Boston to Washington D.C. train

Trains from Boston to Washington D.C. start at €81.74 and take 5h 2m at their fastest.

BostonBostonWashingtonWashington
A 4 x 1 segment panorama of the Toledo Skyline in Spain at sunrise. Taken by myself in portrait format with a Canon 5D and 70-200mm f/2.8L lens. On the left Alcázar of Toledo and on the right Cathedral of Toledo.

The Trains from Boston to Washington D.C. starts at €81.74 and takes 5h 2m door to door, run by 1 operator over 634 km, with around 12 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 60 days before departure.

Checked 12 September 2026Priced for 29 September 2026One passenger, all fees included

  • 5h 2mDoor to door
  • 4h 18mMoving
  • €81.74From
  • 20.9 kgCO2
Real services

The cheapest and the fastest on 29 September 2026

Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.

Lowest CO2€96.04
  1. Amtrak A356606:024h 44m10:46Boston South StationWashington Union Station

Door to door 5h 28mCO2 20.9 kgChanges 0Refundable

Carriers

Train operators

Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.

Every operator we sell on this corridor. Speed is the carrier's own typical cruising speed, not the average over this route.
OperatorFromFastestTypical speedFlexibilityOn board
Amtrak€67.445h 2m140 km/hRefundablePower sockets, Wi-Fi
  • Amtrak

Washington D.C. sits on the water, which usually settles which side of town you want to wake up on. Rooms are not ours to sell.

A hotel room

Rooms within reach of Washington Union Station

Sort by distance from Washington Union Station and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.

Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Boston to Washington D.C.

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €67.4090 days
  2. €47.9360 days
  3. €47.9345 days
  4. €49.1130 days
  5. €66.8121 days
  6. €84.5114 days
  7. €103.397 days
  8. €99.853 days
  9. €135.841 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €47.93.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and dearest lead time is 183 percent. The dearest point is €135.84, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 60 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Day of the week

Which departure day costs least

Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.

  1. €78.61Sun
  2. €69.17Mon
  3. €67.99Tue
  4. €71.53Wed
  5. €88.64Thu
  6. €82.15Fri
  7. €84.51Sat
Terminals

Where you leave from and where you arrive

The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.

Boston

Rail
  • Boston South Station
  • Boston Landing station
  • Eastern Railroad Depot (Boston)

Washington

Rail
  • Washington Union Station
  • L'Enfant
  • Seabrook
The journey

What the journey actually looks like

Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.

How far it really runs
The route covers 634 km against 634 km in a straight line, a detour of 3 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
First and last departure
The first service of the day leaves Boston at 06:02 and the last at 21:20, across 12 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
The alternatives

Trains against the other ways to make this journey

The same corridor, door to door, with every mode that runs it.

Door to door means the whole journey, including reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end. Fares are the cheapest sold on each mode.
ModeDoor to doorMovingAt the endsFromCO2Per day
Flight4h 24m1h 14m3h 10m€67.99160.6 kg56
Train5h 2m4h 18m44m€81.7420.9 kg12

Questions about Boston to Washington D.C.

The questions people actually ask about this journey, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.

How long does the Train from Boston to Washington D.C. take?

The Train from Boston to Washington D.C. takes 5h 2m door to door, of which 4h 18m is spent moving. The route runs 634 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.

How much does the Train from Boston to Washington D.C. cost?

The Train from Boston to Washington D.C. starts at €81.74 for one passenger, checked on 12 September 2026. A typical fare is €84.49. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.

Who runs the Train from Boston to Washington D.C.?

1 operators run the Train from Boston to Washington D.C.: Amtrak. Between them they file around 12 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.

Which terminal does the Train from Boston to Washington D.C. use?

The Train from Boston to Washington D.C. leaves from Boston South Station and arrives at Washington Union Station. Allow about 44m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.

Is the Train the best way from Boston to Washington D.C.?

Travelling from Boston to Washington D.C. by Flight costs €67.99 and takes 4h 24m door to door, against 5h 2m by Train. Which is better depends on whether the money or the hours matter more on this trip. The comparison table on this page shows every mode side by side.

When should I book the Train from Boston to Washington D.C.?

Fares for the Train from Boston to Washington D.C. bottom out around 60 days ahead, at €47.93. The gap between the cheapest and dearest lead time across the window is 183 percent, measured on 12 September 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.

How much CO2 does the Train from Boston to Washington D.C. produce?

The Train from Boston to Washington D.C. produces about 20.9 kg of CO2 per passenger over 634 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometre. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveller, not for the vehicle.

What is provided on board the Train from Boston to Washington D.C.?

Operators on the Train from Boston to Washington D.C. publish Power sockets, Wi-Fi. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 5h 2m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.

Where these numbers come from

Observed service A carrier record shows this named operator serving this named pair, and we carry that through unchanged.

Schedules, seat counts and fares are generated by our own model until the supplier contracts are signed. Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance are real. We would rather say that on every page than let a modelled number pass for a filed one.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon

On this page
Every figure above was computed for Boston to Washington D.C. on 12 September 2026: 634 km of route against 634 km in a straight line, 12 services a day, 1 operators, a cheapest fare of €81.74, and 5h 2m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

Related journeys

The train is the simple part. What you do once you are in Washington D.C. is somebody else's catalogue.

A guided tour group

What to book in Washington D.C. before you go

The tickets worth having in advance, because the queue at the door is usually the whole morning.

Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.

Plan with Ori

Ori, the trip planner

Ask it something like this