Scenic train routes of the world
258 routes · 52 countries · ≈ 51,000 km of routes
Open the world railway map →These are the lines you ride for the window seat: rack railways over alpine passes, corniches pinned between cliff and sea, desert crossings and jungle switchbacks. Every scenic route in the World Train Map atlas is listed here by country, each with its distance, duration, operator and the story that earned it a place.
Argentina
- Tren a las Nubes
“Train to the Clouds”: zigzags and spirals up the Andes to the La Polvorilla viaduct at 4,220 m.
Wikipedia ↗ - Tren de las Sierras
Revived in 2007, this 1889 line climbs the Punilla valley past Lake San Roque, carrying refurbished ex-Portuguese railcars up into the Sierras de Córdoba.
Wikipedia ↗ - Tren Solar de la Quebrada
Lithium-battery railcars charged by a solar farm glide through the UNESCO-listed Quebrada de Humahuaca to Tilcara: the first solar-powered train in the Americas.
Wikipedia ↗
Australia
- Kuranda Scenic Railway
Navvies hand-carved 15 tunnels and 37 bridges up Barron Gorge in the 1880s; trains still pause at the falls’ lookout above the rainforest.
Wikipedia ↗ - The Gulflander
“From nowhere to nowhere” once a week: the 1891 Gulf line’s hollow steel sleepers shrug off every wet-season flood; the old railmotor just keeps going.
Wikipedia ↗ - Blue Mountains Line
Climbs from near sea level to 1,017 m at Katoomba through a UNESCO-listed maze of sandstone cliffs and eucalypt canyons.
Wikipedia ↗
Austria
- Semmeringbahn
The world’s first true mountain railway (1854) and a UNESCO site: 16 viaducts built before the age of dynamite.
Wikipedia ↗ - Mariazellerbahn
Opened in 1907 and electrified with its own rare 6.5 kV 25 Hz current in 1911, Austria’s grandest narrow-gauge line crests at 892 m in the Gösing Tunnel.
Wikipedia ↗ - REX 92 Wiener Neustadt–Fehring
Planned in 1873 as the Vienna to Thessaloniki railway and killed by the crash that spring, then built in pieces anyway and joined up only in 1910. Wiener Neustadt over the Wechsel to Fehring.
- Rudolfsbahn
Through the Gesäuse on the old Kronprinz Rudolf line, Amstetten to Selzthal in two hours and five by Waidhofen and Hieflau. One train on Saturdays and two on Sundays; on weekdays you change.
Wikipedia ↗ - Carinthian Line
Over the border at Holmec and down the Drava through the old ironworks valleys, Prevalje, Ravne and Dravograd, on a single track built between 1857 and 1863 to carry Carinthian steel out to the world.
- Mühlkreisbahn
Out of Linz on the north bank of the Danube and up into the Mühlviertel towards the Bohemian border, an hour and a half on a branch opened in November 1900.
- Gleichenberger Bahn
Twenty one kilometres of Styrian light railway from the spa at Bad Gleichenberg down to the main line at Feldbach, opened in the presence of the President of Austria in June 1931.
- Pinzgauer Lokalbahn
A 760 mm-gauge valley line follows the Salzach past Hohe Tauern peaks to Krimml, ending beneath Austria’s highest waterfall.
Wikipedia ↗ - Zillertalbahn
A working 760 mm-gauge valley railway that still runs steam trains alongside its half-hourly regular service to Mayrhofen.
Wikipedia ↗ - Tauern Railway
Franz Joseph’s 1909 crossing of the Hohe Tauern: stone viaducts up the Gastein spa valley to an 8.4 km tunnel at 1,226 m.
Wikipedia ↗ - Salzkammergutbahn
Austria’s lake district by rail: from Attnang-Puchheim along the Traunsee past the imperial spa of Bad Ischl to the shore opposite Hallstatt, the picture-postcard village mirrored in its emerald lake.
Wikipedia ↗ - Murtalbahn
Austria’s second-longest narrow gauge (1894) follows the young Mur 64 km from Unzmarkt to Tamsweg: 70 km/h diesels on weekdays, steam specials all summer.
Wikipedia ↗ - Pyhrn railway
Climbs from Linz over the Pyhrn Pass to Selzthal, tying the Westbahn to the Enns valley through the northern limestone Alps.
Wikipedia ↗ - Donauuferbahn
Mauthausen to Grein opened on 4 July 1898 and the state line on through the Strudengau in 1909; trains now turn at St. Nikola-Struden, where the rest of the Danube line was given up in 2019.
Wikipedia ↗
Belgium
- Kusttram
The world’s longest tram line: 67 km of metre-gauge track hugging the entire Belgian coast from De Panne to Knokke, calling at 68 stops.
Wikipedia ↗ - Line 166 (Athus–Meuse)
Up the Meuse and over the Ardennes from Dinant to Bertrix: passenger trains on the Athus–Meuse freight road between Antwerp and Basel.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗
Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Sarajevo–Ploče line
Threads the plunging Neretva canyon between the Prenj and Čvrsnica massifs, then follows the river down to the Adriatic at Ploče through 106 tunnels.
Wikipedia ↗
Brazil
- Serra Verde Express
Down the Serra do Mar through Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest: an 1885 line of viaducts pinned to green cliffs.
Wikipedia (PT) ↗ - Bonde de Santa Teresa
Latin America’s oldest electric tramway (1896) rattles across the Carioca Aqueduct’s arches and up Santa Teresa’s cobbled lanes high above downtown Rio.
Wikipedia ↗
Bulgaria
- Rhodope Narrow-Gauge
Bulgaria’s last 760 mm line threads 35 tunnels up to Avramovo, the highest railway station in the Balkans at 1,267 m.
Wikipedia ↗ - Sofia–Vidin
Up the Iskar gorge, which is the reason to take it: the river cuts a canyon north out of Sofia through Svoge and Lakatnik to Mezdra, then Vratsa and the plain to the Danube at Vidin.
Canada
- Skeena
Two daylight days from the Rockies to the Pacific. Mount Robson, totem-pole country at Hazelton and the Skeena’s misty canyons, overnighting in Prince George.
Wikipedia ↗ - Agawa Canyon Tour Train
A 10-hour day trip 114 miles north into a wilderness canyon whose blazing autumn colours inspired Canada’s Group of Seven painters.
Wikipedia ↗ - Train de Charlevoix
Runs 140 km wedged between Laurentian cliffs and the St. Lawrence, at times just metres from the tide.
