A 52-hour train journey across America takes passengers through beautiful sights including deserts and mountains. The California Zephyr is a long-distance passenger train between Chicago and San Francisco.
Lonely Planet named it among the world’s most amazing train journeys, with operator Amtrak considering it one of the most scenic.
It has been called “one of the most beautiful train trips in all of North America” with “some of the most spectacular scenery imaginable” by travel experts Trailfinders.
Covering 2,438 miles, the train travels through seven states – Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California.
It travels through major cities such as Denver, Salt Lake City, Lincoln and Sacramento as well as smaller places like Mount Pleasant and Omaha.
Travellers start in the windy city of Chicago, Illinois, which sits next to the enormous Lake Michigan.
The California Zephyr then moves into the Great Plains of Nebraska before climbing the Rockies, overlooking ribbon lakes and canyons with river rapids.
The train then travels on the deserts of Utah and Nevada before cutting through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with views of snow-capped peaks and forest-lined lakes.
It then finishes along the Pacific Ocean, pulling into San Francisco in California on the west coast.
On board, there are standard seat tickets as well as five different types of room travellers can stay in. There is also a restaurant and cafe on board for the six meals of the journey.
Almost 40 train stations are served by the California Zephyr which takes just under 52 hours. In 2023, the train carried 328,000 passengers. It is Amtrak’s longest daily route.
Some other incredible train journeys across the world are the Reunification Express in Vietnam which covers 1,072 miles and the Lake Titicaca Train in Peru which covers 241 miles.
Also on Lonely Planet’s list were the Bergensbanen in Norway which covers 308 miles and the Caledonian Sleeper in the UK which covers 509 miles.
