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The Pacific Surfliner

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Late fall is the perfect time to visit Southern California. The rains of winter usually do not descend until January and the excessive heat and humidity of summer is gone. I lived for many years in Southern California, and some of my clearest memories are of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade while sitting out on my deck barbecuing Thanksgiving dinner.

Surprisingly, here in the land of the automobile, Amtrak has created one of its best run and most enjoyable rail lines. The Pacific Surfliner travels between Los Angeles and San Diego, with four of the trains continuing on to either Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo. Depending upon the season, there are between ten and twelve roundtrip runs daily.

On our most recent trip along this route, we began our trip in Los Angeles' wonderfully restored Union Station. It is wonderful to see this station not only faithfully restored, but also once again becoming a vital and busy part of Los Angeles.

After leaving Los Angeles, the train continues to travel south and finally hits the coast shortly after leaving San Juan Capistrano. I had not visited Mission San Juan Capistrano for many years, so we got off the train at this stop and spent a few hours in town, catching a later train south. The station is only three blocks from the Mission, which is a beautiful example of Old Spanish California. In addition, the train depot itself offers a choice of two dining establishments, Sarducci's and the Freight House Saloon. You can easily spend two or three hours on a layover in this town.

Shortly after leaving Capistrano, the train hits the Pacific Ocean. Going south, sit on the right side of the train for the best view, the left side when going north. On this trip, we continued all the way to San Diego after our stopover in Capistrano. However, your child (or the child within you) might enjoy a side trip to Legoland in Oceanside. Amtrak offers packages to Legoland, including train transportation, lodging and admission.

Upon arrival in San Diego, we again encountered a lovingly restored train station. The colonial mission style station was built in 1915 for passengers who would be arriving at the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. The station also houses the Santa Fe Historical Society and the research library of the San Diego Railroad Museum.

San Diego is a very easy city to get around in without a car. There is a good public transit system as well as a ferry to Coronado Island. Since we were staying on Coronado, this was important for us. Many years ago I had frequently stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado, and thought that my son might find the hotel interesting. He had recently seen the classic movie "Some Like It Hot,' which features the "Del", so to Coronado we went. The Del is very much the same as it has always been, a big, old Victorian wedding cake of a hotel. The dining opportunities are much improved and the rooms and service remain very good. We got a great room price, probably due to the current downturn in tourism, and although our room was small the view more than compensated.

The copyright of the article The Pacific Surfliner in North American Train Travel is owned by Lynne A. Williams. Permission to republish The Pacific Surfliner in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.