The single best international rail experience out there?

[Iskra]

What, in your opinion is the best international rail experience out there? Whether it's a particularly good dining car offering, or a full trip crossing an entire continent, if you could only recommend one rail-based thing to experience, what would it be?

My only stipulation is that it must still be possible to do this under normal circumstances (post-Covid), so no historical examples please unless it is still possible to do them.

 

[bleeder4]

Last time I went to Gibraltar I got the train from Madrid to Algeciras, which is the town right across the bay. It's a journey of two halves - from Madrid you whizz down the high speed line through mountainous scenery to Cordoba. Here you turn off onto the old branch line, built by the British. The old Spanish lines are built to Iberian gauge, whereas the high speed lines are standard gauge, so the train goes into a gauge-changing shed where the axles are adjusted. You remain on board whilst this happens, and it's quite a unique experience. I wonder how many other places there are where this sort of thing happens regularly?

The rest of the journey is the highlight. A slow speed trundle through some stunning desert and mountainous scenery, including some switchback curves to ascend up to Ronda, which is built on the top of a plateau! Definitely worth doing if you're ever in Spain, particularly that second half from Cordoba onwards. Once you arrive in Algeciras, which is the terminus, you just walk across the road to the bus station right opposite and then get the bus around the bay to the Gibraltar border.

 

[OldandRambling]

Not sure if you mean International as in a trip from one country to another, or simply a "foreign" train trip?

In case it is the latter, I am a great fan of the Amtrak California Zephyr, which runs from Chicago to just short of San Francisco.

Simply the scenery between Denver and Emeryville is amazing, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, lakes, rivers, gorges...

All this can be yours for only $141, a train ride of 52 hours duration!

 

[paul1609]

Personally Id go for the Tranzalpine, Christchurch to Greymouth on New Zealands South Island absolutely stunning scenery and the viewing trucks. The overlander Auckland to Wellington in the north island isnt far behind either.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I discovered the metre-gauge RhB (Rhätische Bahn) in 1982 during an otherwise car-based trip to Switzerland.
I don't think I've been so comprehensively delighted by a couple of weeks of train travel since.
We used rover tickets (with bus and some mountain transport thrown in) to tour the wide Graübunden area, based in Pontresina.
It's a winning combination of scenery, engineering ambition, operational efficiency and popular affection.
You can even ride in the bench seating of the bright yellow open air carriages on the Bernina Express (sorry, poor picture).



There are plenty of others, even if they don't quite reach the ambience of the RhB.
Examples are:
- observation car on the Transalpin service (Zürich-Innsbrück-Graz)
- Mediterranean coastal lines (St Raphael-Ventimiglia-Genoa, and Naples-Villa San Giovanni-Sicily, including train ferry to Messina), Cerbere-Portbou
- crossing the Oresund Bridge (Copenhagen-Malmo)
- journeying through Transylvania (RO), either on quality EC trains or the (very) local stoppers
- travelling through the Rhine, Elbe and Mosel gorges
- mountain passes/tunnels: Gotthard, Semmering, Tauern, Tende, Zamora-Orense (ES - like the Gotthard, recently bypassed by a new HSL)
- gulaschsuppe on many central European trains, pork and dumplings if they are operated by ČD

 

[306024]

Only one? So difficult to chose as there is such a wide variety of experiences out there.

But if pushed then another vote for the Rhätische Bahn in Switzerland. Been many times, even stayed in the youth hostel at Pontresina station once. Looking forward to lunch at Alp Grüm again next month.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Mar 2022 ==

Personally Id go for the Tranzalpine, Christchurch to Greymouth on New Zealands South Island absolutely stunning scenery and the viewing trucks. The overlander Auckland to Wellington in the north island isnt far behind either.

A very close second.

 

[Iskra]

Last time I went to Gibraltar I got the train from Madrid to Algeciras, which is the town right across the bay. It's a journey of two halves - from Madrid you whizz down the high speed line through mountainous scenery to Cordoba. Here you turn off onto the old branch line, built by the British. The old Spanish lines are built to Iberian gauge, whereas the high speed lines are standard gauge, so the train goes into a gauge-changing shed where the axles are adjusted. You remain on board whilst this happens, and it's quite a unique experience. I wonder how many other places there are where this sort of thing happens regularly?

The rest of the journey is the highlight. A slow speed trundle through some stunning desert and mountainous scenery, including some switchback curves to ascend up to Ronda, which is built on the top of a plateau! Definitely worth doing if you're ever in Spain, particularly that second half from Cordoba onwards. Once you arrive in Algeciras, which is the terminus, you just walk across the road to the bus station right opposite and then get the bus around the bay to the Gibraltar border.

