Asheville, North Carolina does not have an Amtrak station, but is just over an hour drive from two South Carolina train stations on the Crescent route: Spartanburg and Greenville. Buses and rental cars are near both stations, but unfortunately the train arrival times are not ideal and depending on your direction of travel, you’ll need to stay overnight in a hotel before picking up a car or connecting with a bus.
As of October 2022, trains that depart from cities including New Orleans, Birmingham and Atlanta arrive in Spartanburg and Greenville after 2 a.m. In the opposite direction, trains traveling south/southwest arrive between 4 and 6 a.m. if no delays.
For more information, view station details below. Note that Amtrak’s expansion plans include train service to and from Asheville.
Spartanburg Station
The Spartanburg Station is near Wofford College, Enterprise and Hertz, but you’ll need to use a taxi or rideshare service to pick up a car. We recommend this station over Greenville because you can walk to the Spartanburg Marriott hotel and a 24-hour Krispy Kreme to kill time (or sleep). The alternate to a rental car is Greyhound bus, but a transfer is required and this trip takes about five hours.
Greenville Station
The Greenville, South Carolina Station is on the outskirts of downtown and is not in a walkable area. Enterprise and Hertz are also nearby, but like with Spartanburg, no pick-up service is available. For middle-of-the-night arrivals, you risk not being able to get a ride to a hotel if you travel to this station. However, you can connect with a Southeastern Stages bus to Asheville if routes are available. Greyhound buses are also an option, but travel time is over six hours from Greenville due to a required bus transfer (no non-stop trips to Asheville).
Amtrak Guide 