There are trips where the journey is something to get through. A flight, a transfer, a few hours lost between the places you actually came to see.
And then there are trips where you find yourself hoping the journey takes a little longer.
You order another coffee because the mountains are still outside the window. You leave your phone in your cabin because someone has mentioned a particularly beautiful stretch ahead. Dinner becomes an occasion, not because you have somewhere to be afterward, but because you don’t.
This is what draws me to train travel. Not simply the nostalgia, although I am certainly susceptible to a beautiful carriage and a proper dining car. It is the chance to experience the space between destinations—to watch a country change rather than leave one city and suddenly appear in another.
Sometimes that means a private sleeping compartment and dressing for dinner. Sometimes it means a few extraordinary hours on a regular railway. The common thread is attention: to the landscape, to the meal, to the person beside you, to a part of the trip that might otherwise disappear.
Scotland, where the journey feels like a place to stay
I can think of few better invitations to slow down than leaving Edinburgh aboard the Royal Scotsman.
Belmond’s Highland journeys begin and end at Edinburgh Waverley, venturing into Scotland on itineraries that might include the west coast, country estates, gardens, or whisky distilleries. The train is both transport and a retreat to return to after a day outside: a private cabin, a dining table, an observation carriage with an open veranda.belmond+1
What appeals to me is the rhythm of it. A morning spent exploring, then the pleasure of coming back aboard. Another stretch of countryside from the window. A conversation that continues over a drink because nobody needs to drive anywhere.
The Royal Scotsman’s different journeys also give the experience a personal direction. A whisky enthusiast might choose the Scotch Malt Whisky Tour; someone whose curiosity runs toward kitchens and local ingredients might be drawn to a culinary departure such as A Taste of Scotland with Tom Kitchin. These are specific itineraries, not experiences promised on every journey—which is part of the reason to choose carefully rather than simply book “the Scottish train.”
But Scotland does not require a luxury sleeper to make the railway memorable.
The West Highland Line carries regular passenger trains from Glasgow through the Highlands toward Fort William and Mallaig. Lochs, moorland, mountains, and the Glenfinnan Viaduct provide the drama. It is a different kind of pleasure: less about the world inside the carriage, more about the one unfolding outside it.
I like that these two experiences can belong in the same conversation. One makes the train your country house for several nights. The other becomes the beautiful link between a city stay and time on Scotland’s western coast. Neither needs to be the lesser choice.
Across Europe, a change of scene you can actually watch
There is a particular satisfaction in crossing a border by train. The landscape has time to make sense of the transition.
On the Bernina Express, the journey from Chur to Tirano moves through Alpine scenery, past high lakes and glaciers, then descends toward Italy. The engineering becomes part of the spectacle: viaducts, curves, and the circular sweep at Brusio. This is a daytime journey of roughly four hours, but it has the visual range of something much longer.
For me, the appeal is not simply arriving in Italy. It is watching the approach.
Switzerland offers several versions of that pleasure, and I would choose between them according to the trip rather than try to collect them all. The Glacier Express links Zermatt and St. Moritz across a full day of Alpine scenery. The GoldenPass Express makes a shorter transition between Interlaken and Montreux, moving from the Bernese Oberland toward Lake Geneva.
Then there is the GoldenPass Belle Époque between Montreux and Zweisimmen, where heritage-style interiors bring a little of the old railway romance into an ordinary travel day. It is not a sleeper, and it does not need to be. Sometimes a few hours in a beautiful carriage are enough to change the feeling of an itinerary.
Farther north, Norway’s Bergen Railway offers another kind of crossing. Between Oslo and Bergen, the route passes forests and valleys before climbing into the more exposed landscapes of the Hardangervidda plateau. It is a scheduled intercity service with scenery that makes looking away feel like a small mistake.
And for those who want the occasion of an overnight journey, Paris to Venice aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express remains wonderfully persuasive: historic carriages, dinner, a night aboard, and arrival in Venice the following afternoon. Here, the anticipation of the destination shares the stage with the pleasure of being on the train.
I would not rush that journey into the middle of an overfilled itinerary. Paris before it and Venice afterward deserve room to breathe. The train should be a chapter between them, not an expensive comma.