Wikipedia ↗
Chile
- Buscarril Talca–Constitución
Chile’s last country branch line, a National Monument: a little railbus picks its way up the Maule river gorge to vineyards and hamlets no road reaches.
Wikipedia ↗
China
- Qinghai–Tibet Railway
The roof-of-the-world railway: 5,072 m over the Tanggula Pass on permafrost, with oxygen piped to every seat.
Wikipedia ↗ - Lhasa–Nyingchi Railway
Oxygen-fed Fuxings trace the Yarlung Tsangpo at 3,500 m, crossing the great river 16 times between Lhasa and the peach orchards of Nyingchi.
Wikipedia ↗ - Lhasa–Shigatse Railway
A high-altitude spur off the Qinghai–Tibet line, tunnelling through the mountains to trace the Yarlung Tsangpo canyon to Tibet’s second city.
Wikipedia ↗ - Dali–Lijiang Railway
Climbs from Dali’s Erhai Lake toward the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the old town of Lijiang, nearly all on bridges and through tunnels.
Wikipedia ↗ - Hotan–Ruoqiang Railway
The 2022 desert line that closed the world’s first rail loop around a sand sea: 825 km along the Taklamakan’s southern rim on viaducts built to let the dunes blow through.
Wikipedia ↗
Croatia
- ICN Zagreb–Split
Tilting railcars lean through the bare karst of the Lika plateau below Velebit, then swoop down to the palm-fringed Adriatic at Split.
Wikipedia ↗ - Istrian Line
The length of Istria at a walking pace, Pula to Buzet in two and a half hours through the red earth and the karst, on the state railway Austria opened to its naval port in September 1876.
Czechia
- R16 Praha–Železná Ruda
Prague to the edge of the Bohemian Forest, ending at a station shared with Bavaria across the border; the 1877 climb to it bored the Špičák tunnel, longest in the Czech lands for 130 years.
- Šumava Railway
The Šumava forest railway: out of Budějovice, past Český Krumlov’s castle bend, along Lake Lipno and up into the Bohemian Forest at Volary.
Wikipedia (CS) ↗ - Posázavský Pacifik
Prague’s “Pacific”, the tramps’ weekend railway of the 1920s: ledges above the Vltava and Sázava canyons and the 41 m Žampach viaduct on the way to Čerčany.
Wikipedia (CS) ↗ - Číčenice–Nové Údolí railway
Prachatice was reached in 1893, Volary in 1899 and the Bavarian border in 1910; through trains to Passau stopped in 1951 and the rails past Nové Údolí are now pushed by hand.
Wikipedia ↗
France
- Train Jaune
The canary-yellow metre gauge of the Pyrenees: open-air cars over the Séjourné and Gisclard bridges to France’s highest station at 1,593 m.
Wikipedia ↗ - Le Cévenol
Down the Allier gorges on viaducts stacked over a river with no road: the Massif Central crossing the TGV era forgot, kept alive by sheer beauty.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Ligne des Hirondelles
36 tunnels and 18 viaducts swooping like its namesake swallows through the high Jura: stacked stone arches right above the rooftops of Morez.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Train des Pignes
Metre-gauge “pine-cone train” climbing 151 km from Nice to Digne over some 25 tunnels and 16 viaducts, inaugurated in 1911.
Wikipedia ↗ - Train des Merveilles
Spirals up the wild Roya valley past the Bronze-Age rock carvings of the Vallée des Merveilles, looping through helicoidal tunnels to Tende at 1,040 m.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Mont-Blanc Express
A metre-gauge mountain line under Mont Blanc, using third-rail power and a rack section to climb the Chamonix valley from Saint-Gervais into Switzerland.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Chemins de fer de la Corse
Corsica’s beloved “U Trinichellu” crosses the island’s granite spine, piercing the 3.9 km Vizzavona tunnel at 906 m altitude.
Wikipedia ↗ - Marseille–Briançon
The Durance valley all the way up: Aix, Sisteron’s citadel, Gap, Embrun above the lake, and the highest town in France at the buffer stops.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Ligne des Pyrénées
Four daily trains climb past Foix’s castle and Ax-les-Thermes to Latour-de-Carol, where three different rail gauges meet.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Train de l’Aubrac
One daily train across the empty heart of France: over Garabit’s red Eiffel viaduct, the Truyère gorges and the Causses down to the Med. Six hours, change at Neussargues.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Bastia–Calvi
The Trinighellu’s Balagne arm: inland from Bastia to Ponte-Leccia, then down to a beach-hugging crawl from Île-Rousse to Calvi’s citadel.
Wikipedia ↗ - Le Train Rouge
France’s longest tourist railway: 60 km from Rivesaltes’ vineyards into the Fenouillèdes gorges beneath the Cathar castles of Quéribus and Puilaurens.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Ligne de la Côte Bleue
An everyday TER on a corniche of 23 tunnels and 18 viaducts: calanque after calanque between L’Estaque and Martigues for a few euros.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Mouchard–Bourg-en-Bresse railway
Part of the Mulhouse–Besançon–Lyon route: a demanding northern section of climbs and falls through the Jura before it runs out onto the Bresse plain.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Perpignan–Villefranche line
Up the Têt from the Mediterranean at Perpignan into the Pyrenean foothills, ending where the metre-gauge Train Jaune takes over at Villefranche.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Colmar–Metzeral line
Alsace's valley branch of 1868, from Colmar and its vineyards up the Fecht into the high Vosges at Metzeral.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Lutterbach–Kruth line
Up the Thur valley from Mulhouse through Thann to Kruth in the high Vosges, worked by SNCF trains and the Mulhouse tram-train together.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗ - Pau–Bedous railway
From Pau by Oloron-Sainte-Marie up the Aspe valley into the Pyrenees to Bedous, the first stretch of the old line to Canfranc and Spain; trains reached Bedous in 1914, stopped in 1980 and came back on 26 June 2016.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bayonne–Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port railway
Up the Nive valley from Bayonne by Cambo-les-Bains into the Basque hills to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, where pilgrims set out over the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles; the last stretch, from Ossès, opened on 11 December 1898.
Wikipedia ↗ - Givet–Charleville railway
Up the Meuse through the Ardennes from Givet, at the tip of the French salient into Belgium, by Fumay, Revin and Nouzonville to Charleville-Mézières; the line reached Givet on 28 April 1862.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗
Germany
- Rhine Valley Line
Castle after castle past the Lorelei rock: the left bank of the Rhine is one long UNESCO postcard.
Wikipedia ↗ - Schwarzwaldbahn
Robert Gerwig’s 1873 blueprint for mountain railways climbs about 650 m through 39 tunnels and two sweeping double loops high above Triberg.
