The America’s Great National Parks tour operated by Vacations by Rail offers a 13-day all-inclusive national parks expedition combining Amtrak Empire Builder rail travel with motor coach transportation through Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park—priced from $6,195 per person and including hotel accommodations, train tickets, coach rides, national park entrance fees, baggage handling, Swiftcurrent Lake boat cruise, and Snake River float trip Wyoming. This Vacations by Rail national parks tour eliminates the tedious independent planning process requiring separate train ticket purchases, car rentals, hotel reservations, and restaurant research across multiple remote Western locations, instead providing a single booking with professional tour manager support throughout the June-through-September operating season. The 5 national parks by train all-inclusive package creates unprecedented access to America’s most spectacular Western landscapes spanning Montana’s glaciated mountain terrain, Wyoming’s geothermal wonders, Utah’s dramatic red rock formations, and Colorado’s canyon country without the logistical complexity typically associated with visiting multiple national parks in a single trip.
The Vacations by Rail company has arranged train-based experiences for more than 20 years, developing expertise in combining rail travel with complementary transportation modes to create seamless national park touring experiences that independent travelers would find extremely difficult to replicate.
Empire Builder: The Journey Begins
The America’s Great National Parks rail tour opens with travel on the Empire Builder Amtrak route, widely considered one of the most famous Amtrak routes in the network and recognized among the five best train rides in North America by train enthusiasts for its unparalleled lake views and wilderness scenery.
The Empire Builder train journey operates as an overnight service, enabling travelers to sleep through less scenic portions while waking to dramatic landscapes approaching their first destination. This overnight train experience itself becomes part of the adventure, with sleeping accommodations providing comfortable rest between departure and arrival at Glacier National Park Montana.
The Empire Builder national parks route follows a northern corridor through the Upper Midwest and into Montana, with views of the Great Plains transitioning to mountain terrain as the train approaches Glacier country. This geographic journey compresses continental-scale landscape changes into a single overnight experience, providing context for the diverse ecosystems visitors will encounter throughout the 13-day itinerary.
Glacier National Park: Mountains and Ice Fields
Glacier National Park Montana serves as the expedition’s spectacular opening destination, where mountain scenery Glacier and remaining ice fields create landscapes that justify the “Crown of the Continent” designation this wilderness earns from enthusiasts.
The Glacier National Park tour portion allows exploration of Going-to-the-Sun Road, the engineering marvel traversing the Continental Divide through dramatic mountain terrain, along with lower-elevation trails through forests and meadows supporting extraordinary wildlife. The Swiftcurrent Lake boat cruise embedded as a special tour provides water-level perspectives on the surrounding peaks, offering views impossible from trails or roadways.
The all-inclusive Glacier tour component means travelers arrive with park fees pre-paid, accommodation arranged, and activity schedules pre-organized—eliminating the planning burden that can transform national park visits from relaxing experiences into logistical challenges requiring months of advance preparation.
Yellowstone National Park: Geysers and Wildlife
Traveling south from Glacier along a motorway partially paralleling Lewis and Clark route, travelers enter Yellowstone National Park Wyoming after passing through landscapes remarkably similar to those the Corps of Discovery traversed in the early 19th century. This historical context enriches the scenic transit, connecting modern visitors to centuries of human movement through these same corridors.
The Yellowstone National Park geysers experience represents perhaps the world’s most accessible geothermal spectacle, where Old Faithful and hundreds of other geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles demonstrate the volcanic forces shaping the landscape. The two days Yellowstone allocated in the itinerary enable substantive exploration beyond the most crowded attractions to include Grand Prismatic Spring, Mammoth Hot Springs, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Yellowstone bison viewing often occurs roadside throughout the park, where bison herds Yellowstone frequently create traffic delays as animals utilize roadways for movement—a quintessentially American West experience that surprises visitors accustomed to wildlife confined to designated viewing areas. The bubbling mud pits Yellowstone at various thermal areas fascinate with their alien appearance and geological significance.
Grand Teton National Park: Iconic Jagged Peaks
Grand Teton National Park Wyoming follows Yellowstone, providing dramatic transition from geothermal wonders to Grand Teton peaks rising abruptly from the valley floor without foothills. These jagged mountain peaks Grand Teton create some of America’s most photographed mountain scenery, with the Teton Range’s sheer faces and glacial lakes combining into compositions that inspired generations of landscape photographers.