That does indeed sound a fascinating journey, thank you for sharing

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Mar 2022 ==

Not sure if you mean International as in a trip from one country to another, or simply a "foreign" train trip?

In case it is the latter, I am a great fan of the Amtrak California Zephyr, which runs from Chicago to just short of San Francisco.

Simply the scenery between Denver and Emeryville is amazing, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, lakes, rivers, gorges...

All this can be yours for only $141, a train ride of 52 hours duration!

Excellent to hear as this features in my upcoming plans. I’m not sure 52 hours in a $141 seat sounds all that good though! That would be a mega-endurance test!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Mar 2022 ==

Personally Id go for the Tranzalpine, Christchurch to Greymouth on New Zealands South Island absolutely stunning scenery and the viewing trucks. The overlander Auckland to Wellington in the north island isnt far behind either.

That sounds amazing

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Mar 2022 ==

I discovered the metre-gauge RhB (Rhätische Bahn) in 1982 during an otherwise car-based trip to Switzerland.
I don't think I've been so comprehensively delighted by a couple of weeks of train travel since.
We used rover tickets (with bus and some mountain transport thrown in) to tour the wide Graübunden area, based in Pontresina.
It's a winning combination of scenery, engineering ambition, operational efficiency and popular affection.
You can even ride in the bench seating of the bright yellow open air carriages on the Bernina Express (sorry, poor picture).

View attachment 111482

There are plenty of others, even if they don't quite reach the ambience of the RhB.
Examples are:
- observation car on the Transalpin service (Zürich-Innsbrück-Graz)
- Mediterranean coastal lines (St Raphael-Ventimiglia-Genoa, and Naples-Villa San Giovanni-Sicily, including train ferry to Messina), Cerbere-Portbou
- crossing the Oresund Bridge (Copenhagen-Malmo)
- journeying through Transylvania (RO), either on quality EC trains or the (very) local stoppers
- travelling through the Rhine, Elbe and Mosel gorges
- mountain passes/tunnels: Gotthard, Semmering, Tauern, Tende, Zamora-Orense (ES - like the Gotthard, recently bypassed by a new HSL)
- gulaschsuppe on many central European trains, pork and dumplings if they are operated by ČD

Thank you- some excellent examples there!

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

the train goes into a gauge-changing shed where the axles are adjusted. You remain on board whilst this happens, and it's quite a unique experience. I wonder how many other places there are where this sort of thing happens regularly?

Erlyan on the Mongolia - China border. Carriages are jacked up, bogies rolled out by hand, new ones rolled in by hand, all whilst passengers remain on board for the duration, back in 2002 there was no attempt to even close off the gangways when coaches were uncoupled. Photo shows 07:50 Ulan Bator – Beijing on 15/8/02.

 

[306024]

The old Spanish lines are built to Iberian gauge, whereas the high speed lines are standard gauge, so the train goes into a gauge-changing shed where the axles are adjusted. You remain on board whilst this happens, and it's quite a unique experience. I wonder how many other places there are where this sort of thing happens regularly?

Experienced similar on the Warsaw - Kiev sleeper some 15 years ago on the Polish / Ukrainian border. We had the end compartment above the bogie so got a close up view of what was involved. Fails the OP’s original question though as circumstances are hardly normal just now.

 

[MarcVD]

Istanbul to Tehran on the Trans-Asia express. With the ferry over lake Van. Stunning scenery, comfortable rolling stock, good restaurant car, and among the most welcoming people I ever had the chance to meet,

 

[Beebman]

the train goes into a gauge-changing shed where the axles are adjusted. You remain on board whilst this happens, and it's quite a unique experience. I wonder how many other places there are where this sort of thing happens regularly?

Here's a recent video by transport YouTuber Noel Philips of a train journey from Bucharest to Chisinau in Moldova which involved a gauge change at the border:

The section with the gauge change starts at 19:25 and it includes a railway employee coming into his compartment to lift part of the floor in order to gain access to the bogie underneath.

 

[181]

Excellent to hear as this features in my upcoming plans. I’m not sure 52 hours in a $141 seat sounds all that good though! That would be a mega-endurance test!

If your schedule can accommodate an extra three days you could break up the journey like I did. If you get off at Grand Junction, Colorado, and spend the night there, the next day around lunchtime you can (or at least could in 2017) get a bus to Durango and spend two nights there with a trip on the Durango and Silverton Railway on the intervening day. I don't know about 'single best...experience', but it's certainly worth doing. The following day's bus gets you back to Grand Junction in time to catch the train west in the afternoon.

 

[peteb]

Just because it's so easy to do, cheap walk up fares, amazing scenery, interesting locos and rolling stock, I'd say the Duoro valley line from Porto takes some beating. It has plenty to interest both rail fans and general tourists. The rusting mallet narrow gauge locos at several stations add interest!

