If a trip to Niagara Falls is on your bucket list, listen up!
Every Tuesday through Friday, Amtrak publishes its weekly SmartFares.
These fares offer discounts of 25 percent off the regular one-way fare.
This week, you can find discounts on about a dozen classic train routes including the Maple Leaf from Utica, New York to Niagara Falls.
Also available this week: discounts on the Crescent line from Atlanta to New Orleans; the Coast Starlight from Sacramento to Los Angeles; Lincoln Service, from St. Louis to Chicago; the Cascades, from Vancouver to Seattle; and several other regional routes.
I was married in Garratt Park, Maryland, a small railroad suburb of Washington, DC.
We wanted to flag down the train after the wedding, to begin our honeymoon in style:
To Niag’ra in a sleeper,
There’s no honeymoon that’s cheaper,
And the train goes slow.
Ooh ooh ooh!
Off, we’re gonna shuffle,
Shuffle off to Buffalo.
Amtrak’s SmartFares
There are some important rules and limitations on these SmartFares.
The most obvious things to watch out for are the advance purchase requirements, the inability to use the tickets for a weekend trip (no travel on Fridays or Sundays), and the fact that the fares are nonrefundable and non-changeable.
In brief, SmartFares are:
- 25% off on select routes each week.
- Available for purchase every Tuesday – Friday.
- Available for travel 1 – 2 weeks after purchase.
- Not valid for travel on Fridays or Sundays.
- Fares are nonrefundable and nontransferable.
- New destinations offered every week.