I have been considering taking the Empire Builder Amtrak sleeper from Chicago to Seattle.
It seems that you spend two nights on the train and two nights at the Glacier National Park.
I would be interested in comments from others that have taken this trip and what they liked and/or disliked.
What was the cost for two?
I've taken the Empire Builder from Chicago to Portland. You go through the park after dark, so I never saw anything. I understand the Eastbound route is better. According to the Amtrak timetable you get to West Glacier about 8 a.m. (with Amtrak times are always estimates) and to East Glacier around 9:45a.m. the same day. Where did you see that you spend 2 nights in Glacier Natl. Park? Was that a tour? I did find this website with information about seeing Glacier by train. https://www.glacierparkcollection.com/lodging/glacier-park-lodge/stories/taking-the-train-to-east-glacier/
Are you planning on a roomette. Will you be solo? If not, someone has to climb up to the upper berth. My sister and I travel to the West Coast from Minneapolis a couple times a year. We prefer to go in to Chicago and take the SW Chief to L.A. and then the regional train down to San Diego, where our sister lives. Have you traveled by Amtrak before? I love it, but Amtrak is NOT like the trains in England or Europe.
Oh, I see you ask about cost for two. IF you want to see photos of roomettes vs larger rooms Amtrak's website has photos. There are also some You Tube videos that give you an idea about traveling via train. The cost is higher than flying because it includes your meals in the dining car, too. Some rooms have their own toilet and sink, but the roomettes do not usually. When my sister and I were upgraded to a room one trip one person still had to sleep in an upper berth.
The two nights on the train and two nights at the park is a planned tour, but you are on your own at the park, not sure of the details.
It is separate from a non-stop trip.
I didn't see on the Amtrak site more options for a sleeper. We wouldn't need a huge room. We have used sleeper trains in Europe, but not the USA.
The cost for the two night and two at the park is between less than $2000 each to more than $2000 each.
I did it decades ago in a sleeper with my then-new bride. Our experience was disappointing/slightly comical and mirrored a subsequent newspaper story* about how bad the service was; especially given how larcenously expensive it was for a sleeper. Again, this was decades ago, so I expect things to have changed (?)
Our endpoint was actually East Glacier, so the trip was super scenic... for the last 40 minutes. The views between the Mississippi River and there consisted of a lot of fields and grain elevators. If you're a grain elevator aficionado, you are gonna love that part!
Glacier is really beautiful and a special place in America. I would highly recommend splurging for the historic lodges. They are expensive and more than a little worn, but your stay helps support a cherished bit of history. If you have time, I would highly suggest the Many Glacier Lodge area. It's a bit out of the way, so less crowded. It's just spectacular. It's not on a train route, so you'd need transport.
If you take the train, get two roomettes across the aisle from each other. This way you both can enjoy lower bunks and have the best views…just using the roomette during the day with the best view! You need to meet with a person to do this at the train station instead of buying the tickets online.
It looks like there is a fare sale on. Here is a package I found that is a little more involved than what you mentioned.
https://www.amtrakvacations.com/trips/glacier-national-park-and-seattle-from-chicago?utm_source=amt&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign=glacier&utm_id=julyadds
Oh please, please, please, DONT book thru the travel agent "AMTRAK VACATIONS". I am sure G3rry is not aware there are many problem with them. They are licensed to use the AMTRAK name but are not owned or operated by AMTRAK. It's the same as booking with any other 3rd party...if there is an issue AMTRAK will refer you back to the travel agent to solve your problem.
Trip Advisor is littered with complaints about them. On this particular trip the lodging will at least not be in a "dodgy" section of town, lol. There are complaints that they are hard to get hold of if there is a train cancellation or delay and rebooking is needed.
Be aware that there are often some delays along this line. Check on the AMTRAK site as they have a page showing the current delays along the Empire Builder going in each direction. It's not as bad as it was when they were hauling petroleum stuff out of the Bakken Oil Fields in N. Dakota but there are almost always delays. The trains hauling freight have the right of way so the passenger trains are shunted off to the side to let them pass.
You will want to rent a car from the AMTRAK station in Whitefish.
Is your goal to visit Glacier or to ride the train? If it's to visit Glacier I would fly in or at least just take the train one way. If it is for a long train journey then, have fun and enjoy a very short visit to Glacier.
This train runs notoriously behind schedule. I think it all gets down to what your purpose is for the trip. Are you in it for the train experience or are you in it for the Glacier Park Experience?
