Great train journeys of the world

Go Explore: If you believe it is the journey rather than the arrival that matters, nothing beats the train. After all, hop on a flight and you could be going anywhere. Settle back in a railway carriage, however,  and your voyage unfolds outside your window the moment yoyu leave the station. Sandra O'Connellchooses 10 magnificent trips

1 St Moritz to Zermatt on the Glacier ExpressA trip on Switzerland's Glacier Express, whose route takes you through two Unesco World Heritage regions, is perhaps the most visually stunning train journey you can make. Travelling between the upmarket resorts of St Moritz and Zermatt, the seven and a half hour journey takes you over 291 bridges, through 91 tunnels and across the spectacular 2,000m Oberalp Pass. Glass-roofed viewing carriages and audio-commentary headsets make sure you miss nothing. Combine it with an overnight stay at Kulmhotel Gornergrat, Switzerland's highest hotel, and you'll get views over 29 peaks plus the purest air imaginable. (Doubles cost €224 in high season, which is between now and mid April.) A first-class Glacier Express ticket costs €147. Or save yourself a few quid and go second class, at €88. Either way, the scenery's top notch.

glacierexpress.ch

2 Delhi to Delhi on the Palace on WheelsAlthough launched only in 1982, India's Palace on Wheels harks back to a golden age of travel of more than a century ago. Using carriages designed for maharajahs, it's the last word in luxury travel. Best described as a cruise on rail, the week-long package begins and ends in the city of New Delhi, taking in some of Rajasthan's best-known sights along its loop. These include the pink city of Jaipur, where an air-conditioned coach whisks you off the iron horse and up to the Palace of the Winds and the Amber Fort before once again changing mount, this time for a caparisoned elephant. And so it goes for eight days, taking in the desert delights of Jaisalmer, the walled city of Jodhpur, the fort at Chittaurgarh and the lake city of Udaipur. Wildlife stops include the tiger territories of Ranthambhore National Park and the bird sanctuary at Keoladeo Ghana, before reaching the Taj Mahal. The eight-day journey costs about €300 per night, based on two sharing. Under-12s are half price; under-fives go free. The price includes all meals, sightseeing tours and entry fees. As this train has grown in popularity, and is now booked up well in advance, a sister train, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, also operates on the route.

indianrailways.gov.in

3 Moscow to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian ExpressArguably the world's greatest rail journey, the mighty Trans-Siberian Railway runs from Moscow over the Urals, across the Steppes and alongside Lake Baikal, Asia's largest freshwater lake (and the world's deepest). By the time the train pulls into Vladivostok it will have travelled 10,000km through eight time zones – a third of the way round the world. Not a trip you'd want to take on any old diesel, which is why the Golden Eagle, which makes the journey in a leisurely two weeks, is the only option. Stops include Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk – the "Paris of Siberia" – and Ulan-Ude, capital of Buryatia, a Russian republic you never even knew existed. There is just time for a quick detour into Ulan Bator, Mongolia's capital, before finishing in Vladivostok. The cost of the 14-day journey in a Gold Class cabin (with power showers and heated floors) is €5,695, based on two sharing.

gwtravel.co.uk

4 Edinburgh to Oxford on the Royal ScotsmanThe G in GB could easily stand for gorgeous, which is why a seven-day meander through our nearest neighbour could be just the ticket. The small but perfectly formed Royal Scotsman carries just 36 passengers, so it's an intimate option largely fuelled by afternoon tea, with much of the activity taking place in the genteelly furnished observation carriage. Starting in Edinburgh and heading north to Inverness, you'll visit nearby estates, for clay-pigeon shooting and wildlife walks, plus distilleries and woollen mills, before heading south past Lake District National Park. A walking tour of Chester, plus a drinks reception in its cathedral, and then it's on to Wales, to visit Portmeirion and Conwy Castle, passing Snowdonia National Park. A guided trot through Bath, a visit to Oxford and dinner at Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons are all included before you get back on board to zip through Cambridge, York and Scarborough on the run back to Edinburgh. The total cost for two sharing is €8,900.

