From Alabama to Louisiana: exploring the Gulf Coast on the Deep South’s new Amtrak service

Dozens of birds fly over the still bayou as the train rushes past, leaving nothing but blue skies over the marshland. In no time this serene scene is replaced by bustling cityscape as I arrive in New Orleans.

It’s the first time since Hurricane Katrina devastated the region 20 years ago that a passenger train is running along the Gulf Coast from Mobile, Alabama, to New Orleans in Louisiana.

The new twice-daily Amtrak Mardi Gras service – named after the carnival celebration that takes over the cities every February – is allowing passengers to travel across the states for a day trip or more, from Mobile, stopping at Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport and Bay St Louis in Mississippi, and New Orleans.

The scenery changes so quickly on the journey that even the short wait for my hot drink in the cafe on board makes me nervous in case I miss any of the sights, my camera constantly capturing wide rivers, small communities and the marshes just east of New Orleans.

Amtrak – the US’s national railway – launched the new service in the Deep South in August 2025 and it has already caught the interest of locals. A shop worker and Uber driver tell me they have never been on a train before, while a couple are visiting Mobile from New Orleans for the first time in decades after discovering the new train line.

Mobile, in south-west Alabama, has a walkable downtown, with restaurants and bars dotted along Dauphin Street, while Biloxi is known for its casinos and Bay St Louis is the place to go for a party atmosphere.

New Orleans has something for everyone with its architecture, live music around every corner, as well as being home to the National WWII Museum.

Every February into March, Mobile and New Orleans are transformed for Mardi Gras as daily parades fill the streets with colourful floats, costumes, music and dancing.

Remnants of past celebrations catch my eye throughout both cities – from museums dedicated to costumes and floats to leftover beaded necklaces caught in trees.

Mobile is said to have the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the US. And it’s  evolved; carnival season now starts in November and continues through to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, featuring parading and balls.

“It’s like a free Broadway show with the floats, like a moving picture show,” Cart Blackwell, curator at Mobile Carnival Museum, says. “It’s a very special part of our culture and it’s spread across the Gulf Coast.”

Blackwell praises the new Amtrak service as “wonderful”, adding: “We definitely will get more people here.”

And visitors can even attend parades in both Mobile and New Orleans on the same day, he adds.

I can see how the train is already being used for people to party, as a group board heading to New Orleans in colourful, sparkly outfits.

Back in Mobile, I take a tour and am given a history of the city while being driven through some of the seven historic districts.

The next day I catch an early train to Biloxi then visit the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum to learn more about the area.

For dinner, it’s the White Pillars, a farm-to-table restaurant where the Eggplant Josephine’s indulgent crab meat and cheese explains in one dish why the venue is recommended in the Michelin guide.

One of Biloxi’s jewels is Ground Zero Blues Club, which is co-owned by Morgan Freeman, and I spend an evening with friends listening to Honey Island Swamp Band, which blends blues, soul, R&B and country music.

Lively Bay St Louis has music spilling out of different bars along the waterfront, alongside gift and antique shops. It is here that I discover my new favourite food.

At recently opened Anthony’s Restaurant I tuck into lobster arancini with crème fraiche while listening to live music and sipping a cocktail.

The final stop of my trip is New Orleans, a journey which takes three hours and 43 minutes from Mobile if you don’t stop at any of the other cities on the way.

I take in the French Quarter’s architecture with a walk in the sunshine. From jazz and R&B on busy Bourbon Street to a band on quieter Frenchmen street recommended by locals, there’s a lot of choice when it comes to music.

But first on my list is the jazz brunch at Antoine’s Restaurant, which claims to be the country’s oldest family-run restaurant. It dates back to 1840 and I’m told it has been visited by George Bush, Bill Clinton, Franklin Roosevelt, Pope John Paul II and Tom Cruise.

Musicians wander around playing to tables before a waitress serves a warm coffee cocktail, Café Brûlot – which is set on fire table-side for extra drama.

We try on costumes covered with feathers and jewels at the Mardi Gras Museum of Costumes and Culture as we learn about the celebrations from the point of view of New Orleans.

In between sampling fruity Hurricane cocktailsm I grab a beignet – a sugar-coated donut-like pastry whose crispy outside and dense inside combines to make for an extremely moreish snack.

On my final day I head to the National WWII museum, which is described by senior historian Dr John Curatola as “like a pilgrimage” for veterans or their families and is so huge it would take about three days to work your way around.

One thing is certain: Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans and Mobile just got far more accessible with a scenic train between the two.

How to plan your trip:

Journeyscape (Journeyscape.com, 0203 733 4413), North America specialist offers a nine-night holiday travelling aboard Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Service train from Mobile, Alabama (www.alabama.travel) to New Orleans, Louisiana visiting Biloxi and Bay St Louis in Mississippi (www.visitmississippi.org) from £2,318 per person.

It includes return flights from London to New Orleans (www.neworleans.com), transfers, Amtrak train tickets and accommodation at The Admiral in Mobile, The White House in Biloxi, The Pearl in Bay St Louis and Le Méridien in New Orleans.