Honestly, I would second the suggestion to fly to Kalispell then take the train from Glacier to Seattle. That's the best of both worlds, IMO. You can get a RT flight for $300. You'll wake up in Leavenworth WA, and enjoy the Cascades/Snoqualmie on the way in to Seattle.
The Amtrak website doesn't provide the cost of upgrading. What is the difference between a Roomette and Bedroom?
Also, the tour at Glacier refers to driving, so would I have to rent a car, or is transport available at the park?
More details would be nice.
We have been to Seattle and don't wish to do the two nights there, but don't see a tour just ending in Seattle?
I subscribe to Jeb Brooks’ YouTube channel and he has a video of his trip on the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle. His videos are professional and detailed. I recommend watching it:
https://youtu.be/teN-Y1wAu78?si=rMqcNY5dlDAubvKp
Carole
glacier National Park red bus tours. Don’t rent a car. The driver has to focus on driving and really doesn’t get to enjoy the scenery. We had driven through Glacier many times before we decided to take a red bus tour one trip. My husband was absolutely shocked with how much more he saw on the bus tour vs driving.
https://www.glaciernationalparklodges.com/red-bus-tours
Depending on where you stay you might need a car to get to the meet up point of the Red Bus day trips.
Main official website for Glacier:
www.nps.gov/glac
Amtrak does give the cost of upgrading, click on 'private rooms' for that.
For instance on 30 September CHI to GPK, click on private rooms in the top right hand result and you get $935 roomette, and $3072 bedroom. On the top left result $1072 and $3072.
The right hand result is train 7, the section that continues to SEA after the train splits in Spokane, the left hand one is train 27, the Portland (OR) section.
The bottom results are if you choose to use the day train, the Borealis, to St Paul Minneappolis and change into the following train 7/27 at St Paul Union with about a 4 hour 30 wait. $200 cheaper in a roomette and $600 cheaper in a bedroom, and you wouldn't be using the bed during the day.
Train 7 is the section which takes the restaurant car on to Seattle, Train 27 has a cafe/dome car. So the train 7 section you have a shorter walk for your meals, if that matters.
With that price difference it would be a no brainer to me.7/27 can't physical!y overtake you, if the Borealis was heavily delayed.
I've only personally done a Roomette on Amtrak, I don't mind going down to the end of the car for the bathroom and, traveling solo, dont need the extra space of a bedroom.
I've not done the EB, but have done several of the other Trans Continental trains and the Coast Starlight.
I finally managed to find more details on tours and the cost of upgrading to a Roomette or Bedroom.
Looking at the 4 day tour from Chicago to Seattle with two nights on the train and two at Glacier Park, the base Coach fare is almost $1500 pp. A Roomette would push it close to $3000 pp and a bedroom would be over $5,000 pp or $10 grand for the trip.
NO way am I paying 10 grand for a four day trip and tour.
It seems to me that we may consider savings by flying into Minneapolis/St. Paul to catch the train or even directly to Montana and Glacier. Some posters indicated that all you see for 99% of the trip from Chicago to Glacier are wheat fields and silos.
If I don't use Amtrak Vacations, WHERE are tours that include Glacier Park available.
I can't find another source, even the Amtrak site doesn't include tours.
Looking at Amtrak Vacations, I considered a round trip from Seattle to Glacier, that would be cheaper than one way from Chicago to Seattle.
Also, I looked at flying into Glacier Park Airport and doing the one way to Seattle after two or three days in Glacier. Problem, the airfare from JAX, FL is $500 more than flying into Chicago.
Some posters indicated that all you see for 99% of the trip from Chicago to Glacier are wheat fields
This isn’t true. Wheat isn’t commonly grown until western North Dakota and Montana. The Midwest (wet summer) part of the journey, east of the Missouri River, is corn, soybeans, sorghum, sugar beets around the MN/ND border. This is the #1 sugar producing area in the US. Wheat is a dry summer crop so Great Plains/West, not Midwest. The Great Plains/West starts at the Missouri River in ND. As if anyone cares about this stuff.
The Mississippi River part, through the Hiawatha Valley, is probably the most scenic part of the Chicago to Glacier ride and a lot more scenic than say the Rhine. You would miss this starting in St Paul.
The stretch across Montana from the ND border to Glacier is likely the least scenic stretch and LONG.
