April

It appears from Amtrak's website that this route does not actually follow the coast most the way. True?

In traveling between Seattle and San Francisco, does anyone know how much extra a sleeper car would cost?

Can one get off in, say, Eugene Oregon and pick up the train the next day?

Would Santa Barbara be too far to base ourselves (with rental car) if we wanted to visit San Jose, or would it be better to stay in San Francisco? (I've never been to Santa Barbara.)

Cal

I cannot answer your Amtrak questions. I am sure that there are others that can do that,

San Jose is 280 miles from Santa Barbara compared to about 50 miles from San Francisco. You make the call but to me it is too far for a visit from Santa Barbara.

Out of curiosity why would you want to visit San Jose? Don't get me wrong. I love San Jose and the Bay area. It is just that San Jose is not considered to be a tourist destination.

vicki

Have taken this trip twice from Seattle to L.A., loved it. However, it does not spend much time on the "coast", heading out to the ocean south of San Luis Obispo, CA and heads inland I believe near Point Mugu. I'm not sure if you can get off the train and resume travel the next day. As far as the cost of the sleeper car, I know I recently checked regarding a trip we wanted to take and the sleeper car increased the cost of the trip significantly, however, it includes all meals and definitely is the way to go on a trip that long. Enjoy.

April

Thanks, Cal and Vicki. It's not really that we want to 'visit' San Jose but a model railway convention is being held there this summer and we were thinking of going. Now I know it would make more sense to stay in San Francisco... unless you have any other ideas. Also, let me know if you consider one car rental agency better than another.

Due to a health problem, flying may not be wise for my husband, so this is why we are considering the train.

kam

April, you can get on and off the Coast Starlight to overnight various places along the way. Just book it as different segments, but there is no increase in fare. The Coast Starlight is most lovely from Santa Barbara along the coast to San Luis Obispo, where it cuts inland to continue to San Jose. People get confused because Hwy 1 is not on the coast at that point, but the train is. I don't see if you have something specific to see/do in San Jose why you don't stay in San Jose! It's known around here as the "capital" of the Silicon Valley so mostly business travelers, but certainly good hotels and some very nice restaurants. There's also the Tech Museum which might be of interest. If you are looking for small and romantic, look at the Inn at Saratoga, in Saratoga which is a charming town right next door to San Jose. Lots of pretty little shops, a great Farmer's Market, and very good restaurants in Saratoga as well as beautiful Hakone Gardens. I wouldn't go all the way up to SF if I wanted to see something in San Jose. Sta. Barbara to San Jose is too far! I haven't taken the Coast Starlight north of SF, but from doing the southern part, I would certainly want to have a sleeper compartment. After leaving San Jose, you will cut inland and that will give you a chance to sleep until you awaken near the border with Oregon. We wanted to continue this northern route this summer but ran out of time since I think you will want to spend a couple days at the end visiting Seattle.

April

Thanks for all the great information Kam. I wasn't sure that San Jose actually had motels, having just zipped through there the last time I was down that way, some year back.

Will definitely check out Saratoga on the internet. And yes, the Tech Museum might be of interest. Don't need to spend any time in Seattle this trip - I live just across the border in Canada.

Caitlin

April, San Jose is a city of 700,000 people! You will find everything from fleabag motels to four-star hotels with prices to match there.

Unfortunately, going from Seattle to SF on the Coast Starlight, you will not be on the coast. On the other hand, the segment south of Portland is pretty much overnight, so you wouldn't be seeing it anyway. Amtrak's website should give you the info on sleeper costs. Also, if you stay in the SJ area, you should take the train into SJ.

I have a friend who will probably be at that convention!

Gary

April:

It is true: The "Coast" Starlight doesn't see the shoreline anywhere from Seattle to San Jose, and in fact goes through Sacramento.

