America has a train worth taking: Brightline, Miami to Orlando

Americans will tell you their country doesn't do trains, and for most of the country they're right. Florida is now the exception. Brightline runs from Miami up to Orlando through five or six stops. Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach among them. And since a lot of families I know string those exact two cities together every summer, it deserves a proper look. We took the midday service, paid our own way as ever, and travelled in Premium, which is best understood as first class on a decent UK train: bigger, more comfortable seats, a full drinks and snacks service that keeps coming, and a calm three hours while Florida slides past the window.

The money first, because it surprised us. Booking only a couple of days out, regular one-way seats were around $80 and Premium about $110 a head, and for a one-way hop for a family of four that felt expensive, this is not the bargain end of rail travel. But run the honest comparison: a hire car for the same journey means the rental itself, fuel, tolls, taxes, parking at the other end, and the ritual of collecting and returning it. Add it up and the train probably lands at slightly more money, while being a good hour quicker and sparing a lot of those of those logistics. Whether that trade suits you is a family-by-family choice; for us, arriving in Orlando relaxed and at the time stated on the ticket was worth it.

Now the wrinkle, and it matters because of what Brightline is selling. We arrived at MiamiCentral a good forty-five minutes to an hour before boarding, with two large suitcases we intended to check, exactly as the service invites you to, airline-style, bags loaded for you and collected at the other end. We were told, that far ahead of departure, that too many bags had already been accepted and ours would be travelling with us as hand luggage. For a premium product, that's a poor moment. We hadn't rocked up ten minutes before the whistle; we were early, and the capacity had simply been sold out. Quite why there was a capacity at all was slightly odd, you would never get that with an airline. What therefore followed was my wife and I negotiating two heavy cases and a ton of hand luggage through lifts and lounges, and having to hoist them onto a security belt built for rucksacks, with two kids running in opposite directions — not the elegant start the ticket price implies.

Credit where due, the recovery was decent. Beyond security sits a Premium lounge very busy, but pleasant, with snacks, teas, coffees and drinks in a noticeably nicer space than the main concourse. Boarding was called for Premium first, the rest of the train held back while we made our way to the platform, a courtesy I'd have enjoyed more without the luggage I wasn't supposed to be carrying, and once aboard, the cases stowed, the journey itself was everything you'd want: comfortable, well looked after, and over before the kids ran out of patience. As a way of covering Miami to Orlando without a car, it's an easy recommendation.