The best trip to Glacier is flying to Great Falls, renting a car, driving to Manyglacier Lodge to spend some nights, then taking red “jammer” bus tours from there. They wait at the lodge entrance and leave when full. You can hire your own also, arrange on the spot. This is the easy-peasy way to do Glacier, and also the best.
Fly into Kalispell and you will need a reservation to enter the park. Staying at the lodges along the train presents transportation issues.
geovagriffith , putting together a trip in Glacier National Park is not for the faint of heart. The logistics of staying in the Park can be complicated.
My advice is to go to the TripAdvisor Montana forum. The destination experts and regular posters know the ins and outs of GNP. Just reading the postings will be an education.
This article might be useful -
4,000 Miles, 6 Small Towns: A Whistle-Stop Tour of America
Most people who ride Amtrak’s Empire Builder route between Chicago and Seattle watch the heartland whiz by. Our writer hopped off to explore a few remarkable places you might otherwise miss.
Oh gosh, I took the Empire Builder decades ago as part of a 10,000 mile rail trip over a good portion of the US. We traveled eastbound from Seattle to Chicago and went through Glacier around 8:00 a.m. We didn't do an overnight at Glacier, even though it would have been doable. The route from Seattle to Glacier was very scenic. Montana and North Dakota became a little monotonous after a while.
The Amtrak trains west of the Mississippi are bi-level. The largest sleeping compartments are on the top level and span the width of the train (except for the hall). Most of the time you can keep the door open and have a view out of both sides of the train. I would go for one of the upper compartments if they aren't sold out.
The trip was too long ago to give any useful information about prices.
Thanks for bring this up. It brings back many happy memories.
"Also, I looked at flying into Glacier Park Airport and doing the one way to Seattle after two or three days in Glacier. Problem, the airfare from JAX, FL is $500 more than flying into Chicago"
You could check the airfares from Spokane to Jax where the train also stops. The Westbound does stop at an ungodly hour of 2:44A and the Train Depot/bus hub are not in a location I would want to be in at that time of night. I haven't had to fly from here to Jax since we moved my parents from there to Idaho in 2002 but there is one direct flight per day from Spokane to Atlanta on Delta which likely has multiple flights to Jax from there.
"If I don't use Amtrak Vacations, WHERE are tours that include Glacier Park available."
This is something you'd have to put together yourself. Amtrak just has trains which is why they farm their name out to a 3rd party travel agent. It's too bad they don't seem to provide oversight on the use of their name.
Are you looking at doing this in 2026? IF you want hotels in Glacier Park here is the link to the official Glacier National Park website lodging page. There are 2 different companies that have the concession for lodging you might be interested in. I am not as savvy with knowing Booking dates for Glacier as I am for Yellowstone so you'll want to check to see if they open reservations a 12 or 13 months out.
https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/lodgingrestaurantsservices.htm
Another thing occurred to me and that is if you are after mostly the train journey + mountain scenery and not particularly Glacier, Road Scholar offers a train journey thru the Canadian Rockies that might work for you. I've not done it so no personal experience with it.
I've recently signed up for a Road Scholar trip to Glacier NP and Waterton Lakes National Park for September 2026. I hope it's great!
Natural Habitat Adventures (NatHab) also has a fabulous sounding trip to those two areas, but the cost is about double the Road Scholar trip.
Kalispell is the closest airport but flights from JAX to Missoula are ≈$325. From there, it’d be a pretty drive up to Glacier in a rental car
With respect, I’m not sure what aspect of planning a Glacier visit is daunting. I’ve been there four times and never found it confusing or difficult to plan or execute.
You can Google to arrange for a tour provider. There are many based in that area who will do day trips or longer tours.
But you could just do it yourself, that’s how we’ve always done it. That would give you a lot of time flexibility in exchange for the convenience. There are also free shuttle busses within the park. I’ve not used them so I can’t comment.
Or just take the Empire Builder… but maybe temper your expectations from what you’ve experienced in Europe. As someone mentioned, the tracks are owned and (some sections poorly) maintained by freight companies. Passenger traffic must give way and delays are super common.
It's my understanding that the ViaRail through Canada is a nicer and more scenic trip. That's Toronto to Banff (jasper) where you could wind your way down into Glacier. That would be a phenomenal trip.
If you fly into Kalispell or want to stay in West Glacier (location of one of the train lodgings) you will need a reservation to drive the park
https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/vehicle-reservations.htm
Repeating that if you fly into Great Falls or stay at Many Glacier Lodge no reservation is required.
