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly. You make your own decision what works best for you. That’s why I an called a “Travel Advisor” (but I prefer the title of “Travel-ing Agent”. I became a Travel Agent/Advisor to help people, to feed my travel addiction and to make commissions on my own travel (as a bonus). (Ask me for details if you think that might be a good idea for you as well).

By the end of the day today I will have a new video up relating to this article (with different content). Since it’s not posted yet, here is the link to my AKOR Services Travel YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@akorservices4059 You will get some good bonus content on this article that I don’t provide on the video.

On tax day, 2024 I took an overnight trip from Vancouver, WA to Seattle, WA, using only Amtrak rail, my feet and city busses in Seattle. The goal was to do this entire trip without using my car, and without flying. I don’t want to advise my travel clients to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself. I set off with my backpack (and no suitcases). This is that story and what I learned on the trip.

Day 1: On this leg of my journey, I chose “Business class” so that I could measure the differences between business and coach class. This fare was $89 (one-way). It was a steep price for a journey of this length, but I needed to evaluate business class service on a train. I was impressed that when I boarded, the “Conductor” called me by name and was very friendly.

I caught the first train of the morning out of Vancouver, WA. It was supposed to depart at 7:03 am. On this date, the train lived up to its’ reputation of being late. It had a mechanical issue in Portland, OR, which is the stop just prior to Vancouver on its’ northbound journey. My first lesson that I learned. It’s a good thing that I am a TA (Travel Agent), and I had booked my own rail tickets because the actual train station in Vancouver isn’t open at 7am in the morning. In fact, it still wasn’t open when our train finally departed. We were 38 minutes late departing from Vancouver. Lesson #2: If you have other connections to make, after utilizing rail, you need to be extremely flexible and/or travel the day before your connections. Trains are known for being late (in America). Not as much in Europe. Lesson #3: On this trip I learned why there are different rates for different for rail travel. On this route there are 2 routes per day that are cheaper than the other routes on the same day. Tip: On Amtrak, their cheapest rates are cheaper because that route at that time of day is typically delayed. Case-in-point. Not only was this first train delayed for mechanical issues (making it 38 minutes late), but 2 other times before we got to Seattle, we were stopped and waiting on the tracks for other freight train traffic doing its’ work. By the time this leg was done, we were about 1 1/2 hours late getting into Seattle. All three of these lessons are important when you travel by rail!

Once I got there, I already knew which bus I needed to catch because I studied up on it ahead of time. I was staying at a hotel near the Seattle World’s Fair site, near the Seattle Space Needle. One of my challenges was figuring out which direction I needed to go, leaving the King Street Train Station. Google maps and walking directions are a big plus. Word of advice. There are a LOT of King County Metro busses in the downtown area. The hardest part was knowing exactly where the bus that I needed was to be caught. I ended up asking one of the other bus drivers (that was on break), and he kindly directed me. There is not really much useful signage at the train station. For those of you that know Seattle, it is very hilly, so you don’t want to be wondering around without a plan. In the end, I walked about 3 blocks to where I caught my bus. Once I found it, it was extremely fast (Rapid Transit) getting to my hotel. My bus stop was about 1 block away at my hotel. I have been to Seattle many times, but it can be an intimidating city if you don’t know where you are going.

After checking in, I headed out to walk around the old Seattle World’s Fair site. I got my 2 mile walk in for the day. It was a slightly rainy evening, but Spring was in full bloom. It was a great evening.

Day 2: One of the reasons that I haven’t recommended friends, family and customers spend any time in Seattle is because since 2020 (Covid era), the homeless and “aggressive” populations in Seattle and Portland have gotten out of control. While I haven’t changed my opinion of the Portland area, I will admit that Seattle, with all of it’s problems, has done a much improved job of cleaning up the downtown and port areas. There is a lot of new construction in the downtown and Pier/Dock areas. That’s a positive sign. I walked around for 2 hours on Day 1. On Day 2 I caught a bus from my hotel over to the Pike Street Market area. I walked all around alot in downtown, all over and around Pike Street Market, and then walked the rest of the way over to the King Street Amtrak Station. 2 years ago, I wouldn’t have done any of that. I have to admit that I never felt threatened at all (during the daytime). I am used to dealing with that segment of people. I have to admit that Seattle has done a good gob of controlling and cleaning up that segment, at least downtown, and on the days I was there. Far better than Portland has. However, I am quite sure that I could go a couple of miles in any direction from downtown Seattle and it would be a different story. Like Portland, Seattle has been hurt a lot in their downtown areas. It has done nothing positive for tourism.

