Travel, to me, is one of the most important MUSTs for humans. International travel provides opportunities to those who want to experience new cuisines, history, and new types of people. But, domestic travel? Well, traveling domestically allows people to learn more about their own country, their people, and, the unique cultures found in the most unexpected places. Honestly, traveling by train is a lot easier in Europe, but doing train travel domestically in the USA can be a little challenging! However, it’s doable. It just requires a little more research and planning. New York train travel is a lot easier than you’d think!

New York Train Travel Takes Some Planning

With trains, it’s all about the timing! Truth be told, it’s always about timing when travel planning. You have to plan well, because, well, shit happens, am I right? I’m a huge fan of road trips, because I feel a bit more in control when I can hop behind the wheel and take off whenever I want to. Yes, sometimes there’s traffic which sucks, but for the most part if I want to leave at 5 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon, or midnight, I don’t have to worry about getting anywhere “early” to catch a flight OR catch a train.

When I don’t want to drive, the railroad is an affordable travel option in New York. I live on Long Island. Driving off of Long Island is ALWAYS a nightmare. When I don’t want to deal with the hassle of bridges, tunnels, and highly aggressive drivers…… and plane tickets are too pricey, I shoot for the rails.

But that means I’ve to time everything well, because there’s no straight shot from Long Island to any of my favorite Upstate or Western New York vacation destinations!

Planning Trips on Trains

Railroading it off of Long Island means hopping on one of the Long Island Railroad lines. We’ve got a few, the most popular one is the Main Line, which is often referred to the Ronkonkoma line. It handles a ton of commuters and travelers, probably because it runs through the middle of Long Island. There’s also lines North and South of the the Ronkonkoma line. All of them can, in some way, get you into Penn Station or Grand Central Station. (You can also take the LIRR to JFK Airport, soon LaGuardia, and even in the future, MacArthur Airport.)

Now, once in Manhattan, there are a few options to get you to different parts of Western, Central, and Upstate New York. We can all agree New York is a fairly large state that covers a ton of area. We’ve got lots of national parks, tons of beautiful cities, and a whole lot to explore!

Amtrak in New York

Once you’ve taken the LIRR to Penn Station, you can head over to the Amtrak terminal, also called The Moynihan Train Hall (although I’ve never called it that, some do I guess). Personally, I usually plan ahead and purchase my Amtrak tickets in advance (usually find cheaper fares that way). I then look at the LIRR schedule to see which train will get me to Penn Station without having to sit around for GOBS and GOBS of time!!!! But if I end up having to wait – at least there’s a rather comfortable waiting area people with tickets can lounge in.

However, not all stations have a comfy area to lounge. The Niagara Falls, New York train station isn’t as organized and isn’t staffed all that well, and MAN those chairs are not comfy! I’d definitely arrive close to your departure, so you don’t have to sit in the less than desirable lounges with horribly uncomfortable and small waiting areas.

As for the actual Amtrak trains, they are fairly clean. Its bathrooms are much cleaner than LIRR. Plus, most Amtrak lines have WiFi, food cars, and pretty decent sized seating with decent legroom. Depending on where you want to go, there’s probably an Amtrak stop close enough to drop you off, arrange for a car ride to wherever you’re staying, or to grab a rental car!

Metro North

If you’re interested in visiting the Hudson Valley area of New York and want to travel with a cheaper ticket from Manhattan, take the LIRR to Grand Central Station (probably one of the most beautiful train stations you’ll ever see in my opinion) and make your way to Metro North. The Hudson line gets you as far as Poughkeepsie, which is a big college town with Marist College, Vassar, Dutchess Community College, The Culinary Institute of America and a few other universities are either located or super close to. If you can rent a car for the rest of your travel, or you want to catch Amtrak from a location other than Penn Station, Metro North is a nice inexpensive option.

Planning Ahead Makes a Difference for Riding the Railroad

Basically, the nuts and bolts of New York train travel is this: you’ll have to hunt a little bit for the right LIRR, Metro North, and Amtrak lines to make connections through, but you can do it. There’s even “rooms” you can buy tickets for, instead of regular seats. Rooms have comfier seating, lots of room, and the seats even fold out into beds. The most shocking part of traveling on Amtrak? The food is decent. I was pretty impressed with the sandwiches.

Exploring New York State using the railways is definitely something you should try at least once. But, listen, don’t do a straight trip from Long Island to Niagara Falls, NY like my son and I did to witness the eclipse in April 2024. Instead, plot out your trip so you stop in different places so you can explore what the areas have to offer! Rent a car, take Ubers, stay at a hotel – so you can experience everything NY offers a wanderluster. Amtrak reaches to far ends of New York, and the one we took to Niagara also went to Canada!

You could probably Amtrak it all over the United States if you really wanted to experience domestic train travel beyond your New York train travel adventures!!!!!