Festive Holiday Train Rides We Recommend

Experience fun activities and stunning displays, such as ‘Polar Express,’ that everyone will love

Get into the end-of-year holiday spirit with a holiday train tour.

Alamy

Robin L. Flanigan,

AARP

Published October 18, 2024

Riding the rails is a magical way to capture the spirit of the holiday season.

Whether continuing a time-honored tradition with grandkids or starting a new one on an adults-only excursion, celebrate the most wonderful time of the year with a festive train trip.

Many offer hot drinks and sweet treats, souvenirs, an opportunity to belt out Christmas carol classics, and, for little ones, a trip to the North Pole.

While lots of grandparents bring their grandkids on board for holiday train tours, Virginia & Truckee Railroad owner/manager Tom Gray says he has noticed that with his company’s offerings such as the Candy Cane Express, “empty-nesters and couples without children — and single people — sometimes ride to enjoy the wide-eyed enthusiasm of the young kids and the excitement they have during the Christmas season.”

According to AARP’s Travel Trends survey, 63 percent of travelers 50-plus planned to travel only domestically this year, while 7 percent of planned domestic trips are for holiday travel. Make the most of the holidays and enjoy a train ride filled with ambiance for the merriest memories.

Act fast as these train tours sell out quickly. Here’s to a jolly journey ahead!

Midwest

The 1880’s Train Holiday Express weaves through the Black Hills.

Courtesy 1880 Train

1880 Train’s Holiday Express, South Dakota

Choose between classic, first-class, and adults-only “Spiked!” cars on the Black Hills Central Railroad 1880 Train, considered the oldest continuously operating tour railroad in the nation.

Classic tours include hot cocoa, a sugar cookie, candy canes, a special story on the way to the North Pole, a visit with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, and a small gift for children.

“We get to see how happy the grandparents are to have their whole extended family together on the train, and seeing their grandkids oohing and aahing when they see Santa for the first time,” says Nate Anderson, business operations manager for the Black Hills Central Railroad. “It’s a neat thing to observe.”

First-class riders receive unlimited hot chocolate served in a keepsake mug. Grown-ups wanting to sit in an adults-only car can get their hot chocolate with a nip of Schnapps served in a commemorative 1880 Train tumbler.

The authentically restored vintage diesel engine weaves through the Black Hills (with views of historic mining encampments and rock huts, and perhaps deer and woodchucks along the way).

Dates: Every weekend from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve and occasional weekdays

Cost: Adults $46-$79; $29 for children

South

The Holiday Sights & Festive Nights Tour travels through Key West’s decorated neighborhoods.

Courtesy Historic Tours of America

Holiday Sights & Festive Nights Tour, Florida

Hop aboard an open-air trolley train for this annual tour of a glimmering Conch Republic, otherwise known as Key West, a micronation that seceded from the United States in 1982. The hourlong Conch Tour Train ride brings you to the island’s decorated neighborhoods of Old Town and New Town, as well as houses, and buildings, and invites participation in neighborhood caroling. The tour includes a pair of light-up holiday glasses.

Dates: Dec. 9-10; Dec. 13-23

Cost: $36.28 for adults; $24.53 for children 3-12

East

Travel on vintage train cars during New York City’s Holiday Nostalgia Rides.

Marc Hermann

Holiday Nostalgia Rides, New York

Maybe you used to ride a Manhattan subway train car with straps and handrails, surrounded by long-ago advertisements. Maybe you want to experience a similar kind of vintage ride for the first time.

Either way, if plans go as proposed this holiday season, you can travel through time and be part of a New York Transit Museum tradition since 1976 when vintage cars from the former Independent Subway System — now part of the New York City Subway — are slated to depart from 2nd Avenue (F line) in Lower Manhattan to 96th Street (Q line), with stops along the way.

Dates: Awaiting announcement in November from the New York Transit Museum

Cost: Free with subway fare

West

Listen to a read-along of “The Polar Express” on the Polar Express Train Ride in California.

Courtesy California State Railroad Museum Foundation

The Polar Express Train Ride, California

Some major cities have their version of a train ride centered around the Christmas picture book classic The Polar Express. Why not tag along on one of the originals, taking off from Old Sacramento State Historic Park, with help from the California State Railroad Museum?

Each holiday season, tens of thousands of passengers interact with the book’s characters while on a train bound for the North Pole, where Santa will climb aboard to gift each passenger a silver sleigh bell.

Get your golden ticket punched, listen to a read-along of author Chris Van Allsburg’s The Polar Express, and enjoy hot chocolate and a sweet treat served by dancing chefs in a themed car — tufted leatherette seats and wrought-iron details among the fancy features — pulled by vintage locomotives from the museum’s collection. Select from coach, enclosed gondola, or first-class tickets.

Dates: Nov. 16 to Dec. 22

Cost: First class: $100-$110 per passenger or $400-$440 for table of four. Coach class: $80-$85 per passenger or $320-$340 for table of four in the enclosed gondola car.

The Candy Cane Express travels over the 155-year-old Virginia & Truckee Railroad rails.

Courtesy Virginia and Truckee Railroad

The Candy Cane Express, Nevada

Sip on a cup of Virginia City’s famous hot chocolate or apple cider while cruising along some of the most historic rails in the U.S. on the Candy Cane Express.

Heated passenger cars travel over the 155-year-old Virginia & Truckee Railroad — in its heyday used for hauling millions of dollars in gold and silver ore from area mines — while costumed actors read Clement Clarke Moore’s famous “A Visit from St. Nicholas” poem and sing Christmas carols on the way to the North Pole.

And because the 45-minute route journeys through mustang territory, you might even spot some majestic horses along the way.

Every passenger receives a gift bag and light stick; children 4 and younger can ride on a lap for free.

Dates: Every weekend from after Thanksgiving through Dec. 22

Cost: $28

Plan far ahead next year for these treasured train rides

While it may sound surprising, some holiday favorites sell out before summer’s end. Here are three train tours to consider long before the air gets nippy.

The Christmas Wine Train, Texas

Cheers to a cheerful holiday season with locally made wines aboard authentic Edwardian-style coaches from the 1920s. Train cars are festively decorated, and Christmas carols play in the background of this two-hour adults-only excursion hosted by Grapevine Vintage Railroad, conveniently set along Main Street in Grapevine, the “Christmas Capital of Texas.” Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus come along for the ride. For an elegant dinner with fine linens, buy premier tickets.

Cost: $52 per person; $395 for a table of four

Christmas Dinner Train, Tennessee

Enjoy a fine meal prepared and served in restored dining and Pullman cars by a dining car superintendent and a team of attentive stewards and chefs. This two-hour jaunt travels through urban East Chattanooga, then reverses direction to return to Tennessee Valley Railroad’s iconic Grand Junction Station.

Cost: $240-$400

North Pole Express, Michigan

Passengers are encouraged to wear their favorite pajamas or 1940s/’50s attire for the Steam Railroading Institute’s nostalgic 4.5-hour excursion from Owosso to a nearby village’s Country Christmas celebration. Choose from five different classes of service, leave with a souvenir ticket and “Believe” bell, and don’t miss the Institute’s largest locomotive on display — the Pere Marquette 1225, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and starred in the 2004 classic movie “The Polar Express.”

Cost: $80 per passenger; private party prices available

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Robin L. Flanigan is a contributing writer who covers mental health, education and human interest stories for several national publications. She is a former reporter for several daily newspapers, and her work has appeared in People, USA Today and Education Week. She is the author of the children’s book M Is for Mindful.