royalscotsman.com

5 Cape Town to Cairo with Rovos RailEpic is too small a word for this journey. One month, an entire continent and no worries about where the next five-star meal is coming from. Once a year South Africa's Rovos Rail stages this cross-continental spectacular, broken only by the occasional aeroplane transfer to exotic locations. The four-week sojourn takes in everything from the diamond mines at Kimberley to the Victoria Falls, cruises on the Zambezi, game drives across the Serengeti and hikes up Kilimanjaro. Moving up the map, it includes a visit to Jinja, in Uganda, source of the Nile, as well as a cruise on Lake Nasser, visits to the Abu Simbel temples and on to Aswan, Luxor and the Valley of the Kings. Finish with a tour of the Pyramids and you'll be like a walking National Geographic. The 28-day tour costs €21,082 per person sharing.

rovos.com Continued overleaf

6 Salta to La Polvorilla by EcotrenKnown locally as the Train to the Clouds, this Little Engine that Could climbs to a height of 4,200m above sea level in remote northwest Argentina. This isn't a long journey – it's a 434km round trip in 15 hours – but it is spectacular, getting its impact from the mountain scenery along the way – and from matchstick-style bridges and viaducts that make you feel as if the train is flying. Look down and you'll see clouds below. So high are you, in fact, that the train has a medical car to help people affected by altitude sickness. The Tren a las Nubes leaves Salta at 7am three times a week, stopping to allow passengers to buy local crafts and souvenirs or just to soak up the heady mix of a region that borders Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay. Tickets, which cost €120, include breakfast and an afternoon snack.

ecotren.com

7 London to Istanbul on the Danube ExpressAnyone planning to visit Istanbul, this year's European Capital of Culture, will be hard pushed to find a more comfortable way to get there than aboard the Danube Express. Its Istanbul Loop gives you the option of going all the way by rail from St Pancras International station, in London, using the Danube Express for the Budapest-Istanbul leg. En route, pass through Transylvania, the Carpathian Mountains and rural Bulgaria. When you get to Istanbul you use the train as a stationary hotel before heading back to Budapest, this time taking in Sofia and Novi Sad, in Serbia. The 10-day fully escorted Istanbul Loop trip costs €5,000, including return flights from London to Budapest. Or make your own way there and join the seven-day Danube Express leg for €4,206.

danube-express.com

8 London to Venice on the Orient-ExpressThe benchmark for luxury train travel, a trip aboard the Venice-Simplon Orient-Express is like stepping through an art-deco looking glass, one where Agatha Christie is always just moving out of view. You might feel a bit silly dressing for dinner on a train, but it's best to enter the spirit of the thing, particularly as the journey is only one night long. To spread the break out a little, Orient- Express has a four-day, three-night deal from London to Venice starting at €2,310. It departs on a Thursday (on a British Pullman: you don't get to the Orient-Express proper until you reach France) and includes a night on the train plus the joy of waking in your blue-and-gold carriage somewhere in the Swiss Alps. Stay two nights at the uberposh Gritti Palace, then brace yourself for a Ryanair flight home.

orient-express.com

9 Hong Kong to Tibet on the Shangri-La ExpressThis 17-day train package departs Hong Kong for Guangzhou, taking in the beauty of Guilin, with its karst formations, and a cruise on the River Li. Other highlights include Yunnan Stone Forest, the Golden Temple at Kunming and on, over passes and precarious-seeming bridges, to Chengdu, home of the giant panda. There's a three-night Yangtze cruise through the Three Gorges, as well as a coach tour to Xian and the Terracotta Warriors. Back on board and it's time for a 14-hour journey along the new Roof of the World line to Lhasa in Tibet, cresting the 5,000m Tanggula Pass. If the thought makes you dizzy, rest assured that oxygen is pumped through the carriages and that oxygen masks are also available. The tour costs €9,095 per person, based on two sharing.

classictraintravel.com

10 Adelaide to Darwin on the GhanAustralia isn't a country so much as a continent, and with so much of it empty it's hard not to feel like a pioneer as soon as you leave the city. In this case the fertile surrounds of Adelaide give way to the fiery heart of the Red Centre and, eventually, the tropical splendour of what Aussies call the Top End. Covering 3,000km in just two days, the Ghan offers plenty of opportunities to stop along the way, for whistle-stop tours of such places as Alice Springs and Uluru (aka Ayers Rock). Options include everything from coach and walking tours to quad bikes and helicopter rides. Tickets start at €455 for a sleeper and run all the way up to €10,800 for a private carriage.

gsr.com.au