 

[duesselmartin]

the Cologne to Interlaken Ost (Switzerland) EuroCity trains are amazing too. Good Swiss rolling stock, amazing landscapes along the Rhine and Alps. The dining car is okay but expensive.
The Prague to Dresden EuroCity also passes amazing landscapes along the Elbe and the dining car is excellent. Also both Prague and Dresden are worth a visit.

 

[Welly]

I can recommend travelling on the Northland line from Trondhiem to Bodu. Diesel haulage through great scenery.

 

[Bletchleyite]

the Cologne to Interlaken Ost (Switzerland) EuroCity trains are amazing too. Good Swiss rolling stock, amazing landscapes along the Rhine and Alps. The dining car is okay but expensive.
The Prague to Dresden EuroCity also passes amazing landscapes along the Elbe and the dining car is excellent. Also both Prague and Dresden are worth a visit.

If you're after a Swiss one there is in my view little better than Geneva to Brig. The bit along Lac Leman is just stunning, then the mountains build up beautifully. No restaurant, but you won't want distracting from such beautiful scenery to eat.

 

[ac6000cw]

In case it is the latter, I am a great fan of the Amtrak California Zephyr, which runs from Chicago to just short of San Francisco.

Simply the scenery between Denver and Emeryville is amazing, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, lakes, rivers, gorges...

All this can be yours for only $141, a train ride of 52 hours duration!

One of my favourites too - the best scenery is west of Denver, for me the westbound climb from Denver into the foothills of the Rockies is a particular highlight. It's got such a variety of scenery - mountains, river gorges, lakes, desert... I'd also put the Southwest Chief (with a side trip to the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff or Williams) and the Coast Starlight on my Amtrak list too.

Almost anywhere in the Swiss Alps - the MoB route from Zweisimmen to Montreux, the MGB+RhB Glacier Express route (Zermatt to St. Moritz via Brig, Andermatt & Chur - 291km/8 hours all on metre gauge), the original Gotthard pass route and the BLS from Kandersteg to Brig are particular favourites.

Just because it's so easy to do, cheap walk up fares, amazing scenery, interesting locos and rolling stock, I'd say the Duoro valley line from Porto takes some beating. It has plenty to interest both rail fans and general tourists. The rusting mallet narrow gauge locos at several stations add interest!

Another good call.

What, in your opinion is the best international rail experience out there? Whether it's a particularly good dining car offering, or a full trip crossing an entire continent, if you could only recommend one rail-based thing to experience, what would it be?

If I could only pick one journey/route, then the Glacier Express route would be it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If I could only pick one journey/route, then the Glacier Express route would be it.

I've not done that one but have done the Goldenpass route, and I must admit I vastly prefer scenic "proper" railways. There's something about belting through spectacular scenery at a decent speed that does it for me in a way narrow gauge lines don't. This is one reason why I'd (for example) take the Conwy Valley over the Ffestiniog any day, even though that doesn't "belt" anywhere, though I do like the WHR(C) as it has the feel of a secondary European mainline in miniature due to being new-build.

 

[ac6000cw]

I've not done that one but have done the Goldenpass route, and I must admit I vastly prefer scenic "proper" railways. There's something about belting through spectacular scenery at a decent speed that does it for me in a way narrow gauge lines don't. This is one reason why I'd (for example) take the Conwy Valley over the Ffestiniog any day, even though that doesn't "belt" anywhere, though I do like the WHR(C) as it has the feel of a secondary European mainline in miniature due to being new-build.

Are the Swiss metre gauge railways (like the RhB system) not 'proper' railways then?

(I could point out that the 861km Sishen–Saldanha 1067mm gauge line in South Africa is electrified at 50kV and carries some of the heaviest freight trains in world... I think that should count as a 'proper' railway by anyone's standards )

Personally I prefer travelling along a nice twisty scenic route at a moderate speed by an open window if possible - it's just so much more enjoyable with the soundscape of the railway properly audible, whereas travelling in a quiet air-conditioned train is characterless in comparison.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Are the Swiss metre gauge railways (like the RhB system) not 'proper' railways then?

Generally, no. With their low operating speeds, small vehicles and lack of segregation from things around them, they to me mostly have the character of a quirky tramway rather than a "big" railway.

There's something about belting along at 100mph+ through stunning scenery that a quaint little narrow gauge line just doesn't do for me.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There's something about belting along at 100mph+ through stunning scenery that a quaint little narrow gauge line just doesn't do for me.

Like Lancaster to Penrith, say?
Or (on the same train) winding down the Clyde valley at 125mph.