Wikipedia ↗ - Brockenbahn
Metre-gauge steam still storms year-round to the 1,141 m Brocken. Goethe’s witches’ mountain, sealed off as a Soviet listening post until 1989.
Wikipedia ↗ - Höllentalbahn
Germany’s steepest main line climbs Hell’s Valley at 55 ‰: through the Hirschsprung gorge and over the Ravenna viaduct into the high Black Forest.
Wikipedia ↗ - Moselstrecke
Follows the wine-terraced Moselle past Cochem, crossing the river on the historic two-tier Alf–Bullay bridge below Germany’s steepest vineyards.
Wikipedia ↗ - Molli
A rare 900 mm-gauge steam line running since 1886, Molli puffs right down the middle of Bad Doberan’s tree-lined avenue on its way to the Baltic shore.
Wikipedia ↗ - Rasender Roland
Nicknamed the Racing Roland, this 750 mm-gauge steam railway has linked Rügen’s white-sand Baltic resorts of Binz, Sellin and Göhren since 1895.
Wikipedia ↗ - Eifelbahn
Rebuilt after the 2021 flood tore it out: Cologne into the volcanic Eifel over Gerolstein’s crags and down the Kyll gorge to Trier.
Wikipedia ↗ - Selketalbahn (Harz Narrow Gauge)
Metre-gauge Mallet steam locomotives still double-head trains out of Alexisbad on this Harz valley line, opened for timber and ore in 1887.
Wikipedia ↗ - Wuppertal Schwebebahn
The world’s oldest electric suspension railway, hanging from a steel frame above the Wupper river since 1901, a monorail that never stopped commuting.
Wikipedia ↗ - Mittenwaldbahn
Munich to the Tyrol over the Karwendel: the electrified 1912 Mittenwaldbahn climbs from Garmisch through Alpine meadows and horseshoe curves to the Seefeld saddle before dropping into Innsbruck.
Wikipedia ↗ - Harzquerbahn
HSB’s metre-gauge trunk across the Harz: 2-10-2 tank engines storm out of Nordhausen up the Zorge valley to Drei Annen Hohne, the junction where the Brocken steam begins.
Wikipedia ↗ - Borkumer Kleinbahn
Timed to the tide: Borkum’s 900 mm railway (1888) meets every ferry at the Reede pier and rolls 7 km along the dike into the North Sea island’s town.
Wikipedia ↗ - Wangerooger Inselbahn
Deutsche Bahn’s only narrow gauge: the tide writes the timetable as diesels haul ferry passengers across the salt marsh from Westanleger pier to car-free Wangerooge village.
Wikipedia ↗ - Kochelsee Railway
Bavarian lakes branch of 1865: from Tutzing on the Starnberger See south to the Kochelsee under the first peaks of the Alps.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ammersee Railway
The Ammerseebahn, single track from Mering near Augsburg past Geltendorf and the Ammersee to Weilheim under the Bavarian Alps.
Wikipedia ↗ - Haller Willem
The Haller Willem climbs the Teutoburg Forest on a gradient built in 1886; the tunnel that would have eased it was left out to save money.
Wikipedia ↗ - Lauter Valley Railway
The Lautertalbahn follows its river out of Kaiserslautern to Lauterecken, a branch the Bundesbahn planned to close in the 1980s and never did.
Wikipedia ↗ - Marktoberdorf–Füssen railway
The Allgäu branch to Füssen, opened by a private local railway in 1889 and now the train that delivers visitors below Neuschwanstein.
Wikipedia ↗ - RB 55 Munich–Bayrischzell
The Bayerische Regiobahn from Munich by Holzkirchen to the shore of the Schliersee and up the Leitzach valley under the Wendelstein to Bayrischzell; the last stretch, from Fischbachau, opened on 1 October 1911.
Wikipedia (DE) ↗
Greece
- Palaiofarsalos–Kalambaka
The branch to the monasteries in the sky: from the junction at Palaiofarsalos across the Thessalian plain to Kalambaka, beneath the sandstone pillars of Meteora. Storm Daniel damaged the line in September 2023, and until it is repaired buses replace the trains from Palaiofarsalos.
Wikipedia ↗ - Katakolo–Olympia Train
Greece’s first provincial railway (1882–83) reborn as a cruise shuttle: a metre-gauge railcar links Katakolo’s quay with the sanctuary of Ancient Olympia.
Wikipedia (EL) ↗
Hungary
- Győr–Veszprém railway
The Bakonyvasút: a slow single track that leaves the Győr–Szentgotthárd line and climbs through the wooded Bakony hills to Veszprém.
Wikipedia (HU) ↗ - Kék Hullám
The Kék Hullám (Blue Wave) IC along Balaton’s vineyard-clad north shore: Balatonfüred, the basalt hills of Badacsony, then inland to Tapolca.
India
- Darjeeling Toy Train
A two-foot-gauge UNESCO marvel looping up to 2,200 m: steam engines older than the tea gardens they pass.
Wikipedia ↗ - Kalka–Shimla Railway
102 tunnels and 864 bridges to the Raj’s summer capital: a UNESCO line where the guard still waves flags.
Wikipedia ↗ - Konkan Railway
Monsoon country: 2,000 bridges and 91 tunnels down the palm-fringed cliffs of India’s west coast, the full run from Mumbai to Mangalore.
Wikipedia ↗ - Matheran Hill Railway
A 1907 two-foot-gauge toy train corkscrewing 21 km up to a car-free hill station: 281 curves, the “One Kiss Tunnel”, and monkeys pacing the carriages.
Wikipedia ↗ - Vande Bharat Express
Crosses the Chenab Rail Bridge: 359 m above the river, the world’s highest railway arch bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower.
Wikipedia ↗ - Kangra Valley Railway
The world’s longest 2 ft 6 in narrow-gauge line, curling 164 km below the snow-capped Dhauladhar range on nearly 1,000 bridges.
Wikipedia ↗ - Araku Vistadome
India’s first Vistadome coach (2017) climbs the Eastern Ghats to Shimiliguda, long the country’s highest broad-gauge station at 996 m.
Wikipedia ↗
Indonesia
- Argo Wilis
The great trans-Java day train: curving around the Lebakjero horseshoe under Priangan’s volcanoes, then along the southern rice plains to Surabaya.
Wikipedia ↗
Iran
- Trans-Iranian Railway
The UNESCO-listed 1938 masterpiece paid for by taxes on tea and sugar: night trains spiral down the Zagros through a maze of tunnels to the Gulf plain.
