Scenic train trips that you would recommend

The Orient Express is in my bucket list - maybe when I have a lotto win! We've booked the Transalpine in the south Island of New Zealand in April and also the Coastal Pacific in NZ also. I believe they're amazing. Can hardly wait!

This - we did the trip the other way, on the Flam railway - it's quite a touristy thing, but utterly spectacular (as is Bergen, so if you're there make time to enjoy it as well!)

Also, we took the train across the Scottish Highlands to get back from Oban to Glasgow or Edinburgh (can't remember now which it was) - it was just the regular Scotrail train, I'm sure there's other lines that are equally fabulous.

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/inspiration-hub/great-places-to-visit/highlands

The Trans Canadian was pretty amazing. Took it for 2 days from Vancouver to Winnipeg. Went through the Rockies the first day/night and then through plans that stretched on beyond anything I had ever seen. Got plenty of those nice bubble roof carriages too.

How did I forget to mention that?!? I've dont that a few times and its gorgeous! (The West Highland Railway)

Nice to Rome to Naples.

I hope to travel from Vienna to Graz to Maribor to Ljubljana to Trieste....stopping in each town for two nights on the way. Just putting the finishing touches to Trieste......did you stay overnight?

I’ve done the Paris —> Nice trip a couple of times. First class too, it’s a recommend way to travel.

Get an upstairs window seat on one of the TGV Duplex trains…. for the best panoramic views…

154 euro return with KLM.

Thanks so much for those tips! Very much appreciated. We're doing it slightly differently. Flying to Auckland, a day or so there, flying to Wellington, Interislander to Picton, Coastal Pacific to Christchurch, overnight there and then the Transalpine to Greymouth. Hoping to spend some time touring around by car after that. Our daughter has been living in Wellington for a year and a half. The only thing I'm not mad about is the flight over - we're going to Auckland via San Francisco (other son living there) and it's a 13 hour flight😓

Scottish Travel reviewer SteveMarsh on youtube has a couple of interesting train trips around Scotland and Scandinavian mong other European routes - well worth checking out

I've done the Bernina Express and GoldenPass Express in Switzerland and highly recommend them.

The Bernina Express is a fabulous route to do in both summer and winter. It starts in Chur in Switzerland and finishes in Tirano just across the Italian border. Chur is 1.5 hours by train from Zürich. Tirano is 2.5 hours by train from Milan. I combined the Bernina Express from Chur to Tirano with Lake Como, which is between Tirano and Milan.

The GoldenPass Express (GPX) goes from Montreux on the east side of Lake Geneva to Interlaken in central Switzerland. It' not quite as beautiful as the Bernina Express but it's still an impressive route. I did Geneva to Zürich in one day with the GPX in 1st class. Despites being a fairly long day it was really enjoyable and relaxing. I took the following trains:

• Geneva -> Montreux
• Montreux -> Spiez
• Spiez -> Bern
• Bern -> Zürich Airport

If you're planning a rail journey in Switzerland. I highly recommend a Swiss rail pass. Swiss trains are expensive so passes can save you a lot of money. Some of the passes include:

• 1 month Half Fare Card for 120 CHF https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/tickets/guests-abroad/swiss-halffare-card.html
• 1 year Half Fare Card for 190 CHF. This is the one I used last year when I travelled to Switzerland multiple times. It paid for itself after one 3 day trip (thanks to the very expensive Jungfrau Railway). Despite conflicting information online, you don't have to be a Swiss resident to purchase one https://www.sbb.ch/en/tickets-offers/travelcards/half-fare-travelcard.html
• Best for short trips, a Saver Day Pass. This gives you unlimited transport on virtually all public transport in Switzerland for one day. I combined this with my Half Fare Card for the GPX. I managed to travel from Geneva to Zürich in 1st class for only 59 CHF (excluding GPX seat reservations). Prices are generally cheaper the further in advance you book and start from 52 CHF in 2nd class and 88 CHF in 1st class (without a Half Fare Card).

I'm surprised The Man in Seat 61 hasn't been mentioned yet. It's an excellent resource for train travel https://www.seat61.com/index.html

Reggio di Calabria to Palermo ! They load the train onto the ferry - quite the experience.

Interrail is also a good option for Switzerland, it depends on the length of stay and how many trips taken.

Most of the scenic lines have the heavily marketed tourist trains, Bernina, Golden Pass, Glacier Express but they also have regular trains that can be used without any extra fees over normal Swiss fares or rail pass and these are usually far less crowded.

Jungfraujoch and some of the ski resort rack railways and cable cars are very expensive, Personally I don't think they are good value as there is plenty on the regular routes with stunning scenery but if you want to go I'd suggest not to pre-book, wait until the day and check the weather as you can get days where the mountain peaks are surrounded by thick cloud and there is nothing to be seen at all.

Back in the dark ages on my first Interrail trip as a 19yo we stopped for two nights in Interlaken and stayed in a youth hostel full of rich American students. It was boring and devoid of the interaction that makes hosteling so much fun. We bailed the following morning to cut our losses and while waiting for a train out of Interlaken spotted a sign for the train to Jungfrau. Tickets were expensive but we got a 50% discount because we had Interrail tickets. The breathtaking views remain with me decades later. The tickets were good for three days so we hopped off at most of the stops and wandered around the villages. On the way down we stopped in Grindlewald and overnighted in a charming hostel full of interesting people. I won’t recommend it now as so many years have elapsed and it may have changed, but it was a very memorable experience and a “chocolate box” view of the Bernese Oberland and Switzerland. Definitely one for the summer months if you are considering it.

Perhaps a return visit is called for !!

I read this book.

The 50 Greatest Train Journeys of the World; Anthony Lambert – The Secret Bookstore

Did Frankfurt to Cologne once. It was nice by the Rhine.

Thankfully while the Semmering tunnel will se the express trains diverted there are no plans to close the old line, it will still get regular regional trains.

Same for the Brenner pass between Innsbruck and Verona, the old line will still be kept for local and some freight while the base tunnel is used for the faster trains.

It is hard to take a train in that part of the world and not have great scenery, another less mentioned route is the local line that branches off the Brenner at Fortezza to Lienz and Spittal.