BEST TRAIN TRIPS

Train trips deliver a little slice of effortless adventure, whisking travellers from A to B against a backdrop of ever-changing landscapes passing beyond the window and with a varied cast of staff and passengers. Hop aboard, whether you’d prefer an uber-luxurious service to the base of Peru’s Machu Picchu in Peru, to rattle on a tea train through the hills of Sri Lanka or to putter along on a rural service through Wales.

 

1. Rocky Mountaineer, US

Best for: red rocky landscapes & alpine views
Route: Moab (Utah) to Denver (Colorado)
Journey time: 48h

Winding and chuntering for 350 miles between Moab and Denver, the Rocky Mountaineer offers a magical way to soak up the landscapes of Utah and Colorado, from otherworldly red rocks to majestic mountains. As the train chases the serpentine Colorado River, it passes gargantuan canyons, verdant wineries and ghost towns busting with eerie folk tales. Life on board is unapologetically luxurious, with marshmallow-soft armchairs in glass-domed observations carriages, a menu of locally sourced dishes and smartly dressed staff who are well-versed in all the sights along the route. Passengers disembark at Glenwood Springs, halfway along the route, to spend the night in a hotel. Two days from $1,725 (£1,365).

 

2. Reunification Express, Vietnam

Best for: coast views
Route: Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City
Journey time: 34 hours

The comings and goings of modern Vietnamese history are intertwined with the arrivals and departures of the North-South Railway, known as the Reunification Express. Built during French colonial rule, the line was besieged by guerillas in the First Indochina War, contested during the Vietnam War and became a symbol of the reunified country once it reopened in 1976. It is often dashingly scenic, with a few episodes where the line flirts tantalisingly with the sea. The best comes at Hai Van (‘Ocean Cloud’) Pass, where the railway departs the imperial city of Hue, bound for a verdant headland. Rice paddies and villages segue to uninhabited terrain and sharp mountains, with little paradise beaches appearing coquettishly below the track. The pass ends when Danang Bay swings into view. Seat from US$11 (£9).

3. Norient Express, Norway

Best for: fjords
Route: Bergen to Trondheim
Journey time: six days

Despite Norway’s rail network being among the most celebrated in Europe, it’s never had a luxury service from which to watch the fjords and fells roll past. That’s set to change this autumn with the launch of the Norient Express, a deluxe daytime train where guests overnight at hotels near the line.

There’ll be a dapper bar with William Morris upholstery, comfy leather seats and interiors generally awash with mid-century Nordic design. Attractive though these may be, it’s more likely that passengers’ gaze will be fixed on the landscapes beyond the carriage: the train will travel the Bergensbanen railway across the snowbound landscapes of the Hardangervidda plateau, before striking north from Oslo skirting silvery lakes en route to Trondheim. Prices still to be announced.

4. Rovos Rail, Southern Africa

Best for: safari
Route: Cape Town to Dar es Salaam
Journey time: 15 days

The apex predator on African railways is Rovos Rail — a legendary luxury service that has been prowling the southern half of the continent since the late 1980s. Recent excursions have seen services cross the sand dunes of Namibia and the backcountry of Angola, but an enduring classic is the 15-night journey from South Africa’s Cape Town to Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam, passing through five countries en route.

It takes serious willpower for passengers to prize themselves away from the train — with plush armchairs in the lounge car, multi-course dinners in the dining car and compartments with smart upholstery and, in some cases, little bathtubs. But there are scheduled stops at game reserves, as well as a chance to disembark at the Zambia-Zimbabwe border and feel the spray of Victoria Falls, against your skin. The highlight comes on the last leg as the train travels the fabled Tazara line — a railway that slaloms through Tanzania’s Nyerere National Park. Here you need only glance up from your pillow to scan the horizon for the beasts of the African bush. Compartment from US$14,950 (£11,850) per person based on two sharing.

