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Amtrak Southwest Chief from Flagstaff to Los Angeles

The full journey of the Southwest Chief stretches 2,256 miles (3,631km) from Chicago to Los Angeles, taking passengers on a historic route well-trodden by American Indians, Spanish conquistadors and fur trappers. We travel on just a short section of the route from Flagstaff in Arizona to Los Angeles overnight; we board the train in the evening and arrive at our destination the following morning.

The Southwest Chief departs Flagstaff and takes us along the route of the famous US Route 66 highway, through Arizona to the State Line, where we enter California. We cross the Colorado River and travel through the Mojave Desert, making stops in small desert towns before ascending the Cajon Pass at a height of 3,811 feet (1,162m). Created by the movements of the San Andreas Fault, the Cajon Pass offers a route through the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains. The Southwest Chief continues through Fullerton in Orange County and passes through the sprawling suburbs of Los Angeles before reaching the end point of our journey: the Mission Revival style Los Angeles Union Station.

Our customers love our Southwest Chief from Flagstaff to Los Angeles tours

Iconic America - Cities, Canyons & Valleys

2/Jul

Paul Griffiths

“Just returned from the Coast to Coast USA trip. My wife and I found the holiday was fantastic, it was a great way to see and experience some Iconic places in the USA! Our tour manager, Chris Read was great, he was always available to us, very knowledgeable and generally made things easy for us, so we just spent our time enjoying the experience. The days were full of coach, river or rail travel, but filled with stunning Vista's of ever changing landscape or Iconic architectural buildings steeped in history and character! The tour guides that we had, during the journey, were very knowledgeable in the areas we visited, which added so much more onto the experience. The coach drivers were very friendly, especially Frank! The overnight train journey was an experience!! We had a roomette on the upper floor, views were great, I got some lovely shots of the sun setting and rising the next morning, food was great, but me and the top bunk bed didn't get on, but like I said, an experience! So many places we loved, too many to mention, but we think Chicago was our favourite. We did the history tour of the City, architectural river cruise and experienced the 360 view tower of the City and, most importantly, tried a Chicago deep pan pizza ?? and sampled a cheese cake from a famous deli there. We were accompanied by a great bunch of people on the tour, from all different walks of life, but all got on well together, which added to the experience. We would like to thank Karen & Mark, who added to our experience, so many laughs, great friends, hopefully keep in touch! The only negatives we found with the trip were some of the 3* hotels we stayed at had paper plates and plastic knives and forks, in fact, on one occasion they didn't have any plastic knives left, it sounds a bit 'rash' but I had to cut my bacon ?? with a fork, hardly 3*! We would like to thank GRJ for giving us the experience of a lifetime, thanks!

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