Train travel is the only form of long-distance transport that puts you inside the landscape rather than above it. The view from a train window has a pace and a proximity that flying cannot approach, and the great train journeys of the world are designed specifically to exploit this: routes chosen for their scenery, alignments that follow river valleys and mountain contours rather than the straight lines of roads.
These are the journeys worth building a trip around.
The Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia
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The Trans-Siberian is the longest railway in the world, running 9289 kilometres from Moscow to Vladivostok across eight time zones. The journey takes approximately seven days non-stop, though most travellers break it into segments. The landscape changes from the forests of the Ural Mountains to the steppes of western Siberia to the forests of eastern Siberia and finally to the Pacific coast, and the Russia visible from the train is one that no other form of travel accesses.
The section from Irkutsk to Vladivostok, passing Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake in the world, is the most dramatic. The Mongolian branch, the Trans-Mongolian, diverts through Ulaanbaatar and Beijing and adds a crossing of the Gobi Desert to the experience.
The Glacier Express, Switzerland
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The Glacier Express between Zermatt and St Moritz crosses 291 bridges, passes through 91 tunnels, and reaches a maximum altitude of 2033 metres on the Oberalp Pass. The journey takes eight hours and the entire route is scenically extraordinary: the Matterhorn visible in the first hour, the Rhine Gorge in the middle section, and the Engadine Valley in the final approach to St Moritz.
The train runs year-round and the winter version, with snow on the mountains and frozen rivers visible from the panoramic windows, is the most spectacular. Book well in advance for summer travel. The dining car serves a set lunch menu that includes wine from the regions the train passes through.
The Coastal Route Bergen to Stavanger, Norway
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The journey from Bergen to Stavanger combines trains, ferries, and local buses through the Norwegian fjord country and can be done in a day with careful planning. The train from Bergen to Voss follows the Sognefjord tributary through a valley so steep that the engineering required to keep the tracks on the mountain is visible from the windows. The ferry sections from Gudvangen through Naeroyfjord and across the Hardangerfjord provide the fjord experience from sea level.
This route is the journey equivalent of the Norway in a Nutshell tourist package, done independently at a fraction of the cost and with the flexibility to stop wherever the view demands it.
The Douro Line, Portugal
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The Douro Valley train from Porto to Pocinho follows the Douro River for most of its 175-kilometre length through the port wine country of northeastern Portugal. The river bends through the terraced vineyards and the track hugs the cliff face above the water, occasionally disappearing into tunnels cut through rock that overhangs the line. In September during the harvest, the smell of fermenting grapes comes through the train windows.
This is one of Europe’s most beautiful railway journeys and one of its least known internationally. The line is slow, the trains are local rather than tourist-oriented, and the journey takes about three hours. Take it one way and return by road to see the valley from a different angle.
