San Clemente Pier Amtrak Station

Wow what an amazing trip. To come from Union station to the pier is a great way to do a staycation… Look at the video I posted on our arrival. Great weather great atmosphere good food and nice people around what more can you ask for a day trip to be.

To say this is a full Amtrak Station is a bit of a stretch. This is more of a platform here right at the San Clemente Pier. There is ticketing machine that allows you to by tickets and gives you a schedule. However, the trains do not stop here long. I had to hustle to get off the train in time on a recent stop here. Other than the «casual» nature of this station… you can get from most points in San Diego or LA to here for less than $ 20… If I were you I would just stay!

It’s not so much the station at San Clemente Pier that is horrible, but the Amtrak (now referred to as «SCAMTRAC) train that has «scheduled» stop times that Amtrak Train Conductors don’t want to seem to actually «stop» the train. My car broke down in Camp Pendelton, which was bad enough, I got towed to San Clemente to a AAA approved auto shop, but then I had to figure out a way to get back home to LA.
Saturday night left me no rental car places open, and the taxi took forever to get there, add that 5 police cars were parked in front of me because of someone getting pulled over. So the only option for transportation was «ScamTrack». The only ticket available that night was one for 10:25 pm so I bought it ahead of time. I got to the station and waited an 1 ½ hours for the train. I was cold since I didn’t bring a sweatshirt and there is no where to go to hide from the wind at this station. Even the posted public bathrooms I could not find since they seemed to be way far south of the station. The Metrolink phone line did not work and I tried it a good 5 or 6 times. So the 10:25 pm train was on time… but it never stopped at the San Clemente Pier station. I was standing in full site of the train conductor and he just blasted through that station like he was late for a party he got invited to.
I was livid. I called Amtrak and I could never get through to their tin can & string communication system. So then I tried to get a cab from the only cab company in San Clemente, 1−800−200−0000. That nightmare cab company has a Unilocal story of it’s own to be written soon, they never showed at all, they couldn’t find the train station even at one point. So I was now officially stuck in San Cemente (on purpose) so I had to hoof my way up to the I-​5 & Ave Pico where I hung out at a Dennys and behind the big bushes in front of the Post office with my two rat terriers and my big bag of personal items that broke through the entire seam was able to spread out and not be seen by cops or postal employees which are as scarey as any cops.
So i lived the life of a homeless person for a night and it was not fun. Cold & grubby are the best I could describe it. Thanks ScamTrack!
So I hoofed back to the station in the morning where there is no schedule of the amtrak trains anywhere. I didn’t know if I had to wait 1 hour or 4 hours till the next train. Well, a 7:30 am Scamtrack came and blew by the station once again. This was unbelievable to me… then, wait, there’s more, the 8:30 am train blew right past the station. I re-​bought my ticket on Metrolink which was nearly ½ the price than Scamtrack and their train actually stopped. Yea, MetroLink!
MetroLink trains are nice too. Every seat had an electrical plug at it, clean bathrooms, nicer than the ones at the actual station — oh wait, there were none at the San Clemente station.
It was a nightmare for me, Scamtrack throwing me into a very dangerous situation that night and I won’t forget their lazy train conductors just blasting through that station.

Beautiful spot by the pier… small incognito platform.

This easily could have been 5 Stars for the San Clemente Pier Amtrack station, but you have to hustle so fast on-​and-​off this train here, that I feel sorry already for the slower moving passengers. Still, this is a very picturesque stop and as beautiful architecturally as the San Diego Santa Fe Depot station is; San Clemente tops that with the ocean and San Clemente Pier behind it.
I used to just think San Clemente was that boring Orange County burg that old Tricky Dick Nixon retired in disgrace to, but coming down the coast on the Pacific Surfliner train-​I took notice of the city’s lovely charms. So I vowed to come back for a visit.
This little whistle stop is not really even a station; more like a bare platform with a sign. (Right up on the fence behind is a scary «Tsunami Warning» sign that warns to get to higher ground in the event of an earthquake.) You just stand there and wait for the train to come at it’s appointed hour. Metrolink trains also ply these rails.
Amtrack ticket kiosks sell tickets to get on board or you can purchase tickets on the train.
San Clemente Pier station is considered a lightly used one and only a few trains a day will stop here. Yes-​not every Surfliner will visit this particular station, so you want to make sure of the times before you plan on jumping aboard. Otherwise, you’ll get a train flashing by fast and blowing it’s whistle at you. Generally, there are daily stops in spring through summer (April through October) and then only on weekends and holidays thereafter.
It’s a beautiful scenic trip heading south along the coast. This is a good starting off point for your train adventure.