I've spent hundreds of hours on long-haul Amtrak rides. Here are my 10 best tips for first-time riders.

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel
An Amtrak train on a set of rails in a rural landscape.
I've been on many Amtrak rides. I'm a travel writer who's found ways to make long-haul train rides more enjoyable and comfortable.

Laser1987/Getty Images

I restored a 1900s train car with my dad and turned it into an Airbnb. Now it's paid for itself.

Tech Insider
Side by side, on the left image of a cabin at dusk, and on the right the owner of the cabin against a lake backdrop.
Isaac French (left) helped his father restore a 1900s traincar (right) in Idaho.

Courtesy of Isaac French

The best Amtrak booking is the private bedroom with 2 beds, a couch, and full bathroom for $1,000. Here's a look inside.

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel
The author sits on the train and plays her Nintendo with the sun peering through the window on the left
Business Insider's reporter took a 2021 overnight Amtrak train from Miami to New York City in a bedroom accommodation.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

Vintage photos show how glamorous train travel used to be

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel
Diners ate in a train car in 1946, dressed in formalwear and served by waiters in tuxedos.
Diners in the restaurant car on a GWR (Great Western Railway) oil-fired locomotive in 1946.

Harrison/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

I've spent 160 hours traveling by train. It's the best mode of transportation for 4 simple reasons.

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel
Left: The author in front of a blue train with a red stripe. Right: The author sits with her knees up in a train bed with blue cushions behind her and a window on the left.
Business Insider's reporter prefers traveling by train over any other mode of transportation.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

Olympic athletes get stuck after sabotage shuts down French trains

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A woman looks at an information screen as passengers wait for their train departures at the Bordeaux-Saint-Jean train station in Bordeaux, western France on July 26, 2024, as France's high-speed rail network was hit by an attack disrupting the transport system, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
A woman looks at an information screen as passengers wait for their train departures at the Bordeaux-Saint-Jean train station

I spent 6 ½ hours in first class on a train in Morocco. It wasn't luxurious, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel
Author Alice Levitt smiling outside of ONCF train
I spent nearly seven hours on a train through Morocco and had a great experience.

Alice Levitt

I booked the cheapest accommodation on an overnight train in Europe. I'll never do it again.

Tech Insider : Travel, Travel
Insider's reporter got no sleep in a couchette on an overnight train through Europe.
Business Insider's reporter took an overnight train through Europe.

Joey Hadden/Business Insider

I took a plane and a train on the 330-mile London to Edinburgh route. The race was closer than you might expect.

Tech Insider : Travel
Business Insider's Pete Syme takes a selfie in front of an LNER Azuma train, and a British Airways Airbus A320
The author next to an LNER train, and a British Airways Airbus A320.

BI; Fabrizio Gandolfo/Getty Images

I traveled on a double-decker train between France and Switzerland at 199mph. See inside the TGV Lyria, which costs as little as $50.

Tech Insider : Travel
The author wearing a gray suit akes a selfie in front of a TGV Lyria, and the train's onboard café car.
The author, the TGV Lyria, and its café car.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

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