The most beautiful train stations in the U.S.

We adore this Amtrak station’s unusual shape as a semi-circular Art Deco edifice with an impressive terraced water cascade in front made of concrete and green terrazzo. It was inspired by Helsinki’s Central Station and completed in 1933. An embedded Seth Thomas clock and a grand arch of windows make this a civic masterpiece listed as a National Historic Landmark. Inside is the Cincinnati Museum Center, mosaic murals, an Omnimax theater, and the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center.

Yes, it’s Grand Central Terminal, not Grand Central Station, as people often refer to it, built as part of the City Beautiful movement. This iconic 1913 beauty sports the kind of façade that gives you New York feelings. On the main concourse ceiling, you’ll find the Celestial Ceiling with 12 gold-leaf constellations and 2,500 stars—the Zodiac was painted backward at the wish of founder Cornelius Vanderbilt to give viewers the divine, rather than human, perspective. Extensive renovations in the 1990s expanded the terminal and restored the celestial ceiling, damaged from decades of cigarette smoke. Renovations also added a second grand staircase to match the first part of the original plans, which were delayed for 84 years. At one point, discussion was underway to build a 55-foot tower designed by Marcel Breuer (the mid-century Modern guy we otherwise adore), which would have blocked the terminal’s edifice; thankfully, the idea was scrapped. In 1976, the station received National Register status, and since then, nearly $6 billion has been spent on needed restoration. Its subsidiary station, Grand Central Madison, opened in 2023 and showcases artwork by Yayoi Kusama and others.

A beautifully restored Beaux Arts station dating to 1914, this granite building is not only an active train station but a hub of shopping and dining under chandeliers in an impressive grand hall. Many luminaries have visited over the years, including several presidents—at one time, more than 50,000 visitors a day came through the station’s doors, especially during WWII when service members departed. A grand reopening took place in 2014.

We love paying homage to newer builds in America’s rail infrastructure—especially when it incorporates the reuse of a historic building. Moynihan Train Hall is Amtrak’s new home in the historic James A. Farley Post Office building with its gorgeous columned façade. (Penn Station’s original 1910 glamorous above-ground station was demolished in 1966 to build Madison Square Garden—a big loss for preservationists—but tracks and concourses still operate in today’s Penn Station below the Garden, connected to Moynihan). At Moynihan Train Hall, passengers bask in sunlight from the 92-foot skylights in the spectacular atrium, criss-crossed with interesting metalwork. It opened to the public in January 2021 and was an answer to Penn’s overcrowding, designed by the same firm that designed the 1910 station and incorporated much of the same Beaux-Arts aesthetic. It also serves the Long Island Rail Road.

This station has a little of Bavaria in Montana, with half-timbered walls and large dormers. It was restored in the 1990s and includes an indoor waiting room, railroad offices and the Stumptown Historical Society. Built for the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1928, it was continuously used for 60 years and is now an active Amtrak station. The upstairs is leased back to BNSF Railway, the successor to the original rail line. This beautiful station is on the National Register of Historic Places.

This standout station boasts two gleaming white marble towers with spires in this architecturally fascinating building. Completed in 1911, the station’s French-Renaissance style welcomed travelers on the Boston and Albany Railroad (B&A), as well as the New York, New Haven and Hartford and the Boston and Maine railroads. It had to be built to impress since it replaced an 1875 station with a 212-foot clock tower (these towers are still a stately 175 feet). Boarded up and fallen into ruin, the station was rescued to reopen to passengers in July 2000. It hosts trains from Amtrak and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority commuter rail system.

This busy place serves Amtrak, the MBTA Red and Silver lines, and various intercity transit lines. Its gorgeous curved facade is crowned by a clock with an eagle atop it starting to spread its wings. Opened in 1899, it was originally a union station built for five different rail systems, which have since been consolidated or are defunct. It was rescued from the wrecking ball and placed on the National Register in 1975. It is a beautiful sight in the middle of downtown, offering plenty of dining options while you await your ride.

Created in 1933 as a joint venture between the Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail behemoths and opened in 1939, this station is an impressive terminal, the largest in the West. Its style is Mission Moderne, a combination of Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival and Art Deco. This National Register station cost $11 million to build and opened, like a Hollywood premiere, with much fanfare. The celebration lasted three days and was attended by a crowd of 500,000. Today, Amtrak and Metrolink operate through the station.

We adore the modern look of this building, the first net-zero transit center in the country. Materials like brick and stone convey the town's historical importance, and the curving form imparts a sense of motion—almost like a train departing the station on its tracks. Its sustainable components include daylight modeling, a solar wall, a biomass boiler, photovoltaics, and geothermal wells. In fact, the outperforming building produces more energy than it uses. Take a quick walk to Main Street for its shops and dining, then board the Amtrak Vermonter and Valley Flyer here.

This active station hosts Amtrak, Megabus, GRTC and the Pulse, as well as offering bike-share and a connector to the Virginia Capital Trail. Built in 1901, the Second Renaissance Revival-style station was intended to show off the city’s wealth and create civic pride. In 1958, the interstate was built directly adjacent to the architectural gem, affecting views. Over the years, fires and floods have also wreaked havoc, but today it’s still a beautiful historic site with dining, an art gallery and quick access to entertainment nearby.