 

5. Ella to Kandy Line, Sri Lanka

Best for: local culture
Route: Kandy to Ella
Journey time: around 7h

There can be no better way to get from A to B in Sri Lanka’s central highlands than on this train. The British originally conceived the route and laid its foundations in the 1920s, gouging tunnels through mountains drenched in waterfalls and fording rivers and gorges with viaducts to transport both tea and people. Today, the original carriages are long gone, but the train remains a lifeline for locals journeying from Kandy into the hills, as well as a beloved day out for travellers. Cabins have a pleasingly lived-in feel; people dangle their arms out the windows and legs out the doors as the train helter-skelters past tea plantations, farming fields and elaborate rural temples, stopping at tiny candyfloss-coloured stations to pick up hawkers and the odd passenger. To take this ride from Kandy to the highland community of Ella is a window into Sri Lanka’s wild heart. Seat from LK1,300 (£3.50)

6. California Zephyr, US

Best for: history
Route: Chicago to Emeryville
Journey time: 52 hours

To take a journey on the California Zephyr is to flick through an anthology of American landscapes: the spirit-level flat plains of the Midwest, the snow-topped summits of the Rockies, the parched canyons and mesas of Utah, as well as the Californian foothills. But, just as importantly, Amtrak’s most hallowed route provides a window seat on American history, and an echo of the days when railroads blazed a trail into the Old West.

The westbound Zephyr departs Chicago Union Station — an obscenely grand neo-classical structure — on its journey to Emeryville, set beside San Francisco Bay. Though the Zephyr has existed in some form since 1949, its roots go deeper. Between central Nevada and Sacramento, the train takes the route of the transcontinental railroad that connected the eastern and western networks of the US in the 19th century, bounding the republic together. Disembark at Sacramento station to see a magnificent mural that commemorates the line’s creation. Impressions of the modern service will also stay with you: eating flat iron steaks in the dining car, striking up conversations in the observation area, gazing out at desertscapes under moonlight from your carriage. Seat from $150 (£118).

 

7. La Dolce Vita Orient Express, Italy

Best for: classic design
Route: Rome to Rome
Journey time: Two-three days

La Dolce Vita is a new luxury train with a difference. Rather than channelling the golden age of 1920s travel as its peers often do, the service takes its cue from the 1960s and 70s — with mirrored surfaces, mid-century light fittings and a whiff of a Federico Fellini production. It makes its debut this spring with itineraries panning up and down the Italian peninsula, one of the most cinematic being the one that links Rome, the Venetian lagoon and Portofino on the Ligurian coast. Compartment from €7,440 per person (£6,175), based on two sharing.

 

8. The Ghan, Australia

Best for: outback wilderness
Route: Adelaide to Darwin
Journey time: three days

Named after the Afghan Cameleers who set off into the Red Centre in the 19th century to help British colonisers map the continent, today’s Ghan has no trace of the hardship experienced by those explorers of old. Guests are cocooned in luxury as they speed from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the north. A tapestry of ecosystems unfurls on the journey: South Australian wine country turns to the dusty desert of Central Australia, which shades into tropical landscapes towards the Timor Sea. Passengers might spot the odd feral camel, likely a descendant of those brought 200 years ago. Compartment from A$2,590 per person (£1,320), based on two sharing.

9. Maharajas’ Express, India

Best for: food
Route: Delhi to Mumbai
Journey time: seven days

A number of aristocratic luxury trains trundle along Indian rails though most agree that the Maharajas’ Express is the most lavish of the lot. Its Indian Splendour route offers a tasting menu of the subcontinent — from the forts of Rajasthan to the cities of Maharashtra — and a miniscule on-board kitchen cherry picks big flavours from across the country, with regional thalis a particular speciality. Signature dishes also take their cue from royal banquets of old: expect biryanis, steamed keema and bharwa bhindi (stuffed okra). Compartment from US$7,750 per person (£6,125) based on two sharing.

