New York to Montreal via Amtrak Adirondack

A scenic train journey from the buzzing city of New York, through the mountains of the Adirondack, to the francophone city of Montreal.

On a whim, I had a crazy idea of taking the rail all the up to Canada for an end of the year trip. I had read about Amtrak’s Adirondack line that takes you from New York Penn Station to Montreal Gare Centrale in approximately 10ish hours. Yes, it does sound long when the other option is a quick 1.5 hour flight, but it was December (hectic!) and a slow journey is just we needed. Plus, why not! The price was right ($69) and we’re always open to adventure.

I’m not stranger to train travel (Europe!), so I had planned accordingly for our ride.

We went to our local Asian supermarket to stock up on plenty of Asian snacks (chocolate Pocky is my fave). There’s a cafe onboard but we didn’t get anything from there besides drinks. Other than admiring the scenery, as we cut through the mountains and lakes, there was Wi-Fi to keep ourselves busy (only within the USA).

Unfortunately, the windows were dirty so the photos aren’t so clear. I spent the ride going up enamored by the frosty winter views. Coming back down, the sun came out of the snowy vista for a second, which was a nice dreamy welcome. Because of this trip, I want to try to take the Amtrak to other cities within the country. It was nice to break away from the constant buzzing of home and just chill out.

Travel tips: Bring your passport!! Upon arriving to Penn, check in with the Canadian border desk with your train ticket for a crossing pass to board. Border patrol took at least two hours (typical questions). For better views, sit on the right side heading North up to Albany, then it’s the left side. There’s a lot of leg room, I could lay recline almost straight (I’m 5’6″).

I joked that this was much more affordable than an office in NYC, but seriously a long-haul train ride with beautiful scenery with outlets and Wi-Fi?! I could get so much work done :)

Tineey