10 Best Scenic Train Rides in Boston (Costs & Tips, 2026)

A two-hour round trip along Cape Cod's Mid-Cape rail line, crossing the Cape Cod Canal and running through cranberry bogs and salt marsh that the highway completely bypasses — the dinner train version adds a full multi-course meal for roughly triple the base fare. Standard excursion tickets run around $30; about 80 minutes from Boston by car to reach the Hyannis station.

Restored vintage rail cars run the Valley Train loop through the White Mountains' foothills, with the longer Notch Train option climbing all the way into Crawford Notch for genuinely dramatic mountain-pass scenery. About 2.5 hours from Boston, so it's a full-day commitment; the base Valley Train runs around $25, the Notch Train considerably more.

This is real intercity transit, not a tourist excursion, which is exactly why it's underrated as a scenic ride — the route hugs the Maine coastline for long stretches on its way north, and Portland's Old Port neighborhood on the other end is worth the trip by itself. Roughly $35 one-way if booked ahead, closer to 2 hours 15 minutes departing North Station.

An ordinary commuter train that happens to run one of the prettiest routes in the whole MBTA system — the last stretch north of Gloucester runs close enough to the shoreline that you can see Cape Ann's rocky coast from the window seats. About $13 round trip from North Station, genuinely the cheapest scenic train on this entire list.

The world's first mountain-climbing cog railway, opened in 1869, and it still uses a center rack rail to grind up grades as steep as 37% to the 6,288-foot summit of the Northeast's tallest peak — home to some of the most extreme recorded weather on the planet. Not cheap at around $89, and about 2.5 to 3 hours from Boston, but the summit views (weather permitting) reach into four states and Canada.

The Berkshires are better known for Tanglewood's summer concerts than for train rides, which is exactly what keeps this one pleasantly uncrowded — vintage rail cars run along the Housatonic River through the same hills. Around $20, and roughly 2.5 hours from Boston, so it pairs naturally with a broader Berkshires day.

Fall foliage trains through Vermont's Green Mountains sell out weeks in advance for good reason — the route between Chester and Ludlow runs through some of the state's least-accessible-by-road color country. About 3 hours from Boston and roughly $30 for the base excursion, though peak foliage weekends command a premium.

The Pemigewasset River runs alongside the tracks for most of the 80-minute round trip through Lincoln's stretch of the White Mountains — a smaller, more low-key operation than Conway's, with diesel-era cars that keep it a notch cheaper and less crowded than the vintage-steam options further north. About $22, roughly 2.5 hours from Boston.

A genuine coal-fired steam locomotive pulls the train along the Connecticut River valley, with an optional riverboat connection partway through that turns the trip into a rail-and-water combo rather than just a train ride (about $49 combined, versus $29 for the train alone). It's the furthest option on this list — about 3 hours from Boston — so it works best as a stop on a longer Connecticut River valley trip rather than a standalone day.

Runs directly along the shore of New Hampshire's largest lake between Meredith and Weirs Beach, which makes it one of the few scenic trains on this list where the water, not the mountains, is the main event. About $24, and closer to Boston than most of the New Hampshire options at just under 2 hours.