I’m chowing down on a mini King Cake, my breakfast. It’s a braided cinnamon Danish sprinkled with purple, inexperienced, and gold edible glitter, with a cream cheese filling and a bit plastic child perched astride. The child represents the toddler Jesus and is alleged to convey luck (and an obligation to host the following fête, if he reveals up in your slice.)
King Cakes—that are first served on King’s Day, January 6, and consumed all through the Carnival season up till Mardi Gras on February 17—are usually related to New Orleans. I’m not there, however somewhat in Mobile, Alabama, town that truly lays declare to the oldest Mardi Gras celebration within the United States. That celebration occurred in 1703, 15 years earlier than New Orleans was established. While my journey begins within the Big Easy, that is not my vacation spot. I’ll be using the rails to Mobile on a newly-returned Amtrak route.
In August 2025, Amtrak revived its Mardi Gras Service, connecting New Orleans and Mobile –the primary time the prepare has run since Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf coast in 2005. “Amtrak Mardi Gras Service is a natural choice for the name of the new trains that will reflect the region’s distinctive culture,” says Amtrak President Roger Harris. “Travel should be about more than just getting somewhere. Our goal is to have some of that festive Mardi Gras feeling on every trip, sharing the culture of the Gulf Coast region while connecting with the rest of the Amtrak network.”
When I journey the route, it is mid-January and Carnival season is simply beginning to unfold. I start my journey in New Orleans—it’s simpler to get a direct flight there from most elements of the nation, although that will change when the brand new Mobile International Airport opens in fall 2026. Travelers departing from New Orleans have two each day departure choices: 7:35 a.m. and 5:31 p.m. Were it summer time, I may need opted for a sundown journey; however in January, it’s nonetheless absolutely darkish by 5:30, and I don’t have any intention of lacking the views, so I’m taking the early prepare.
The Amtrak route between Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans returns this August after a 20-year hiatus—and tickets begin at simply $15.
On the day of my journey, the conductor tells me simply sixteen passengers have boarded the prepare from New Orleans. “It’s not usually this quiet,” he says, including that weekends have a tendency to be busiest, and that this quiet Monday morning was probably a post-holiday lull.
Compared to the behemoth Acela, which hustles a whole bunch of 1000’s of riders between Boston, New York City, and Washington DC every month, Amtrak’s Mardi Gras line is downright petite—simply two 58-seat coaches, plus a café automotive and a 14-seat Business Class automotive. A 3rd coach automotive has been added for the Mardi Gras season, Amtrak says.
Already, the night prepare tends to have a celebration vibe, in accordance to the conductor—and I’m betting that the nearer Mardi Gras attracts, the merriment on the rails will solely develop. But at this time, I have loads of room to sprawl, and I settle into one of the blue vinyl seats, which nonetheless has traces of new-car odor.
While you possibly can drive from New Orleans to Mobile in about two hours, the prepare journey takes just below 4, giving loads of time to watch the panorama unfurl. Practitioners of slow travel will perceive: reserving this specific prepare is about leisure and ease, not pace. The solar remains to be newly up within the east—that means the best facet of the prepare is a bit vibrant because the solar lingers low on the horizon–however there aren’t any unhealthy seats in phrases of watching the view roll by. Leaving New Orleans, we cross the expansive First Baptist church graveyard, and a few houses decked out in inexperienced and purple finery. That provides approach to palm timber, kudzu, dilapidated brick buildings, a billboard for Big Easy Mayonnaise, adopted by the Folgers New Orleans plant—which jogs my memory I desperately want caffeine.