10. Tohoku Shinkansen, Japan

Best for: speed
Route: Tokyo to Shin Aomori
Journey time: three hours

Japan was the birthplace of high-speed rail — a story that began in the 1960s with the unveiling of the first ‘bullet train’ and continues today, with a web of supersonic lines extending across the archipelago. The longest and most epic is the Tohoku Shinkansen, which shoots north from Tokyo bound for the volcanic landscapes and snowy forests of the Tohoku region. The downside of travelling at 200mph is that if you blink you risk missing the views — nonetheless, keep your eyes peeled for glimpses of Komine Castle at Shirakawa and the leafy streets of the city of Sendai, before you draw into the terminus at Shin Aomori. Seat from ¥17,470 (£88).

 

11. Heart of Wales Line, UK

Best for: slow travel
Route: Craven Arms (England) to Llanelli (Wales)
Journey time: 3h30m

The Heart of Wales Line is sometimes described as a railway line that time forgot — a sleepy, single-track artery that cuts diagonally across the centre of the country, clattering over castellated Victorian viaducts and through rustic stations where passengers must flag down services with a hopeful outstretched thumb. Railway aficionados ride it for its lo-fi charm — but holidaymakers, too, can use it to explore the quiet Cambrian hinterland at speeds rarely exceeding 30mph, alighting at quaint spa towns like Llandrindod Wells, discovering battle-scarred castles like those at Dinefwr and Llandovery or setting out on bracing walks in the uplands of Elenydd, where the treeless slopes brood over the rails. Seat from £18.

12. Cairo to Luxor, Egypt

Best for: the ancient world
Route: Cairo to Luxor
Journey time: 10 hours

The Nile is Egypt’s main highway — a green vein running through the desert — but it also has a little companion for much of its length. A railway line shadows the waterway from its delta at Alexandria down to the great dam at Aswan and is a fine way to get to grips with the ancient civilisations that once flourished along these riverbanks. Most visitors choose to travel on an overnight train southbound from Cairo — boarding in the city’s Ramses Station, then dozing off in a bunk as the train trundles into the gathering night. Rise early for river views before disembarking at ornate Luxor Railway Station, its facade proudly adorned with a golden eagle. The Valley of the Kings lies on the opposite shore. Berth from US$140 (£110).

13. Harz Narrow Gauge Railways, Germany

Best for: steam
Route: Wernigerode to Brocken
Journey time: one hour 40 minutes

According to legend, the Harz Mountains were a favoured gathering place for witches. These days, covens of trainspotters descend upon the largest narrow-gauge network in Germany, spellbound by the steam engines that huff and puff about these fairytale forests. There are a few routes to choose from, but the classic option begins at the market town of Wernigerode — itself looking like a setting for a Brothers Grimm tale — hauling up the gradients to the summit of the Brocken, the Harz’s highest peak. Once home to a Cold War-era listening station, the spot offers panoramic views. Seat from €37 (£31).

14. The Acela Express, US

Best for: US cities
Route: Boston to Washington
Journey time: six hours 30 minutes

The US lacks the network of intercity express trains found across Europe, but it does nonetheless have the Acela — a 150mph service that shuttles between five of the most magnificent metropolises on the eastern seaboard and serves as a useful way to get a little taste of each. Start with a clam chowder at the northern end in Boston, then disembark at New York’s Pennsylvania Station for a hot dog, before pushing south to reach Philadelphia’s magnificent art deco 30th Street Station, where cheesesteaks are close at hand. Baltimore provides a warm-up act for the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. Tickets have to be bought for individual legs on Acela, meaning you’d need to buy a fare from Boston to New York and another from New York to Philadelphia and so on to complete the journey. Seat from $130 (£100).