 

[SuspectUsual]

The Ghan. Obviously the scenery is pretty limited, but it feels like a real expedition

 

[Alfonso]

If you're after a Swiss one there is in my view little better than Geneva to Brig. The bit along Lac Leman is just stunning, then the mountains build up beautifully. No restaurant, but you won't want distracting from such beautiful scenery to eat.

I think the Euro city trains through to Milan etc do have quite pricey SBB restaurant

 

[Bletchleyite]

Like Lancaster to Penrith, say?
Or (on the same train) winding down the Clyde valley at 125mph.

Yes, absolutely. Shap is utterly breathtaking, without a doubt one of the most beautiful sections of railway in the UK, and effortlessly winding through it at 125 is a wonderful experience. Probably best on a Voyager for the big windows, but still great from a Pendolino. A real unsung hero of the network. Nobody has heard of it, yet in my view it's more impressive than most of the S&C.

I think the Euro city trains through to Milan etc do have quite pricey SBB restaurant

The Pendolinos do (only a few of those a day), though I'd recommend an InterRegio to enjoy it through the massive picture windows of the EW IV stock, at least until they're replaced in the near future.

If you do continue towards Milan it doesn't get any less stunning, to be fair.

 

[Alfonso]

Such a big question! Happy hour on the Thalys was fun but the refurbishment is getting rid of the bar, central European restaurant cars going pretty much anywhere are nice, Switzerland is full of scenery and engineering, the anticipation of sunset, and bedtime and waking up somewhere completely different on a night train are all good, but my personal favourite is the Centovalli from Domosossola in Italy towards Locarno? Lugano? In Switzerland. Somewhere in the middle lies a hidden combination of Swiss efficiency and cleanliness and Italian passion and joy. Still searching for it. Oh and th trains are called "Fart" which is both big and clever

 

[rvdborgt]

Generally, no. With their low operating speeds, small vehicles and lack of segregation from things around them, they to me mostly have the character of a quirky tramway rather than a "big" railway.

It really depends on the line you're on. Some RhB lines have quite a bit of 90 km/h running with long express trains. But others like the Bernina pass aren't very fast indeed.

 

[43096]

Generally, no. With their low operating speeds, small vehicles and lack of segregation from things around them, they to me mostly have the character of a quirky tramway rather than a "big" railway.

There's something about belting along at 100mph+ through stunning scenery that a quaint little narrow gauge line just doesn't do for me.

The Rhätische Bahn frankly knocks anything in this country out of the park. How you can describe a railway that forms an integral part of Graubunden's public transport system as "a quaint little narrow gauge line" is astonishing (it actually comes across as being patronising and ignorant). It's a fully fledged railway (including freight traffic, car transporting services and S-bahn routes) providing vital services through astonishing scenery on some spectacularly engineered routes.

 

[Bessie]

Two trips stand out for me. I did the Indian Pacific from Perth to Adelaide which took 2-3 days. The nullabor plain is a bit boring - spot the kangaroo was the highlight.
I‘ve also done Cusco to Puno in Peru. I think the max altitude was around 4,800 metres. That coupled with a few too many Pisco sours meant I ended up at Lake Titicaca in somewhat of a trance!

 

[ac6000cw]

The Rhätische Bahn frankly knocks anything in this country out of the park. How you can describe a railway that forms an integral part of Graubunden's public transport system as "a quaint little narrow gauge line" is astonishing (it actually comes across as being patronising and ignorant). It's a fully fledged railway (including freight traffic, car transporting services and S-bahn routes) providing vital services through astonishing scenery on some spectacularly engineered routes.

Exactly...

High Speed Rail is great for getting from A to B as quickly as possible, but if you want an interesting journey then a ride over a twisty, steeply graded mountain pass will, for me, beat it hands down for enjoyment.

A journey from Skagway, Alaska (sea level) up to White Pass (873m elv) and beyond anyone? 3 foot gauge, 10+ car trains, hauled by 2 or 3 diesel locos up 4% gradients, with open verandas at the ends of the cars so you can enjoy it 'outdoors' if you want to (or warm yourself around the wood-burning stoves inside if you don't). It's even an 'International' journey since it crosses the border into Canada at the pass. Only problem is getting to Skagway, which is why the vast majority of passengers arrive on cruise ships (as we did).

 

[Bletchleyite]

The Rhätische Bahn frankly knocks anything in this country out of the park. How you can describe a railway that forms an integral part of Graubunden's public transport system as "a quaint little narrow gauge line" is astonishing (it actually comes across as being patronising and ignorant). It's a fully fledged railway (including freight traffic, car transporting services and S-bahn routes) providing vital services through astonishing scenery on some spectacularly engineered routes.

To be fair the RhB is one I haven't done, but I have done the MOB and its Vevey based offspring a few times, and the feel is of a tramway, not a mainline.