The Best American Train Rides, Ranked by How Hard You'll Cry at the Window

Air travel is a logistical achievement. Train travel is a feeling. Specifically, it is the feeling of watching a slow river of landscape go past while a stranger tells you about their divorce in the dining car. Five stars. Would recommend.

1. The California Zephyr (Chicago to Emeryville). 51 hours. Two nights. You will cross the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, and the Nevada desert. You will, at some point, lose track of the time zone and accept that time is a construct. The observation car is glass on three sides. You will see things.

2. The Coast Starlight (Seattle to Los Angeles). Pacific coastline for most of a day. Order a glass of wine in the lounge car around sunset, watch the ocean go pink, and try not to make eye contact with anyone, because you WILL start crying.

3. The Empire Builder (Chicago to Seattle/Portland). Glacier National Park out the window. In winter, with snow on the peaks, it is the closest thing this country has to a Bond intro sequence.

4. The Adirondack (NYC to Montreal). Most underrated train in America. Lake Champlain, fall foliage, a customs stop where everyone looks slightly guilty for no reason. Beautiful.

5. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (Colorado/New Mexico). Steam train. Real coal smoke. 10,000-foot mountain pass. You will smell like a chimney for two days and you will love it.

Tips that will save you: book a roomette if you can swing it, especially overnight — the seats recline but coach sleep on a long-haul train is its own kind of penance. Bring snacks even though there's a dining car. Bring a book you've been meaning to read for three years; you'll actually read it this time.

And one last thing: put the phone down. The whole point is watching the country roll past the window at the exact pace of a long exhale. That's it. That's the trip.