How To Ride the Winter Park Express
Posted
by
WinterKids
on Tuesday, November 29, 2016
All aboard!
Have you or your children ever wanted to take a train to a ski resort? Now is your chance!
The Winter Park Express is back on the tracks this winter season, after a 7 year hiatus. Leaving from Denver's Union Station, the 500-passenger ski train travels 56 miles through beautiful mountain scenery, including passing through 29 tunnels and climbing an elevation of 4,000 feet, before dropping passengers off less than 100 feet from the Gemini Express ski lift at Winter Park Ski Resort.
Lasting only around 2 hours, the Amtrak train bypasses any ski traffic or snow delays on I-70, the major interstate highway that connects tourists with a significant portion of Colorado's popular ski resorts - meaning mom and dad can sit back, relax, and take in the beautiful Colorado scenery - without worrying about driving in traffic or snow!
If you're thinking it might be too late in the year already to book your family's ski vacation out to Winter Park, don't worry: the Winter Park Express doesn't start running until January 2017. The train will only be available on Saturdays and Sundays, January 7th through March 26th, 2017 (with the exception of additional rides on two holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents' Day).
One way tickets range from $39-$59, and can be booked on the Winter Park Express Amtrak site (bonus: a ticket for a child riding with a ticketed adult costs only half of what the adult ticket costs!). The train only travels one way each way per day, departing Denver at 7:00am and arriving in Winter Park at 9:00am, and departing Winter Park at 4:30pm and arriving back in Denver at 6:40pm.
The best part is, if you and your family are flying in to Denver International Airport from out of state, there is a new train that will take you directly from the airport to downtown Denver's Union Station. These tickets only cost $9 one way, and only takes 37 minutes to get from the airport to the train station - where your family can conveniently hop on the ski train!
Since the train does leave so early on Saturdays and Sundays to head up to the mountains (and also arrives later in the evening when returning back to Denver), however, we would suggest flying in the night before, so you and your family are ready to get on the train at 7am. Luckily, Denver's newly-renovated Union Station even has its own hotel - the 5-star Crawford Hotel, conveniently located just steps away from the platform to the train from the airport and the train to Winter Park.
In addition to a hotel, Union Station offers a variety of restaurants, a coffee shop, candy store, book store, and more - so your family will feel right at home, even before heading up to your final ski vacation destination at Winter Park.
And don't forget - after you've booked your travel tickets, it's important to make sure your kids have everything they need to stay warm and dry on the mountain this winter! Check out all of the newest and cutest kids winter clothing and accessories at WinterKids.com.
We hope to see you on the train this winter! And if you've taken the train before, let us know in the comments below - we'd love to hear more about your ski train experience!
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Categories:
Skiing & Snowboarding
Tagged: Denver, Colorado, colorado ski resorts, family ski trip, family ski vacation, kids skiing, kids snowboarding, skiing with kids, union station, winter park, winter park express
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