7 Top Train Journeys Around The World
There’s something about a train journey that invites you to slow down and take notice. Unlike the blur of a plane window or the rush of a road trip, trains let the world unfold at a different pace. You’re not just passing through a place, you’re moving with it.
These seven iconic rail journeys stretch across continents and cultures, from misty Andean mountains to glacial alpine valleys. One of them — recently reopened after years of closure — is even available to experience through two of our Ecuador adventures. The rest? Bucket list magic. The kind you might quietly plot for years before finally boarding.
1. The Devil’s Nose Train – Ecuador
Back on track after years of silence, this legendary railway in the Ecuadorian Andes is one of South America’s great engineering feats. Built in the early 1900s to connect the highlands to the coast, it zigzags down a sheer mountain wall outside the town of Alausí via a series of daring switchbacks carved into the rock.
The descent is steep, slow, and unforgettable. As the train clings to the cliffs and dips into mist-covered canyons, the drama of the Chanchán River gorge opens up below. It’s not just a scenic ride — it’s a ride through history, ingenuity, and gravity-defying terrain.
If you’re travelling through the Ecuadorian highlands, this is one to seek out. And yes — this one’s ready when you are.
Featured in our: Ecuador Explorer Holiday& Discover The Andes Holiday
2. Ella to Kandy – Sri Lanka
It’s hard to talk about the world’s best train journeys without mentioning this one. The ride from Ella to Kandy is often described as the most beautiful in the world — and it’s easy to see why. For several slow, winding hours, the train weaves through Sri Lanka’s hill country, passing lush tea plantations, waterfalls, forested ridgelines, and sleepy villages.
The rhythm is gentle, the windows wide open, and the colours impossibly vivid — from the deep green of the landscape to the bright saris of women harvesting tea in the fields. Locals and travellers alike dangle their legs out of the open doors, letting the breeze and the view wash over them.
It’s not fast, it’s not fancy — and that’s exactly the point.
3. Ferrocarril Central Andino – Peru
Peru’s forgotten masterpiece of mountain railways, this line climbs from the capital city of Lima to over 4,700 metres in the Andes, making it one of the highest passenger railways in the world. Originally built to transport mining materials, it now offers a rare, rugged route into the heart of Peru’s extreme geography.
It’s an astonishing feat — crossing 60 tunnels and dozens of steel bridges perched above river valleys and vertigo-inducing gorges. The transition from coastal plain to high mountain plateau is striking: scrubland gives way to snow-dusted peaks, remote villages, and dramatic Andean silence.
It’s not a tourist route in the usual sense — but for railway obsessives and altitude chasers, this is one for the books.
4. The Glacier Express – Switzerland
This is luxury, but not in the gilded or over-the-top sense — in the clarity, the calm, the precision of it all. The Glacier Express links the alpine resorts of Zermatt and St. Moritz, travelling through the Swiss Alps on a route that’s anything but express: eight slow hours of flawless scenery framed by panoramic windows.
You’ll pass glacial valleys, pine forests, 91 tunnels and 291 bridges — and not once will you feel the need to reach for your phone. The landscape does all the work. It’s travel designed for stillness and spectacle, and a masterclass in how to make time feel like a luxury.
5. The Ghan – Australia
Crossing the vast, wild interior of Australia, The Ghan runs from Adelaide to Darwin — three days and nearly 3,000 kilometres of cinematic landscapes. The train slices through the red heart of the Outback, where the earth turns ochre and the skies stretch endlessly overhead.
There are few distractions here — and that’s the gift. Between off-train excursions and long stretches of quiet contemplation, you begin to tune into the scale and solitude of the Australian interior. From the tropical north to the arid south, The Ghan isn’t just a journey — it’s a deep inhale of the continent’s ancient breath.
6. Rocky Mountaineer – Canada
Canada does wilderness like few places on Earth — and the Rocky Mountaineer offers a front-row seat to it all. With glass-domed carriages, curated meals, and a deliberately slow pace, this two-day journey from Banff to Vancouver feels more like a moving lodge than a train.
You’ll pass glacial rivers, snowy peaks, emerald forests, and remote canyons — landscapes that feel both impossibly grand and strangely intimate through the window. Bald eagles, black bears, moose and mountain goats might appear if you’re lucky. But even if they don’t, the quiet spectacle is enough.
7. Train to the Clouds – Argentina
This surreal journey in northwest Argentina is named literally: the Tren a las Nubes climbs to over 4,200 metres above sea level, crossing arid plateaus, high-altitude salt flats, and towering viaducts that appear to float in the sky.
It begins in Salta and ends in the otherworldly silence of the Puna region — a vast, high desert where the light shifts dramatically and the horizon seems to go on forever. As you ascend, the air thins and the temperature drops, but the views only get sharper.
It’s not for the faint-hearted, but it is unforgettable.
Even if you’ve never considered yourself a train person, there’s something about these journeys that gets under your skin. Maybe it’s the way the world reveals itself slowly. Maybe it’s the stillness between the stations. Either way, they stay with you — long after you’ve stepped off the carriage.
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