I was very impressed with security at the Amtrak King Street train station. You couldn’t get into the building without a ticket. This was way different than the Vancouver , WA station. In this area, I understand that.

Two very positive things I want to point out about taking the train from Eugene/Portland/Vancouver to Seattle. First, this train goes through Tacoma. There is a stop in Tacoma just a few blocks from the Tacoma Dome, which is a major concert and events venue. Also, the Seattle King Street Amtrak station is literally in the shadows of “Seahawk Stadium”. Taking the train to either of these venues, with tons of hotels in the area would make an easy trip for locals in Oregon and Washington. If you want entertainment, take the train to Seattle.

I caught an earlier train back to Vancouver. That was no problem, although it did cost me a little more money. My return trip was booked as Coach intentionally. It was originally $28. It cost me an extra $4 to catch an earlier train (and as it turns out a faster, more reliable train – See Lesson #3 above). We departed Seattle on-time and arrived in Vancouver a little over 3 hours later, on-time. It was worth the extra money.

Despite all the delays, I thoroughly enjoyed my rail trip. “How can you say that”, you ask. Lots of reasons. Lets compare it to air travel.

No arriving 2 hours before the flight. You can show up minutes before your train departs and you are good to go if you have your ticket already (and you don’t need to check bags).
No TSA security check. That’s right. You heard me right. You get on the train and go. That’s it. No bag searches. No taking out your laptop or taking off your shoes and belts or anything else. It’s such a refreshing experience.
Compared to city busses and trains there are mostly nice people on there who pay their fares because the conductors actually check fares. I saw a lot of retirees traveling by rail.
The terminals are nicer than airport terminals and are less stressful.
It is a less hurried way of life.
Food is way more affordable if you buy it on the train and if you prefer, you can actually bring your own food and beverages on the train. Depending on your trip, there are dining cars. The food is not “gourmet” but it is hot (microwaved) and varied enough that you could take a couple day trip and not eat the same menu. (I was on Amtrak, but there are other luxury train that do have gourmet dining and more).
Way more legroom in business and coach class than even First Class on most (domestic) airlines. I am 6’1″ and my knees didn’t even touch the seats in front of me. Business class had big, comfortable leather seats, 3-wide + aisle. Coach had similarly large cloth seats. 4-wide+aisle, but still great leg room.
Coach had 4-person facing seats with a table between.
Both coach and business class had 2ea 110v electrical outlets for each pair of chairs.
Getting up and walking around during the trip is a much more pleasant than on an airplane.
Depending on your route, there are some spectacular views that you won’t see from 34,000′ in an airplane.
I generally don’t sleep on airplanes. On the train, the gentle rocking motion put me to sleep several times. Even the train horn was soothing from within.
Huge “trays” to work and eat on, compared to the tiny trays on airplanes.
My experience was that the Conductors were very friendly, professional and helpful.
Starting and stopping on a train is much more pleasant than take offs and landings.
It’s a great environment (in business class) to get some work done. “Amtrak Wi-Fi” is available for free, but I will tell you that it’s marginal at best. I used my cell phone “hot spot”, which was far superior. I was able to book a cruise, make several calls and e-mails. It made the 4+ hour trip go by very quickly.

To summarize, I would definitely do a rail trip again. This specific Amtrak Cascades line goes from as far south as Eugene, OR, on to Portland, OR, Vancouver, WA, up through Seattle, WA. It also continues all the way north to Vancouver, BC.

I always highly recommend travel in the Pacific Northwest. The Puget Sound area is remarkable. This summer my wife and I intend to take the train all the way up to Vancouver, BC. (Vancouver to Vancouver). (I’ve also got another special trip planned to Victoria, BC as well).

If you are interested in travel in the Pacific Northwest, or even Alaska cruises (from Seattle or BC), give me a call. I can help you. I can do any combination of air, cruises, rail, tours and excursions.

Allen Beck

AKOR Services Travel

(503) 427-8553

Allen@akorservices.com