There are three levels of sleeper cars on this route. Only one (the "Deluxe") has a private bathroom and normally only two of those exist on a sleeper car. The cost rises exponentially from regular coach through the three classes of sleepers. The berths are not large, to say the least. It's around $700 one way per person. If you register at the Amtrak reservation page (http://reservations.amtrak.com/), you can get an exact quote for you date of travel. If you look around, you can also find diagrams of the various sleepers.

One has to register to view the costs.

kam

April, think San Jose will surprise you! Huge convention center and Hilton Hotel and the prime hotel is the Fairmont--very luxurious, with the very good Grill on the Alley restaurant. The old traditional hotel is the D'Anza near San Pedro Square. Also can recommend Eulipia on 1st street, Rue de Paris (old fashioned French) on Market St., and in San Pedro Square, almost anything especially Blake's Steakhouse (for steaks!) and Fanny and Alexander for dining and live music. The nicest thing about San Jose is that almost any of the places you might want to go are within walking distance of each other. Alternatively, you could stay about 20 miles north on the Peninsula in Palo Alto where there is an abundance of all kinds of hotels, new ones open each month, and many restaurants from Spago to little Stanford student haunts.

April

Thanks all - I have alot to chew on now. Yes, I definitely would be surprised by San Jose. I remembered it as rather small with cookie cutter houses - perhaps I was on the outskirts!

arjay

I know this is way late for the original poster, but perhaps there are others out there with curiosity/?s about the CS, and I wanted to comment on some of the previous remarks.

In 1998, the spouse and I flew from Chicago into LA, took the CS up to Seattle and flew back to Chicago from Seattle. Total transportation costs, with first-class accmdtns on the CS, were under $1,000. I considered this quite a bargain. (There are significant senior citizen and AAA discounts. And don't forget Amtrak qualifies for United mileage, and maybe some other airlines as well?)

The train runs smack along the water (northbound) for almost five hours, and it's quite breathtaking. At times, there are gulls flying beneath you and you feel more as though you are on a cruise ship than a train. Once you curve inland from the coast, the scenery isn't quite as impressive for a while...but just wait till the next morning when you are in Oregon and start traveling thru the mountains - WOW! Other notes: The on-board camaraderie is a pleasant part of the trip - rail buffs are friendly folk! The service is outstanding. When you book first-class (with a sleeping compartment), you have access to the first-class observation car which offers (upon boarding in LA) a breakfast bar set up with platters of fresh fruit, mini-pastries and all the coffee/juice you can want. Dining service was excellent, food was good and all is included with your lst class ticket -- meaning, if you travel all the way to Seattle from LA, you are getting 5 (good!) meals at no additional charge. Also, lst class gets afternoon wine tasting (the lst day) and champagne tasting (2nd day).

And yes, as someone noted, you can get off the train and resume travel later (we interrupted our journey by a week), but I'd suggest you get on where you got off so as not to miss any of the train pleasantry.

Making sense of AMTRAK info on the web is a challenge (and more than I can meet). A search will turn up non-Amtrak CS info from buffs that is very helpful. I also found a travel agent (I know that's a taboo word around here, and it's only the second time in 35+ years of travels that I've ever used one) but they specialize in Amtrak and were just outstanding (even saving us $$ of air tix that I already had put a hold on). Slotsy Travel - highly recommended; you should be able to find a webpage. They are California based but have an 800#.

Final word - we'd make the trip again in a heartbeat - it was grand!!

April

Arjay:

Thank you for your wonderfully descriptive posting. As it happens you're not too late because we still haven't done this trip - something else came up that we couldn't miss.

We recently took a short train trip and now one thing concerns me. This trip was much like being on a rowdy schoolbus. I don't mean to start a debate about travelling with children but did you experience this on the Coast Starlight?

kam

April, Our Coast Starlight trip was mostly college students--there are a number of colleges on the route--Santa Barbara and Cal Poly are two pretty large ones. But, to be specific, the train provides special programs for kids with videos and other stuff to do in a separate car. It was great! Much nicer for all than an airplane.

April

That's a relief.