 

15. Golden Eagle, Central Asia

Best for: off the beaten track
Route: Almaty to Tashkent
Journey time: 14 days

For years, the Golden Eagle was the Trans-Siberian Express’s preeminent luxury train, but with Russia currently off limits to many travellers the eagle has flown the nest: the train has shuffled off to make other epic journeys elsewhere. One of the best of these is the itinerary from Almaty to Tashkent through five of the Central Asian Stans. Trains stop to see the Silk Road splendour of Bukhara and Samarkand in Uzbekistan, climb to the mountain-hemmed shores of Issyk-Kul lake in Kyrgyzstan and travel the little-travelled rails of Turkmenistan, bound for the hellish flaming pit of the Darvaza Gas Crater. Interiors are a splendid affair, with a baby grand piano tinkling away nightly in the lounge car. A long and ultra-luxurious journey comes, of course, with a substantial fare. Compartment from £20,595 per person based on two sharing.

 

 

16. Hiram Bingham, Peru

Best for: open-air jungle views
Route: Cusco to Machu Picchu
Journey time: 3h30m

The Hiram Bingham, a Belmond Train, transports passengers in luxury through the Sacred Valley of the Incas to the foothills of Machu Picchu on 47-mile journey that’s impossible by road. Departing in the morning from Poroy station in the southeastern district of Cusco in Peru, the train takes just under four hours to pass through farmland, harvested fields and mountains grooved with glaciers. On board, passengers can indulge in traditional Quechua cuisine — and a pisco sour or two — while enjoying live music and dancing or simply basking in the sun in the open-air observation car as the tracks wind off into the distance. From £477 one way.

17. El Chepe, Mexico

Best for: mountain traverses
Route: Creel to Los Mochis
Journey time: nine hours (El Chepe Express)

Central America is a part of the world sadly deficient in railways, but a rare and precious exception is the line officially known as the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacífico — known to most as El Chepe. It makes a wild, ear-popping traverse of the breezy heights of Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental mountains to reach the town of Los Mochis and the Pacific shore — on route, passing through 86 tunnels and clattering over 37 bridges, looping like a lasso about the arid cliffs of the Copper Canyon. The El Chepe Express is the tourist train; the local version is its cousin the El Chepe Regional, which follows the same route with more stops and — in the absence of roads — serves as a lifeline for the communities that inhabit this rugged territory. Seat from 2,887 MXN (£134).

 

18. Bernina Express, Switzerland

Best for: snowy Alpine landscapes
Route: Chur to Tirano
Journey time: four hours

Bumbling over a rather modest 76 miles, a ride on the Bernina Express may be short but it is filled with unrelenting drama — with the little scarlet trains burrowing through tunnels, swooping over stone bridges and traversing the great glacier-bound barrier of the Bernina Pass. It’s sublime year-round, but especially in the depths of winter, when drifts rise tall by the lineside and the Rhaetian Bahn carriages are at their cosiest. Setting out from the town of Chur, you’ll soon see icicles clinging to the tall arches of the Landwasser Viaduct. Skiers disembark at the midway point, St Moritz— home of the legendary Cresta Run skeleton course — but it’s south of this point that trains commence their own hair-raising twists and turns. A plough is sometimes on hand to clear the way to the highest point at frozen Lago Bianco — set at 7,329ft — before the tracks begin their switchbacking descent to the balmier climes of the Italian border, where snow segues to cypress and palm. Look out for the Brusio Spiral Viaduct on the last leg, where the line corkscrews in tight turns to lose elevation. Seat from CHF66 (£59).

19. Douro Line, Portugal

Best for: wine
Route: Porto to Pocinho
Journey time: three hours & 15 minutes

The Douro Line was first laid in the late 19th century to help transport sweet port wine from the Portuguese hinterland to the drinks cabinets of the world. These days, it’s passengers and not plonk that are transported along these rails, but nonetheless a ride along it uncorks some truly vintage landscapes, with rows of vines clinging to steep, almost fjord-like contours. The journey starts at Porto’s extraordinary São Bento station — every surface swathed in dreamy azulejos (blue-and-white ceramic tiles). Before long the train is in the Douro Valley proper, the current of its namesake river racing below. Some of the best wineries can be reached from Pinhao, two stops before the end. The station is decked out in azulejos depicting the grape harvest, and you’ll find a bottle shop by the platform.