Spain and Italy, where the table deserves its own window seat
My food-writer instincts become especially interested when a train journey offers a way into a region’s cooking—not simply an impressive meal served while moving.
Northern Spain is an excellent example. El Transcantábrico Gran Lujo travels between San Sebastián and Santiago de Compostela on a multiday itinerary through the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias, and Galicia, combining life aboard with meals and cultural excursions along the way.
That is a different proposition from racing between two famous cities. The route gives the places in between a place in the holiday.
Costa Verde Express offers another northern-Spain journey, connecting Bilbao and Santiago over six days and five nights, with accommodation, meals, and guided excursions included. Some sightseeing takes place by coach, so these are touring holidays built around a train rather than uninterrupted station-to-station rail rides.
I would be interested in both, but I would not treat them as interchangeable. The starting city, length, cabin experience, and daily itinerary all shape the trip. The right question is not only “Which train?” but “Which version of northern Spain do you want to spend time with?”
Italy brings a different mood.
La Dolce Vita Orient Express is separate from Belmond’s Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, with its own design language and collection of Italian journeys. Its published itineraries include a Gourmet Escape to Venice from Rome, alongside overnight routes and other culinary-focused departures.
The Rome-to-Venice option is especially appealing as a structure: two cities with completely different personalities, connected by a journey that makes dining part of the day rather than something squeezed around the transfer.
I like the idea of arriving at dinner—or at the next destination—already feeling that the holiday has happened that day.
In North America, give the daylight to the mountains
Not every memorable train journey needs a bed.
Rocky Mountaineer makes that distinction useful. On First Passage to the West, guests travel by daylight between Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies, with an overnight hotel stay in Kamloops. The route continues toward Banff or Lake Louise, depending on the itinerary, through landscapes that include Kicking Horse Canyon and the Spiral Tunnels.
This is a trip for people who want the scenery without wondering what they slept through.
It also creates a particularly satisfying framework for a larger holiday. Time in Vancouver first. Two days when the window becomes the day’s main occupation. Then a stay in the mountains, where the landscape you watched approach becomes the place you wake up.
Journey Through the Clouds follows a different route to Jasper, with river valleys, Pyramid Falls, and Mount Robson among its highlights. Choosing between the two is not simply a question of which train sounds more impressive. It begins with where you want to be when the rail journey ends.
That is how I like to think about these trips: the train and the stays on either side should belong to one another.
Australia, where distance becomes the experience
Australia asks something different of a rail journey. The scale is part of the point.
The Ghan connects Adelaide and Darwin through the country’s interior, with sleeper accommodation, dining, and off-train experiences built into the journey. Direction and departure matter because the itineraries and duration differ.
What attracts me is the opportunity to register the change between regions. On a map, the interior can become a large space crossed by a line. From a train, it becomes time: a morning, a meal, an afternoon spent watching, a stop that gives a name and context to somewhere you might otherwise fly over.
The Indian Pacific stretches across a different axis, linking Sydney and Perth via Adelaide and crossing the Nullarbor. It is a coast-to-coast journey of approximately 4,352 kilometers, with the train carrying much of the experience rather than merely connecting its highlights.
These are not journeys I would add casually because a client has a few spare days. They deserve to shape the itinerary. There is a difference between fitting a train into a trip and choosing a trip because you want to take that train.
New Zealand, in a day of changing landscapes
A shorter journey can still change your sense of a country.
The TranzAlpine travels between Christchurch and Greymouth, crossing the Canterbury Plains, river gorges, and the Southern Alps before reaching the West Coast. It is a daytime route, but the progression of landscapes gives it a clear beginning, middle, and end.
I find that especially appealing for a trip that might otherwise become a succession of drives. You can give the road—and the responsibility of watching it—to someone else for a while.
New Zealand’s other scenic routes tell different stories. The Coastal Pacific connects Christchurch and Picton beside the ocean and through vineyard country. The Northern Explorer links Auckland and Wellington through the North Island, with volcanic scenery, ravines, viaducts, and the Raurimu Spiral along the way.
