{"id":386059,"date":"2026-07-04T13:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386059\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T13:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:51:07","slug":"california-zephyr-best-and-worst-parts-of-the-53-hour-amtrak-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386059\/","title":{"rendered":"California Zephyr: Best and Worst Parts of the 53-Hour Amtrak Train"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve sampled a variety of classes for overnight train travel in the US and Europe, from private cabins<\/a> to seating carriages<\/a>. However, this was my first time spending two consecutive nights on the same train, so I thought it would be worth booking an Amtrak bedroom<\/a> for $2,200. The rate also includes meals.<\/p>\n

The sleeper-class accommodation is essentially a tiny hotel room. The roughly 50-square-foot private cabin looked like a living room during the day, with a fold-out table, a cushy seat, and a long couch. At night, the couch pulled out, and another bunk pulled down from the ceiling, transforming the space into a bedroom.<\/p>\n

It wouldn’t be a hotel room without a closet and a bathroom, and it had both, with a sink and vanity across from the closet. It also had a private toilet and shower squeezed into a tight space separated by a door. There was also cabinet storage space.<\/p>\n

Booking a bedroom made my trip so much more comfortable than it would have been in coach seating or a roomette, a smaller sleeper-class cabin without a private bathroom.<\/p>\n

Without feeling cramped or having to shower in the train car’s shared bathrooms, it was so much easier to relax and enjoy the journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’ve sampled a variety of classes for overnight train travel in the US and Europe, from private cabins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[36020,7,9,8,155768,4419,155773,12043,155775,155771,20262,155769,32788,155770,16145,155772,155774,10807],"class_list":["post-386059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-amtrak-train","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-zephyr","tag-chicago","tag-dull-backdrop","tag-emeryville","tag-epic-view","tag-full-53-hour","tag-journey","tag-long-train","tag-lover","tag-low-point","tag-moment","tag-overnight-train","tag-restful-night","tag-route"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}