The train station here was once one of the most important buildings in downtown Flagstaff and still operates as an Amtrak station and visitors center. Built in 1926 for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, this adorable Tudor Revival-style station showcases half-timbering, chimneys, pitched rooflines, and gables. Inside, a model railroad entertains with miniature locomotives and offers a look at Flagstaff’s downtown as it would have looked in the 1920s.

This modern station designed by Santiago Calatrava is a hub for 12 subway lines and serves the PATH rapid transit system. Inside, dozens of shops and restaurants cater to more than a million people weekly. The Oculus is emotionally significant for many as it was built in alignment with the sun’s solar angles on each September 11, from the time of the first plane’s striking at 8:46am, to the collapse of the second tower at 10:28am—a central skylight washes the floor with a beam of light, as the website explains.

This 1925 station was originally designed by Daniel Burnham—of New York’s Flatiron Building fame—and completed by Graham, Anderson, Probst and White. Its restored Great Hall is a feat of spectacular design, with cream and gold arches, statuary and columns, and a gigantic arching skylight. The station serves Amtrak and Metra riders and will celebrate its centennial in 2025. Amtrak has invested over $60 million in the station since 2010, and another $20 million on the tracks and associated systems. Its Metropolitan Lounge includes a modern space to get a snack, preboarding directly to the platform, showers and a children’s play space.

This brick station with a tall tower serves Amtrak and Sounder commuter trains, as well as connections to streetcar and light rail trains. Opened in 1906 for the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway, the National Register station’s distinctive clock tower was inspired by Venice’s St. Mark’s Campanile and at one time was said to be the second largest timepiece on the Pacific Coast. A horrible drop ceiling once hid the lofty hand-carved coffered ceiling in a modernization scheme, replacing chandeliers with fluorescent lights—an outrage that has thankfully been reversed.

We love the double medieval towers of this Amtrak train station with pyramid-shaped caps, often dusted by snow in colder months. The Romanesque Revival style depot is made of reddish brown brick and Frying Pan River red sandstone and dates to 1904. Nearby is the largest natural hot springs pool in the world, the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool.

A classically beautiful 1911 structure, this station serves Amtrak and MARC, with 3 million passengers a year. Plans are underway to restore and reimagine the station and surrounding Amtrak-owned buildings as a mixed-use development with retail, office, hotel, and residential space. The station will be repaired to masonry, windows, roofing, and other systems and outfitted for high-speed rail. See renderings of future development here, uploaded in March 2024.

Officially termed the William H. Gray III 30th Street Station, this gorgeous National Register train station impresses with two massive porticoes (roof structures held up by columns) and statuary inside the Art Deco grand concourse. It serves Amtrak, SEPTA and NJ Transit trains as well as connecting bus lines, and is Amtrak’s third busiest station. Opened in 1933, its Solari board (the old-fashioned sign with times of arrivals and departures) is promised to be back on site as décor in 2027 after public outcry, and a 1991 renovation shored things up and added eateries. More renovations are underway since January 2024, so passengers should add extra time to get to boarding platforms and be aware that dining options may be temporarily limited.

Hattiesburg was once known as Hub City for its interconnected rail lines and this station played a role in the booming lumber industry. Built in 1910, the beautiful Italian Renaissance depot has been in constant use since then, with a 2007 rededication after a $10 million restoration. Music recordings made in 1936 in the station itself by the Mississippi Jook Band may qualify this as the birthplace of rock and roll.

This medieval-looking Tudor Revival-style depot was completed in 1930. It was modeled after Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-on-Avon, with scattered half-timbering and a steep slate roof. Inside, you’ll find heavy-beamed ceilings and more of the Shakespearean half-timbering. This was once a Harvey House with a dormitory for “Harvey Girls” upstairs.

This 1892 station was built for Michigan Central Railroad and is still in use as an Amtrak passenger depot. The National Register brownstone building with a 60 foot Germanic clock tower is in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It was used as a filming location for the movies Continental Divide, Midnight Run and Only the Lonely. Permanent wiring for a Christmas scene from Only the Lonely now enables an annual holiday lighting ceremony.

This neoclassical station opened in 1914 and is an active Amtrak station and transit hub connecting to the historic Memphis trolley system and boasts an on-site hotel called the Central Station Hotel. It’s made out of Bedford limestone with a five-story brick tower with a beautiful terracotta cornice at the top. A $23 million renovation concluded in 1999.

One of the top 10 busiest stations in Amtrak’s system, Connecticut’s 1920 Union Station serves Amtrak and commuter bus and rail connections. Designed by famed American architect Cass Gilbert (who also designed the U.S. Supreme Court Building), the 1917 Georgian building was placed on the National Register in 1975. It faced an unsure future with its building being shuttered and only platforms and stainless steel arched tunnels open to the public, but extensive renovations in the 1980s brought it back up to speed and grandeur. The Georgian brick exterior isn’t especially eye-catching from the outside, but the Beaux Arts interior is special. Inside the waiting room, ornate 35-foot ceilings are dotted with elegant chandeliers, and a grand clock is suspended within a niche. Natural light flows in through oversized arched windows, and passengers wait for trains on beautiful wooden built-in benches. Development plans are underway to expand and update the station.