Great Train Itineraries - Lake Shore Limited from New York

New York: the largest city in the USA, and the most captivating one. Its core is the island of Manhattan, thriving with many microcosms and different lifestyles: Harlem, Central Park, the city’s outstanding museums, its iconic skyscrapers, the ethnic neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan – Chinatown, the Jewish district, and what’s left of Little Italy –; restored SoHo, Tribeca and the Village, good as new; and Wall Street, where business means business.

Leave the New Jersey industrial area behind and enter Pennsylvania through the Delaware Gap forests and the beautiful Finger Lakes – a group of 11 long, ancient glacier lakes. You might have seen the waterfalls a million times in pictures or on TV, but rest assured – the real thing will leave you speechless. The border between Canada and the USA crosses the river Niagara; not far from the falls, the small Goat Island floats in the middle of the river, thus creating two different waterfalls: the American Falls on the USA side, with a crest line of about 320 m; and the famous Horseshoe Falls, twice as wide, on the Canadian side. Winter makes the landscape even more breathtaking, with the waterfalls turning into massive ice walls.

“America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.” At least, this is what playwright Tennessee Williams thought. Today, though, things are different: Cleveland, criss-crossed by the Cuyahoga River, is now a major industrial harbor on Lake Erie. Its riverfront makes for a very pleasant walk, and the town now hosts several outstanding museums – above all, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, designed by I.M. PEI, the architect behind the famous Pyramid at the Louvre.

As soon as you catch sight of Chicago – the most important city of the Midwest, standing on the shore of Lake Michigan –, its skyline will leave you awestruck. After the devastating 1871 fire, Chicago was rebuilt by the most famous architects of the day – namely Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies Van de Rohe. The city is now one of the finest examples of contemporary architecture in the world. Chicago also boasts plenty of modern artworks, on display at the Millennium Park and in virtually every square, museums as outstanding as the Art Institute and an extremely thriving music scene, with several top-notch jazz, blues and rock clubs and festivals.