Our family of 8 recently got back from an adventure that included a trip from Ohio to Denver (and back) on an Amtrak train

(SEE ALSO: 4 reasons my Amtrak trip was a blast…)

(SEE ALSO: … but I’ll probably never take another Amtrak trip)

We live in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is conveniently right on the boundary of an Amtrak Zone

(SEE ALSO: Maximizing your route on the Amtrak Zone Map)

Because Cincinnati and Denver are both (on the edge of) the Central Zone, a one-way trip in a bedroom Amtrak sleeper car only costs 25,000 Amtrak points (which you can transfer 1:1 from Chase Ultimate Rewards, which is one of the reasons I think Chase Ultimate Rewards are the best miles out there)

The only problem is that the route between Cincinnati and Chicago is only served 3 days a week, and we couldn’t make the dates work out.  That route (the Cardinal) is also served by a Viewliner train instead of a Superliner, which also made the points redemption more complicated than it needed to be.

(SEE ALSO: Amtrak Viewliner Routes vs. Amtrak Superliner Routes)

(SEE ALSO: Amtrak Superliner vs. Viewliner – what’s the difference?)

And if we needed another reason, the train leaves Cincinnati at 1:47 a.m. westbound and 3:17 a.m. eastbound (ugh)

So instead we decided to drive up to Toledo.  The train times there are 5:22 a.m. westbound and 11:39 p.m eastbound, still not ideal, but manageable.

Amtrak Toledo Union Station parking: where to find it

One of the big questions that we had, not being from Toledo, is where to find the Amtrak Toledo Union Station parking.  There were a couple of posts about it, but the official Amtrak station page was not very helpful (other than confirming the fact that there WAS Amtrak Toledo Union Station parking.

Now that we’ve been there and back, I can confirm where exactly both the short term and long term parking is

Amtrak Toledo Union Station’s address is 415 Emerald Avenue, and there is easy access from Interstate 75 (get off at Exit 201A and the signs to Union Station are good).  They’ll lead you to Emerald Avenue and the station will be on your right (see the above map).  If you are going to be there for just a short amount of time, the Amtrak Toledo Union Station short-term parking will be on your right just passed the station.  If, like us, you are taking a long-haul train, then Amtrak Toledo Union Station long-term parking is directly across the street.

(SEE ALSO: 4 reasons my Amtrak trip was a blast…)

(SEE ALSO: … but I’ll probably never take another Amtrak trip)

Amtrak Toledo Union Station parking – is it free? is it safe?

The Amtrak Toledo Union Station parking is free – there is no charge for parking.  It seemed perfectly safe to me as well.  While I can’t speak for how the surrounding neighborhood is, the Amtrak Toledo Union Station parking was well lit and our van was still there after a week and a half 🙂

Hanging out at Toledo’s Union Station at ~5 am waiting for our train