You flew in on one of the direct Palm Springs flights, skipped the rental car, and now you’re poolside when someone suggests a day in LA. You check the map, spot an Amtrak station with “Palm Springs” right in the name, and think you’ve cracked it. We hate to be the ones to tell you.
The Train Is Real, Just Not Very Useful
Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, the long-haul train between New Orleans and Los Angeles, really does stop in Palm Springs. It comes through only a few times a week, and at an hour when almost nobody is awake. The station doesn’t help either. It’s a platform and a shelter out in the desert, miles north of downtown, so picture yourself waiting out there at 1 a.m. with a train that could be running late from Texas. Most people give up on the idea before they get that far.
The Bus Amtrak Quietly Sells You
Book Palm Springs to LA on Amtrak’s own site and there’s a good chance the first leg comes up as an Amtrak Thruway bus that meets a train further west, around Fullerton. It runs daily at normal hours and stops around the Coachella Valley. That’s the version of “taking the train” most people actually end up doing.
The Straight Shot
FlixBus and Greyhound run the route directly, several times a day, usually in a bit over two hours when traffic behaves. Fares tend to be cheap, the seats are fine, and nobody has to find parking in Silver Lake.
Or Just Drive It
About two hours with an empty I-10, which is rare. The stretch through Banning and the Inland Empire gets packed on Friday afternoons heading out to the desert and Sunday afternoons heading back. If you’re renting a car anyway, drive against the weekend crowd and it’s a pleasant trip.
A proper daily train through the Coachella Valley has been talked about for years, and the day it runs, we’ll happily rewrite this post. Until then, if you’re still picking dates, our take on the sweet spot for visiting will help more than any train schedule.