The Jackson Wyoming activities during the two days Grand Teton portion include the highlight Snake River float trip Wyoming—a special embedded tour where guests drift through wildlife habitat while professional guides explain the ecosystem and identify animals along the banks. This Snake River Jackson Wyoming experience provides nature access impossible from roads while delivering genuine adventure without technical difficulty.
The Jackson Hole Wyoming town adjacent to the park offers authentic Western character through cowboy saloons, local art galleries, and restaurants serving regional cuisine. The combination of wilderness access and genuine town character distinguishes Jackson Hole from more commercialized gateway communities serving major national parks.
Oregon Trail Way Station and Moab, Utah
The itinerary includes a layover at a historic Oregon Trail way station, connecting the modern journey to the 19th-century westward migration that transformed American settlement patterns. These Oregon Trail historical sites provide tangible connections to the wagon train travelers who crossed similar terrain without the motor coaches and hotels available to contemporary visitors.
The day in Moab Utah serves as gateway to the tour’s Utah highlights, with this small desert town providing accommodation, dining, and recreation access for the surrounding canyon country. Moab adventure activities available on free time include mountain biking, white water rafting, off-road driving, and rock climbing for travelers seeking additional outdoor experiences beyond the structured tour activities.
Arches and Canyonlands: The Grand Finale
Arches National Park Utah and Canyonlands National Park Utah serve as the expedition’s dramatic finale, showcasing Southwestern rock formations in their most spectacular expressions. The red rock formations Arches including Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch demonstrate the erosional forces that created these improbable stone sculptures over millions of years.
The Canyonlands deep fissures and canyon systems carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries reveal geology on scales difficult to comprehend from ground level. The Canyonlands hiking trails provide access to canyon rims where depths exceeding 1,000 feet create dizzying perspectives on the forces shaping this landscape.
These Utah national parks by train destinations share the jaw-dropping Southwestern scenery that draws millions of visitors annually, with the near-limitless hiking trails accommodating both casual walkers and serious mountaineers within the same park boundaries.
Tour Pricing and What’s Included
The America’s Great National Parks tour price starts at $6,195 per person at time of writing, though costs can exceed $8,000 depending on departure date and optional upgrades selected. This all-inclusive national parks pricing encompasses significant value components:
The included national park fees alone represent substantial savings across five major parks. Hotel accommodations throughout provide comfortable rest without reservation research. Train tickets and coach rides throughout the itinerary eliminate transportation logistics. Baggage handling removes the physical burden of managing luggage through multiple transportation mode transitions.
The special embedded tours including Swiftcurrent Lake boat cruise and Snake River float trip provide premium experiences that would require separate booking and potentially long advance reservations if arranged independently.
Professional tour manager support throughout enables travelers to focus on experiencing rather than organizing, with logistical questions handled by experts familiar with every destination and potential challenge.
Practical Preparation Considerations
How to prepare for Vacations by Rail tour requires attention to several elements not included in the package. Travelers must arrange transportation to Chicago as the tour departure point and flights home from Grand Junction Colorado where the itinerary concludes—expenses requiring independent booking alongside the package.
The June through September national parks tour season encompasses optimal weather for most destinations, though western states climate variation requires serious packing consideration. The same traveler might experience 90-degree heat in Moab and 45-degree temperatures at Glacier on the same trip, requiring versatile layers and sun protection accommodating these extremes.
Efficient packing national parks tour becomes particularly important when utilizing multiple transportation modes. Mass transit packing tips recommend limiting luggage to what can be comfortably managed without assistance during transitions between trains, coaches, and hotels—even with baggage handling services included.
The 13-day national parks itinerary represents one of the most efficient multi-park experiences available, compressing what independent travelers might spread across multiple separate trips into a single coherent expedition that reveals connections between these diverse ecosystems.
For travelers dreaming of experiencing America’s Western wilderness without the planning complexity that typically accompanies multi-park adventures, the America’s Great National Parks Vacations by Rail tour provides carefully designed access to landscapes that individually represent some of the world’s great natural treasures—collectively forming an unparalleled portrait of the American West.
For comprehensive national parks guides, rail travel reviews, and adventure travel resources across America’s most spectacular destinations, The Inspiring Insight delivers expert perspectives and practical planning information. Explore our national parks and rail travel sections for additional insights enhancing every wilderness adventure.