Wikipedia ↗
Ireland
- Dublin–Rosslare
DART territory then the wild bit: Killiney bay, Wicklow’s cliff ledge above the sea, Wexford’s quays, and the Europort at the end.
Wikipedia ↗
Italy
- Centovalli Railway
Fifty-two km, 83 bridges and 31 tunnels between Piedmont and Ticino: chestnut forests, waterfalls and stone villages a hundred valleys deep.
Wikipedia ↗ - Cinque Terre Express
Village-hopping between tunnels where Liguria’s cliffs meet the sea. Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore in half an hour.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Valsugana Line
Out of Trento past the vineyards, along Lake Caldonazzo and down the gorge of the Brenta to the foot of Monte Grappa, twenty three stops in a bit over two hours on a line begun in 1896.
- Ferrovia Circumetnea
A 950 mm narrow-gauge line almost encircling Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, crossing black lava fields around Bronte and Randazzo.
Wikipedia ↗ - Trenino Verde
At 159 km the longest tourist railway in Italy, this narrow-gauge line climbs to 868 m through the wild Ogliastra mountains to the sea at Arbatax.
Wikipedia ↗ - Rittner Bahn
A metre-gauge survivor of a 1907 rack railway, its vintage tramcars glide across the sunny Renon plateau above Bolzano, the Dolomites on the horizon.
Wikipedia ↗ - Circumvesuviana
The narrow-gauge line to Sorrento, opened in 1948, carries travellers past the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum under the shadow of Vesuvius.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ferrovia delle Meraviglie
The “Railway of Wonders” spirals up the Alps through helical tunnels and viaducts into France; wrecked in WWII, it reopened only in 1979.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Vinschgau Railway
Closed to passengers in 1990, this South Tyrol branch reopened in 2005 as a rural-rail success story and went fully electric in 2026.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ionian Coast Line
Sicily’s east coast end to end: out of Messina along the Ionian shore below Taormina, past Etna at Giarre and Acireale into Catania, then the salt flats and Augusta’s bay to Siracusa. Complete.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Genoa–Casella Railway
A metre-gauge mountain tram that climbs straight out of central Genoa over three Apennine valleys to the village of Casella, sea views at its back.
Wikipedia ↗ - Pustertalbahn
Follows the Puster Valley below the Dolomites from the Brenner line at Fortezza past Bruneck and the Three Peaks, crossing into Austria at Innichen to run on to Lienz in East Tyrol.
Wikipedia ↗ - Milano–Tirano
Lake Como’s eastern shore from the train window: Varenna, then the vineyard terraces of the Valtellina to Tirano, where the Bernina Express waits.
Wikipedia (IT) ↗ - Treno di Dante
Vintage Centoporte coaches link Dante’s Florence with his tomb in Ravenna over the Apennine Faentina line, joined by new direct Sunday trains since July 2026.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ferrovia Trento–Malè–Mezzana
A metre-gauge electric line out of Trento: through the Rocchetta gorge into apple-carpeted Val di Non and Val di Sole, ending at Mezzana beneath the Brenta Dolomites.
Wikipedia ↗ - Brescia–Iseo–Edolo railway
Runs the length of Lake Iseo and up the Valcamonica to Edolo under the Adamello: standard gauge, single track, unelectrified, built in stages from 1885.
Wikipedia ↗ - Siena–Grosseto railway
Southern Tuscany at walking pace: 100 km through the Crete Senesi and the Maremma from Siena down to Grosseto, open since 1864.
Wikipedia ↗
Japan
- Tadami Line
Reopened in 2022 after 11 years of flood repairs; drifts over the mist-wreathed Tadami River bridges through Japan’s deepest snow country.
Wikipedia ↗ - Kurobe Gorge Railway
Dam-builders’ narrow-gauge torokko clinging to Japan’s deepest gorge: the full line to Keyakidaira returns in October 2026 after the Noto quake.
Wikipedia ↗ - Hakone Tozan Railway
Japan’s oldest mountain railway hauls itself up 1-in-12.5 grades through three switchbacks, hydrangeas brush the windows each June.
Wikipedia ↗ - Resort Shirakami
A rapid that idles on purpose: shamisen players aboard, the Sea of Japan breaking at Senjojiki, and UNESCO’s Shirakami beech forests behind the dunes.
Wikipedia ↗ - Yufuin no Mori
Forest-green parlour cars with a buffet of Kyushu treats: over the Mino passes and along the Kusu valley to the boutique onsen town under Mount Yufu.
Wikipedia ↗ - Saphir Odoriko
All-Green-Car luxury down the Izu coast: nose windows, a fresh noodle bar, and Sagami Bay filling the glass roof beyond Atami’s tunnels.
Wikipedia ↗ - Limited Express Hida
Hybrid HC85s shadow the jade-green Hida River for hours of gorge: riverside onsen at Gero, morning markets at Takayama, then down to Toyama Bay.
Wikipedia ↗ - Marumaru no Hanashi
A KiHa 47 dawdling along the San’in coast between Shimonoseki and Hagi, timed so the Sea of Japan fills the windows. Back running after 2025’s storm damage.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Enoden
Century-old seaside interurban that skims Shonan’s surf beaches and brushes past house walls; its Kamakurakokomae crossing is an anime shrine.
Wikipedia ↗ - Isumi Railway
Restored 1960s diesel railcars trundle past rice paddies and spring nanohana blossoms through the rural heart of the Boso Peninsula.
Wikipedia ↗ - Shimakaze
Kintetsu’s luxury Shimakaze (double-decker observation cars, leather saloons and a café) glides to the pearl bays and shrines of Ise-Shima.
Wikipedia ↗ - Fujisan View Express
Steep little Fujikyu line to Lake Kawaguchi, its wide panorama windows framing Mt Fuji rising straight ahead.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ibusuki no Tamatebako
Split black-and-white treasure box train that puffs a cloud of mist from its doors, rounding Kinko Bay to the hot-sand baths of Ibusuki.
Wikipedia ↗ - Aso Boy!
Family sightseeing express with a panorama cab and play areas, zig-zagging the Tateno switchback into the vast Mt Aso caldera.
Wikipedia ↗ - Watarase Keikoku Railway
Open-sided torokko trolleys wind up the Watarase gorge on the old Ashio copper-mine line, ablaze with wisteria and autumn maple.
Wikipedia ↗ - Sanriku Railway Rias Line
Japan’s longest third-sector railway follows 163 km of tsunami-rebuilt coast; the final gap closed in 2019, eight years after the 2011 wave.
