Making Tracks: Unforgettable Train Journeys

By Amanda Woods

The luxury of slow travel isn’t the only indulgence worth embracing on these incredible train journeys.

From steam trains in the Great Smoky Mountains to bullet trains across Japan, my travel memories are full of great times on the tracks. While all trains share the slow travel joys of watching the scenery change, some elevate the experience to be a luxury holiday in themselves. Ready to hop on board? Consider these outstanding journeys.

THE CANADIAN

The glass starts at my elbows and continues to the centre of the ceiling, and as I sip bubbles and gaze up at the Rocky Mountains in the Panorama dome car, I feel a travel dream coming true. It takes four nights for The Canadian train to travel 4,466 kilometres from Vancouver to Toronto. By the time I’ve watched the mountains give way to prairies then back to forests, I’m even more in love with this big, beautiful country. And when I share a drink with a woman who has completed The Canadian journey 55 times, I raise a Caesar cocktail to a train lover after my own heart.

THE CANADIAN TRAIN ZIGZAGGING THROUGH MAGNIFICENT LANDSCAPES

© VIA RAIL

THE BELMOND VENICE SIMPLON-ORIENT-EXPRESS

Nowhere has the romance of rail travel swept me off my feet more than on this luxury time capsule. Dining in stunning restaurant cars from the 1920s with beautiful Lalique glass panels and exquisite marquetry leads to pinch-me moments, and I love travelling on the vintage carriages that inspired Agatha Christie’s great novel after spending ten days stuck in a snowdrift in 1929. While the original sleeper car layouts are too compact for some, I happily embrace the smaller space and toilets at the end of the hall to travel in authentic style. Here, dressing for dinner is an occasion, and when a fellow guest laughs and says, “I feel like a princess!” I couldn’t agree more.

LUXURY CABIN SUITE ONBOARD THE BELMOND VENICE SIMPLON-ORIENT-EXPRESS

© BELMOND / HELEN CATHCART

THE BELMOND ROYAL SCOTSMAN

“It’s like a Scottish country house party on the rails for six days.” When our train host explains the Belmond Royal Scotsman experience on our first day, we smile. By that evening, we can see what he means. Up to 40 guests travel through the Scottish Highlands in 10 vintage-inspired cars, visiting castles, hiking valleys, crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct (known as the Harry Potter Bridge) and more. The bar car has more than 60 Scotch whiskies to try, along with free-flowing champagne and other tipples, and for an unforgettable indulgence, you can be pampered in the spa car. My first massage on a swaying bed to the live soundtrack of a train is so incredible I immediately book another. Heaven.

A PIPER WELCOMING YOU ABOARD THE BELMOND ROYAL SCOTSMA

© BELMOND

THE INDIAN PACIFIC

Over four days and three nights, the Indian Pacific travels 4,532 kilometres across Australia. As we leave Sydney for Perth, I watch familiar scenery slowly give way to the outback. And as the red earth outside my window stretches to the horizon, I feel a meditative calm. The Indian Pacific uses the same carriages as another train journey I love, The Ghan, which covers 2,979 kilometres from Darwin to Adelaide. While the stops along the way and where you dine under outback stars may be different, the train experience — including enjoying saltwater barramundi in the Art Deco-style Queen Adelaide restaurant car — remains the same.

THE INDIAN PACIFIC CROSSING THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK

© JBRE / ANDREW GREGORY