The choice should follow the landscape you want to experience. Mountains, coast, or the volcanic heart of the North Island: each train can become the organizing thread of a different holiday.
Peru, where the approach belongs to the memory
Machu Picchu is often discussed as an arrival. I would give more attention to the approach.
Belmond’s Hiram Bingham travels to Aguas Calientes, the town below the citadel, with departure arrangements that can involve Poroy near Cusco or stations in the Sacred Valley. The experience includes Peruvian dining, live music, and an observatory carriage; the transfer from Aguas Calientes toward the citadel is a separate part of the journey included in the ticket arrangements.
That distinction matters, but it need not interrupt the romance of it. The train is not delivering you directly onto the terraces of Machu Picchu. It is giving you time to anticipate them.
The Hiram Bingham’s dining also makes the journey feel rooted in Peru. Its menus include ingredients and dishes such as corn ceviche, grilled trout, rocoto, and lúcuma, while the Observatory Bar Car serves reimagined Peruvian cocktails. Exact menus change, but the intention is more interesting than a generic luxury meal.
I would want time in Cusco and the Sacred Valley around it—not simply a flight, a hurried transfer, and a photograph.
For a longer rail experience, the Andean Explorer travels from Cusco through Puno and Lake Titicaca to Arequipa on its two-night Peruvian Highlands itinerary. Sleeper cabins, dining, an observation carriage, and excursions create a very different relationship with the highlands.
There is also the daytime PeruRail Titicaca between Cusco and Puno, with dining, music, and an observation bar car. It offers an alternative for travelers who want the landscape by rail but prefer their hotel nights on land. Current operating arrangements need checking before booking because the operator has published notices of temporary bus-and-train substitutions following track damage.
These journeys should not be grouped together simply as “the Peru train.” One builds anticipation for Machu Picchu. Another makes the highlands the journey itself. The right choice depends on which part of the country you want to give your time to.
Southern Africa, with somewhere extraordinary beyond the station
Rovos Rail offers another reason to think beyond the train.
Its Cape Town journey connects the city with Pretoria over three nights, creating a rail chapter between time in the Cape and onward travel in northern South Africa.
The Victoria Falls journey continues the idea in another direction: Pretoria to Victoria Falls on a three- or four-night itinerary, with wildlife experiences along the way. The longer itinerary includes additional sightseeing, and the precise routing can vary with railway conditions and capacity.
What appeals to me is the possibility of a trip with several distinct rhythms. A city stay. Life aboard a sleeper. Time beside the falls or in the bush. The train does not replace those experiences; it changes how you move between them.
Japan, where a few hours can be enough
I would also leave room for a journey that does not require several nights, a special wardrobe, or making the train the center of the entire trip.
The Saphir Odoriko connects Tokyo with Izukyū-Shimoda on the Izu Peninsula in roughly two and a half hours. It is a premium daytime service with ocean views, Green Car seating, a Premium Green category, private compartments, and onboard dining facilities.
For me, this is an especially useful expression of train travel: a beautiful way to move from the intensity of a city toward a slower coastal stay.
It does not need to compete with a luxury sleeper. It serves a different purpose. Sometimes the best journey is the one that fits so naturally into the holiday that you cannot imagine having traveled any other way.
Build the trip around the journey
I love a remarkable hotel. I love arriving somewhere with enough time to settle in, learn its rhythms, and find a few places I will still be thinking about months later.
But I do not want every meaningful moment of a trip to begin after check-in.
A train journey can give the hours between destinations their own place in the story. It can be grand and theatrical, quiet and scenic, an entire holiday aboard or simply the most memorable afternoon of a week away.
The right one is not necessarily the longest, the most expensive, or the most famous. It is the one that makes sense of the places around it—and makes you glad you took the time to travel between them.
The train is only one chapter. The hotel you settle into before departure, the dinner worth arriving a day early for, the places you linger afterward—that is where we make the journey yours.
Whether you’re dreaming of the Scottish Highlands, the Peruvian Andes, or a beautiful few hours between two cities, I’ll help you choose the right route and build a thoughtful itinerary around it.
Let’s plan a trip worth taking the long way for. Get in touch to start planning.