Wikipedia ↗ - Limited Express Kuroshio
Around the Kii Peninsula with the Pacific at the window: Shirahama’s sands, Honshu’s southernmost cape and the Kumano pilgrim coast.
Wikipedia ↗ - Limited Express Nanpu
Across the Great Seto Bridge, then up the Yoshino river’s Oboke and Koboke gorges, tilting over the island spine to Kochi.
Wikipedia ↗ - TOHOKU EMOTION
A restaurant on rails (open kitchen car, chef’s courses at every seat) rolling the Sanriku surf from Hachinohe to Kuji along the Tanesashi coast.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Tama Densha
Eiji Mitooka’s white train painted with 101 cartoon Tamas trundles to Kishi, where calico stationmaster Tama famously saved the line; a cat shrine now guards the platform.
Wikipedia ↗ - Setsugekka
Crimson-and-silver resort train with Japan’s largest train windows, serving regional courses on a slow sweep from Mt Myoko’s snow country to the Sea of Japan at Itoigawa.
Wikipedia ↗ - Iyonada Monogatari
A retro maroon-and-gold diner idling along the Iyonada shore: brunch above the waves and a pause at Shimonada, Japan’s most photographed seaside platform.
Wikipedia ↗ - Kairi
Kairi means “sea and village”: a hybrid diner serving Niigata and Shonai delicacies while threading the Sasagawa-nagare, 11 km of wave-gnawed rocks on the Uetsu coast.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - GRAN Tenku
Nankai’s deep-red 2026 flagship runs through from Namba’s neon to Gokurakubashi, grinding up 50‰ cedar slopes to the cable car for sacred Koyasan, with a lounge and bar aboard.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Umisachi-Yamasachi
Obi-cedar railcars named for the sea-luck, mountain-luck myth skim the Nichinan palm coast past Aoshima’s Devil’s Washboard reefs to the fishing port of Nango.
Wikipedia ↗ - A-Train (Amakusa)
A jazz-soundtracked bar on rails (dark wood, stained glass, “A-Highball” in hand) swinging along the Ariake tidal flats from Kumamoto to the Amakusa ferry at Misumi.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - HIGH RAIL 1375
Grinds to 1,375 m at JR’s highest rail point below Yatsugatake: observatory seats by day, a stargazing dome and astronomer-guided night runs under the Milky Way.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - etSETOra
etSETOra drifts the Kure Line’s island-studded Seto shore with Hiroshima patissiers’ sweets courses and a sake bar. Since 2025 it runs clear through to Fukuyama.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Koshino Shu*Kura
A sake brewery on wheels (Niigata tasting bar, live jazz, a long pause on the sea cliff at Aoumigawa) winding via Nagaoka into snow-country Tokamachi.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Belles montagnes et mer
“Beautiful mountains and sea”: an emerald art-gallery railcar where a sushi chef works the counter as Amaharashi bay frames 3,000-metre Tateyama across the water.
Wikipedia ↗ - Blue Symphony
Navy-and-gold Blue Symphony glides from Osaka Abenobashi to holy Yoshino, the UNESCO cherry mountain, with a lounge bar, cake sets and armchairs in a reborn commuter train.
Wikipedia ↗ - Tosa Toki no Yoake no Monogatari
Ryoma-themed “dawn of a new era” train pairs Tosa seafood with Pacific panoramas above Susaki and Tosa-Kure bays, locals waving it through tea fields to Kubokawa.
Wikipedia ↗ - Hanayome Noren
A rolling Kaga bridal curtain: vermilion-and-black cars finished in Wajima-lacquer motifs and gold leaf, serving Ishikawa sweets en route to Wakura Onsen’s seaside baths.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Rokumon
Rokumon wears the Sanada clan’s six-coin crest in deep crimson, serving kaiseki under Mt Asama on the old Shinetsu main line from Karuizawa down to Zenko-ji’s Nagano.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗ - Ametsuchi
Lapis-blue Ametsuchi (“heaven and earth”, from the Kojiki’s opening line) roams the San’in coast’s breakers past Mt Daisen and Lake Shinji from Tottori to Izumo.
Wikipedia (JA) ↗
Kenya
- Nanyuki Safari Train
Crosses the equator on its final approach to Nanyuki, where Mount Kenya’s 5,199 m massif fills the carriage windows.
Wikipedia ↗
Kyrgyzstan
- Issyk-Kul Summer Train
A summer-weekend crawl up the Boom Gorge to Issyk-Kul, the world’s second-largest alpine lake: panoramic cars bolted on for the mountain walls.
Luxembourg
- Intercity
A cross-border Intercity through the wooded Éislek and the Ourthe and Amblève valleys, one of the prettiest rail rides in the Ardennes.
Madagascar
- Fianarantsoa–Côte Est (FCE)
Madagascar’s rainforest lifeline: 67 bridges and 48 tunnels down a 1,100 m escarpment past waterfalls; villages survive by loading bananas and coffee onto the train.
Wikipedia ↗ - Trans Lémurie Express
Reopened in December 2023 after ~30 years shut by cyclone damage, its rosewood-trimmed cars climb through the highlands to the spa town of Antsirabe.
Wikipedia (FR) ↗
Malaysia
- Jungle Railway
The nicknamed Jungle Railway crosses Malaysia’s rainforested interior past Taman Negara, from Gemas up to Tumpat near the Thai border.
Wikipedia ↗ - Sabah State Railway
Borneo’s only railway, opened to Tenom in 1905: a metre-gauge survivor that squeezes through the roaring Padas Gorge on its jungle climb inland.
Wikipedia ↗
Mexico
- El Chepe
Sea level to 2,400 m through Copper Canyon: 37 bridges and 86 tunnels in country deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Wikipedia ↗ - José Cuervo Express
Pours tequila and stages mariachi as it rolls through UNESCO-listed blue-agave fields to the spirit’s namesake town, Tequila.
Wikipedia (ES) ↗
Myanmar
- Mandalay–Lashio
The Shan hill line crawls up from Mandalay to inch across the Gokteik viaduct: a 1900 American-built steel trestle 100 m above the gorge.
Wikipedia ↗
New Zealand
- TranzAlpine
Coast to coast across the Southern Alps: the Waimakariri gorges, Arthur’s Pass and the 8.5 km Otira Tunnel in one morning.
Wikipedia ↗ - Northern Explorer
Volcano country: the Raurimu Spiral climbs to Tongariro’s plateau, Ruapehu steaming beyond the glass.
Wikipedia ↗ - Coastal Pacific
Pinched between the Kaikōura ranges and Pacific surf past fur-seal colonies, on a line the 2016 quake lifted bodily out of the sea.
