Some countries are best read through a train window.
Which side of the Bernina carriage the lake is on. What the Kuranda railway costs once the cableway is added. Whether the Gatimaan gets you to Agra and back in a day. Reviews of the rail trips you can actually book, line by line.
Departures
- 01Italy to SwitzerlandLake Como Cruise, St. Moritz & Bernina Red TrainLake Como by boat, then the red train over the Bernina pass.$159
13 hours - 02Queensland, AustraliaSelf-Guided Kuranda Trip with Train and SkyrailRainforest by rail one way, cableway back over the canopy.$127
7 hours - 03Delhi to Agra, IndiaTaj Mahal & Agra Tour by Gatimaan Express TrainThe Gatimaan out at dawn, the Taj by mid-morning, home for dinner.$13
7 hours - 1 day - 04Bergen, NorwayViking Village, Nærøyfjord Cruise & Flåm RailwayThe Flåm line down to the fjord, with the boat back up it.$418
10h 30m - 05Fort William, ScotlandJacobite Steam Train and Highlands TourSteam over the Glenfinnan viaduct on the West Highland line.$268
12.5 hours
Three ways the Alps put you above the snowline without a hire car.
More of this range is reachable by rail than by road, and the good ones run all year. Pick the kind of day first, then the departure city.
Six countries that reward a rail ticket over a rental car.
Narrow gauge over Swiss passes, sleepers across India, a rainforest line out of Cairns, cogwheels above Barcelona. Six places to start, and the ride that defines each one.
The rides people book the trip around.
Gorges, passes and coastlines where the track was laid for the engineering and kept for the view. These are the three most booked on the site.
The eight rail trips more travellers take than any other.
Every rail review on the site →Demand on this corpus is lopsided, and it points at the same handful of lines every month. Here is what the crowd is riding, and what each ticket buys.
1
Mt Fuji & Hakone Cruise, Drum Show Bullet Train 1 Day from Tokyo
Spend nearly 12 hours linking Mt Fuji and Hakone by coach, boat, ropeway, and Shinkansen. Visit Fuji’s 5th Station, cruise Lake Ashi, see Hakone Shrine Mototsumiya, and watch a traditional wadaiko drum performance. Guides such as Joy, Miko, Shige, and Heroaki have been praised for clear commentary and hands-on help.
From · $149
Read our review →
2
Montserrat & Cogwheel Train, Gourmet Wine Tasting & Tapas/Lunch
from $81
3
Lake Como Cruise, St. Moritz & Bernina Red Train
from $159
4
Tokyo Mt Fuji 5th St & Hakone Cruise Bus Tour w/Bullet Train
from $154
5
Bernina Train and St. Moritz Day Trip
from $122
6
Christ the Redeemer Entry Ticket by Corcovado Train
from $45
7
Ronda+Setenil de las Bodegas with Little Train
from $34
8
Mallorca: Island Tour with Boat, Tram & Train from the South
from $117
The 300km/h question: arrive early, or make the train the day out?
High-speed rail turns Rome to Pompeii or Delhi to Agra into a day trip and gives you nothing to look at. The slow lines give you the whole afternoon and a reason to sit still. Both are on the site, priced.
Compare the fast lines →
What a day on the rails actually costs, from a tram ticket up.
Every trip on the site, grouped by what it costs per head. Plenty of the best rides come in under the price of an airport transfer.
Little town trains, funicular returns, museum entries and the short hill lines.
The full-day standards: Bernina from Milan, Kuranda from Cairns, the Jacobite from Fort William.
Private carriages, multi-day passes and the sleepers that cross a country overnight.
Three things that only happen where there is track.
Cable cars climb and boats cruise. Cogwheels biting a toothed rail, a pedal trolley on an abandoned branch line, and a market that packs itself away eight times a day belong to the railway alone.
Cog and Rack Railways
Ordinary wheels slip above about one in fourteen. A cog railway drops a toothed gear into a third rail cut like a saw blade and hauls itself up gradients twice that steep, slowly and very loudly. Montserrat, Pilatus and the Kalavryta line all work this way, and the ride up is half the reason to go.