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Norway
- Bergensbanen
Northern Europe’s highest main line: over the bare Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237 m, through 182 tunnels.
Wikipedia ↗ - Flåmsbana
One of the steepest adhesion railways on Earth: 864 m down to the fjord in 20 km, waterfalls at the window.
Wikipedia ↗ - Dovrebanen
Over the Dovrefjell plateau where wild musk oxen roam: mountain birch, snow fences and midnight sun.
Wikipedia ↗ - Nordlandsbanen
Norway’s longest railway: 729 km of fjordside, forest and bare Saltfjellet plateau, and the country’s only line across the Arctic Circle.
Wikipedia ↗ - Rauma Line
Corkscrews down Romsdalen past the 1,100 m Trollveggen, Europe’s tallest vertical cliff, via the Stavem spiral tunnel and stone Kylling Bridge.
Wikipedia ↗ - Rørosbanen
The original 1877 inland route to Trondheim: diesel country through Østerdalen’s forests to Røros, the UNESCO copper town still timber-built and soot-dark.
Wikipedia ↗
Peru
- Cusco–Machu Picchu
Down the Sacred Valley of the Incas beside the Urubamba rapids: the rails are the only road to Machu Picchu.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ferrocarril Central Andino
A handful of departures a year over the 4,783 m Galera tunnel: zigzags, 58 bridges and oxygen on tap aboard Earth’s second-highest railway.
Wikipedia ↗ - PeruRail Titicaca
Ten leisurely hours across the altiplano from Cusco to Lake Titicaca: white-linen lunch and an open observation car over the 4,319 m La Raya pass.
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Poland
- Kraków–Zakopane
Climbs from Kraków into the Tatra Mountains on the rebuilt line to Zakopane, Poland’s highest town and winter-sports capital.
- Silesian Mountain Railway
The 1867 Silesian Mountain Railway: through Wałbrzych’s coal valleys and Jelenia Góra, climbing to nearly 700 m at Szklarska Poręba under the Karkonosze.
Wikipedia ↗ - Katowice–Zwardoń railway
Out of the Silesian coalfield into the Beskids: Katowice through Tychy and Bielsko-Biała to Żywiec and the Slovak border at Zwardoń, a line completed piece by piece to 1912.
Portugal
- Linha do Douro
Clings to the Douro’s waterline for some 100 km on ledges blasted out in the 1880s, passing UNESCO-listed port-wine terraces at Régua and Pinhão.
Wikipedia ↗ - Linha do Vouga
Portugal’s last surviving metre-gauge line still carries commuters, and a vintage wooden-carriage special every summer Saturday.
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Romania
- Oravița–Anina Railway
The “Banat Semmering” of 1863. Romania’s first mountain railway spirals through 14 tunnels and over 10 viaducts up the Aninei gorges, a masterwork of Habsburg engineering.
Wikipedia (RO) ↗ - Brașov–Zărnești railway
A Transylvanian branch across the Burzenland from Brașov to Zărnești, under the limestone wall of the Piatra Craiului.
Wikipedia (RO) ↗
Russia
- Circum-Baikal Express
The Tsar’s ‘golden buckle’: 38 tunnels blasted into cliffs a step above Baikal’s water, once the Trans-Siberian’s costliest link, now a slow shoreline excursion.
Wikipedia ↗
Serbia
- Belgrade–Bar Railway
254 tunnels, 435 bridges and the vertigo-inducing Mala Rijeka viaduct. Yugoslavia’s engineering swan song.
Wikipedia ↗
Slovakia
- Tatra Electric Railway (TEŽ)
Metre-gauge electric cars climb to the High Tatra resort of Štrbské Pleso at 1,320 m, Slovakia’s highest railway station.
Wikipedia ↗ - Zvolen–Vrútky railway
Slovak line 170 through the mountains north of Zvolen: the Banská Bystrica–Dolná Štubňa section alone, built 1936–40, has 22 tunnels totalling 12.2 km.
Wikipedia (SK) ↗ - Margecany–Červená Skala railway
Single track through the Slovak Ore Mountains and along the south-east flank of the Low Tatras, climbing to the spiral and viaduct at Telgárt.
Wikipedia (SK) ↗ - Zvolen–Košice railway
The southern trans-Slovak line: three hours through the karst country via Lučenec, Plešivec and Rožňava beneath medieval mining towns.
Slovenia
- Bohinj Railway
Habsburg Transalpina of 1906: the 6.3 km Bohinj tunnel, the emerald Soča, and Solkan’s 85 m arch, the world’s longest stone rail span.
Wikipedia ↗
South Africa
- Southern Line
From Muizenberg the rails run on a False Bay sea wall so close to the surf that winter swells spray the carriage windows at Kalk Bay.
Wikipedia ↗
South Korea
- Baekdudaegan Canyon Train
White-and-crimson canyon cars crawl the upper Nakdong gorge at 30 km/h: stove-warmed in winter, windows flung open over rapids no road reaches.
Wikipedia ↗ - DMZ Peace Train
Tourist train relaunched in 2026, running to Dorasan: the last station on the line before North Korea, at the fenced edge of the DMZ.
Wikipedia ↗ - S-train (Namdo Ocean)
Since September 2025 the S-train sweeps the whole south coast from Busan to Mokpo, crossing the brand-new Boseong–Imseongri line past tea fields and tidal bays.
Wikipedia ↗ - A-train (Jeongseon Arirang)
The Arirang-themed A-train leaves the Jungang main line at Jecheon and threads the Jeongseon canyon to Auraji, where two mountain torrents meet.
Wikipedia ↗ - G-train (West Gold)
The West Gold train ambles down the Janghang line’s tidal-flat coast, foot baths steaming on board, with Daecheon beach and the Geum estuary out the window.
Wikipedia ↗
Spain
- Tren dels Llacs
A heritage “train of the lakes” climbing beside the Noguera Pallaresa past reservoirs and tunnels to the Pyrenean foothills.
Wikipedia ↗ - Zaragoza–València (via Teruel)
The emptiest main line in Spain: five hours via Teruel, a provincial capital with no direct Madrid train, through ochre gorges to the Mediterranean.
Wikipedia (ES) ↗ - El Canfranero
Reopened in June 2025 after two years of works, the line climbs to Europe’s grandest abandoned border station, shut since a 1970 bridge collapse.
Wikipedia (ES) ↗ - R11 Costa Brava Line
Regional trains skirt Costa Brava cliffs near the French border before Portbou, terminus of the line completed in 1878.
Wikipedia ↗ - Mr Henderson’s Railway
Up the Serranía de Ronda from Gibraltar bay: the British-built 1892 line that is Mr Henderson’s railway proper, Algeciras to the Bobadilla plain, ending today at Antequera Santa Ana’s high-speed interchange.
Wikipedia ↗ - Rodalies R3
Climbs from Barcelona to 1,494 m at Toses, the roof of the Spanish network, to meet the Yellow Train across the platform at Latour-de-Carol.
Wikipedia ↗ - Media Distancia R-3f
Three metre-gauge trains a day still thread all 119 km of the 1898 Santander–Bilbao railway, winding through green Basque and Cantabrian valleys.
Wikipedia ↗ - Media Distancia R-1f
Europe’s longest narrow-gauge ride: two trains a day take seven hours to weave around Galicia’s rias and along the Asturian cliffs from Ferrol to Oviedo.
Wikipedia (ES) ↗ - Xàtiva–Alcoi railway
Iberian-gauge single track opened in 1904, climbing 64 km of viaducts and tunnels from the Xàtiva plain into the mountains at Alcoi.
Wikipedia (ES) ↗ - Málaga–Sevilla
The slow way between Andalucía’s two great cities: up the Guadalhorce past El Chorro’s gorge, beneath the Caminito del Rey walkway, then across the campiña by Osuna and Marchena.
Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka Main Line
Through tea country over the Nine Arches Bridge: many call Kandy to Ella the world’s most beautiful ride.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ruhunu Kumari
Sri Lanka’s first intercity express (1955), so close to the Indian Ocean between Colombo and Galle that spray from the breakers reaches the footboards.
Wikipedia ↗
Sweden
- Inlandsbanan
Two summer days up Sweden’s green spine: moose at the window and a trackside stop at the Arctic Circle, where everyone piles out for photographs.
Wikipedia ↗ - Roslagsbanan
Sweden’s last commercial narrow-gauge railway (891 mm), still running through Stockholm’s leafy northern suburbs out to rural Kårsta.
Wikipedia ↗ - Fryksdal Line
Single track, no wires, up the Fryken lakes of Värmland from Kil to Torsby: railcars for people, timber and pulpwood for the mills.
Wikipedia ↗
Switzerland
- Glacier Express
“The world’s slowest express”: 291 bridges, 91 tunnels and the 2,033 m Oberalp Pass at an average of 36 km/h.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bernina Express
A UNESCO World Heritage railway: 7 % grades with no rack, the Brusio spiral, and the highest rail crossing of the Alps at 2,253 m.
Wikipedia ↗ - GoldenPass Line
Lake Geneva’s riviera to Lucerne over the Brünig Pass, on two trains: the gauge-changing GPX to Interlaken Ost, then zb’s Luzern–Interlaken Express.
Wikipedia ↗ - Chur–Arosa Line
Seventy curves and the record-setting 1914 Langwieser Viaduct carry hourly trains from Chur up into the ski resort of Arosa.
Wikipedia ↗ - Arlberg Railway
Eight hours Zurich to Vienna on Austria’s only east–west mountain mainline: the Trisanna gorge, Wiesberg Castle and a 1,310 m summit in the 10.2 km Arlberg tunnel.
Wikipedia ↗ - Lötschberger
The 1913 mountain line the base tunnel made optional. Felsenburg spirals, a 14.6 km summit tunnel, then the Bietschtal bridge on a ledge above the Rhône.
Wikipedia ↗ - Voralpen-Express
Hourly cross-country trains link the abbey city of St. Gallen with lakeside Lucerne across the pre-Alps, taking in the Wattwil moorland, the Rapperswil lake dam and the Rothenthurm high bog.
Wikipedia ↗ - Gotthard Panorama Express
A paddle steamer up Lake Lucerne, then the 1882 Gotthard line’s spirals and the Wassen church seen thrice. Summer only, once daily, seat surcharge.
Wikipedia ↗ - Albula Railway
The UNESCO Albula line spirals through helical tunnels and sweeps over the six-arch Landwasser Viaduct, a curved stone bridge running straight into a cliff, on its climb to St. Moritz.
Wikipedia ↗ - Treno Gottardo
The everyday Gotthard panorama train: hourly IRs over the 1882 mountain line’s spiral tunnels, no surcharge, from Basel or Zürich to Locarno’s palms.
Wikipedia ↗ - EC Transalpin
One train, one panorama car, half the Alps: Zurich to Graz over the Arlberg, past Zell am See, the Ennstal and the Gesäuse gates. The day-long EuroCity people ride for the window.
Wikipedia ↗ - Berner Oberland-Bahn
Jungfrau gateway since 1890: from Interlaken Ost the BOB splits at Zweilütschinen. One arm goes to Lauterbrunnen; this one climbs to Grindelwald under the Eiger’s north face.
Wikipedia ↗ - Chemins de fer du Jura
Metre gauge across the Franches-Montagnes plateau: horse pastures and firs at 1,000 m from watch-town La Chaux-de-Fonds to Saignelégier, then a wooded ravine descent to Glovelier.
Wikipedia ↗ - Prättigau Line
Metre-gauge Rhaetian track climbing the Prättigau from the Rhine valley at Landquart to the high spa town of Davos, open since 1890.
Wikipedia ↗ - Engadine Line
Metre gauge down the Lower Engadine from the Albula line at Bever to the spa at Scuol-Tarasp, opened in 1913 and never joined to Austria.
Wikipedia ↗ - Biel–La Chaux-de-Fonds railway
Single track up out of Biel through the Jura gorges to the watchmaking city of La Chaux-de-Fonds at 1,000 m, worked since 1874.
Wikipedia ↗ - Jura Railway
The Jurabahn of 1857 follows the Birs out of Basel into the French-speaking Jura, through Delémont and the Moutier gorges down to Biel.
Wikipedia ↗ - Cadenazzo–Luino railway
Hugs the north-eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, crossing from Ticino into Italy on the way to Luino.
Wikipedia ↗ - Tonkin Line
Opened in 1859 by the Ligne d'Italie, running from the Rhône at Saint-Maurice out to Lake Geneva at Le Bouveret and the French border.
Wikipedia ↗ - Glarus Line
The Glarnerlinie of 1859, single track up the Linth valley under the Glärnisch and the Tödi to the road-head at Linthal.
Wikipedia (DE) ↗ - Rheinfall railway
Named for what it passes: the 1857 line from Winterthur to Schaffhausen runs along the Rhine Falls, Europe's widest waterfall.
Wikipedia ↗ - Appenzell Line
Metre-gauge adhesion track from Gossau up through Appenzell to Wasserauen under the Alpstein, running continuously since 1949.