- 1Montserrat & Cogwheel Train, Gourmet Wine Tasting & Tapas/Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 6,290 reviews
- 2Montserrat with Cog-Wheel Train & Black Madonna Priority Access★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 3,400 reviews
- 3Day Trip to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,378 reviews
Rail Bikes
When a branch line closes the track often stays, and somebody bolts a four-seat pedal trolley to it. You get the railway alignment, the cuttings and the bridges at walking pace, with nothing behind you. Korea, France and Slovenia all run them on former freight lines.
- 1Nami Island, K-drama Garden & Rail Bike Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 724 reviews
- 2Day Trip to Nami Island with Rail bike and The Garden of Morning Calm★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 459 reviews
- 3Nami+Alpaca+Garden of Morning Calm (+Rail Bike Option)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 300 reviews
Railway Markets
At Maeklong the stalls are built over the running line. A horn sounds, awnings fold back, baskets slide clear of the rail, and a train squeezes through with inches to spare. Then it all comes back out. It is a working market, not a show, which is why the timing matters.
- 1Day Trip to Bangkok Floating Market & Maeklong Railway★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,528 reviews
- 2Maeklong Railway & Amphawa Floating Market Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 675 reviews
- 3Maeklong Railway and Floating Market Food Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 224 reviews
Four rail trips that will not wait for you to land.
Most of this site can be arranged the night before. These run on seat reservations, seasonal timetables and permit quotas that do not care when your flight gets in.
- 01Lake Como Cruise, St. Moritz & Bernina Red TrainThe panorama carriages carry a compulsory seat reservation and a fixed quota. In summer they are gone weeks out.
- 02Machu Picchu 2-Day Inca Trail with Panoramic TrainTrain seats to Aguas Calientes are capped and sold against a dated entry permit. The permit goes first.
- 03Jacobite Steam Train and Highlands TourOne steam set, two departures a day, and a season that closes in late autumn. It sells out earlier than anything else here.
- 04Viking Village, Nærøyfjord Cruise & Flåm RailwayThe fjord boat and the railway run to one connecting timetable, and the winter service is a fraction of the summer one.
The sleeper still beats the budget flight on three counts.
A berth from Cairo to Aswan or Hanoi to Sapa costs less than a hotel night, carries you while you are asleep and drops you in the middle of town rather than an hour outside it. What you give up is a shower and any chance of a quiet coach.
- 12-Day 2-Night Sapa Tour by Overnight Trainfrom $168
- 2Sapa: 3-Day, 3-Night Trek and Hotel with Overnight Trainfrom $212
- 3Sapa Hill Tribes 2-Day Tour by Overnight Trainfrom $199
Heritage steam runs to a weekend timetable, not a daily one.
Volunteer lines fire up on set days, usually weekends and school holidays, and half of them shut for winter. Check the operating calendar before the flights, because a preserved railway with a cold engine is a car park with a gift shop.
- 1Puffing Billy Railway: Heritage Steam Train Journeyfrom $29
- 2Jacobite Steam Train and Highlands Tourfrom $268
- 3Magical Highlands Tour with Jacobite Trainfrom $80
Six rides worth crossing the world to sit on.
Flåm
Kandy to Ella
Cusco to Aguas Calientes
West HighlandThe newest rail trips on the site.
More recent arrivals →
Ljubljana Castle: Time Machine Guided Tour + funicular
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West of Belgrade: Woodentown, Šargan 8 train & Drina River
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Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station to Hotels:Private with Meet & Great service
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Private Mutianyu Great Wall Tour with Bullet Train Experience
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Private Day Tour: Suzhou Incredible Highlights from Shanghai by Car or Train
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Shore Excursion: Private Walking Tour with Funicular
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2 Day Tour of Yala & Ella with Hill Country Scenic Train Ride – All Inclusive
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Sa Pa Trekking 2 Days 3 Nights Homestay by Night Train
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Skip the Line: Historic RailPark and Train Museum Ticket with Guided Tour
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Sarajevo: Visegrad, Sarkan Eight Railway & Kurstendorf Tour
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