Wikipedia ↗
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Taiwan
- Alishan Forest Railway
762 mm trains climb 2,186 m in 71 km via the Dulishan spiral and summit switchbacks; fully reopened in 2024, 15 years after Typhoon Morakot.
Wikipedia ↗ - South-Link Line
Taiwan’s last main line to be completed: 35 tunnels through the island’s southern spine to Duoliang’s celebrated platform above the Pacific.
Wikipedia ↗ - Pingxi Line
A 1920s coal branch where railcars squeeze between Shifen’s shop-fronts as sky lanterns lift off: waterfalls and a cat village along the way.
Wikipedia ↗ - Neiwan Line
Hakka-country branch line climbing from Hsinchu into the hills to the old timber and coal town of Neiwan, revived as a heritage day-trip.
Wikipedia ↗ - Jiji Line
Taiwan’s cherished 1922 branch line through betel-palm country and a camphor-tree green tunnel, reopened in 2026 after a landslide closure.
Wikipedia ↗ - Shen’ao Line
Short coastal branch to Badouzi, the Taiwan station nearest the sea, where rainbow-painted railcars run beside the wave-cut Shen’ao arch.
Wikipedia ↗
Thailand
- Maeklong Railway
At Mae Klong the train noses through Talat Rom Hup, the market whose stallholders whisk their awnings off the rails as it passes.
Wikipedia ↗
Türkiye
- Doğu Ekspresi
Turkey’s cult 1,365 km trans-Anatolian sleeper to the snowy Caucasus frontier at Kars; social-media fame makes seats sell out weeks ahead.
Wikipedia ↗
United Kingdom
- West Highland Line
Regularly voted the world’s most scenic railway: around Rannoch Moor and over the 21-arch Glenfinnan Viaduct of film fame.
Wikipedia ↗ - Settle–Carlisle Line
England’s highest main line crests Ais Gill at 356 m after striding across the 24-arch Ribblehead Viaduct, built by navvies camped on Batty Moss.
Wikipedia ↗ - Esk Valley Line
An hour and a half from Teesside across the North York Moors and down the river to the sea, on rails that reached Whitby in 1835 and were worked by horses for the first ten years.
Wikipedia ↗ - Cambrian Line
Birmingham to the Irish Sea over the Cambrian Mountains: Welshpool, the Talerddig summit cutting, Machynlleth and the estuary into Aberystwyth.
Wikipedia ↗ - Kyle of Lochalsh Line
One of the world’s great scenic railways, blasted through Torridonian rock for 82 miles from Inverness to the Skye ferry pier at Kyle of Lochalsh.
Wikipedia ↗ - Far North Line
Britain’s most northerly line, a lonely 4-hour run to Wick that swings far inland on the Lairg Loop to dodge the deep Highland sea firths.
Wikipedia ↗ - Heart of Wales Line
A 121-mile request-stop ramble through empty Mid Wales, crossing the castle-like 13-arch Knucklas Viaduct where trains halt only if you flag them down.
Wikipedia ↗ - Cambrian Coast Line
Clings to the Mid-Wales shore on mostly single track, rumbling across the half-mile timber Barmouth Viaduct over the Mawddach estuary.
Wikipedia ↗ - Belfast–Derry Line
Michael Palin called the Coleraine–Derry run one of the world’s most beautiful; the train skims the Atlantic strand below cliff-top Mussenden Temple.
Wikipedia ↗ - Highland Main Line
Over Druimuachdar Pass at 452 m, the highest main line in Britain, threading the Cairngorms from the capital to the Highland capital.
Wikipedia ↗ - West Highland Line to Oban
The West Highland Line’s other arm: splitting at Crianlarich for Loch Awe, Kilchurn Castle’s ruin and the Hebrides ferry port of Oban.
Wikipedia ↗ - Hope Valley Line
Straight through the Peak District: Edale, Kinder Scout and the Hope valley between England’s steel and cotton cities. The hikers’ line.
Wikipedia ↗ - Cumbrian Coast Line
England’s forgotten coastal railway: the Irish Sea one side, the Lakeland fells the other, all the way round from Hadrian’s city to shipbuilding Barrow.
Wikipedia ↗ - Conwy Valley Line
From the pier at Llandudno up the Conwy gorge into Snowdonia’s slate mountains, meeting the Ffestiniog steam trains at Blaenau: coast to crag in an hour.
Wikipedia ↗ - Tyne Valley Line
One of the world’s first cross-country railways (1838), shadowing Hadrian’s Wall from the Tyne to the Solway, the Roman frontier out the window.
Wikipedia ↗
United States
- California Zephyr
Two nights, seven states: through the Rockies’ canyons and over Donner Pass, widely called America’s most beautiful train ride.
Wikipedia ↗ - Coast Starlight
Cascade volcanoes, Bay fog and a hundred miles of Pacific surf from the parlour car’s armchairs.
Wikipedia ↗ - Denali Star
Twelve hours of wilderness with Denali filling the dome windows, flag stops still serve trailside cabins.
Wikipedia ↗ - Pacific Surfliner
Heir to the 1938 San Diegan: surfboards ride free as double-deckers skim the sand at Del Mar and San Clemente.
Wikipedia ↗ - Coastal Classic
Skirts the bore-tide flats of Turnagain Arm, then climbs past Spencer Glacier into country no road reaches.
Wikipedia ↗ - Winter Park Express
Amtrak’s revived ski train climbs more than 1,100 m through 28 tunnels and spills skiers out steps from Winter Park’s lifts.
Wikipedia ↗ - Canyon Spirit
Three dome-car days Denver to Salt Lake City: the Continental Divide inside the 10 km Moffat Tunnel, the Colorado River through canyons no road enters, Moab’s red rock, then Castle Gate and Soldier Summit.
- Aurora Winter Train
The winter run north across frozen Alaska flag-stops for bush residents between Anchorage and Fairbanks, often with the northern lights overhead.
Wikipedia ↗
How many scenic routes are there in the world?
This map lists 258 scenic routes across 52 countries so far. It is working towards every passenger service in the world and is not complete yet, so the true number is higher; every one listed here has its distance, operator and story checked.
Which is the longest of the scenic routes?
The California Zephyr, 3,924 km from Chicago to San Francisco, operated by Amtrak.
What is the oldest of the scenic routes?
The Esk Valley Line opened in 1835 and still runs between Middlesbrough and Whitby.
Which country has the most scenic routes?
Japan, with 35 of the 258 listed here.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons; each route page credits the author & licence