Train Journeys You Need to Take in Your Lifetime

When it comes to the trains themselves, Japan’s iconic shinkansen, or bullet train, should be on everyone’s bucket list. The speed, the comfort, the modernity of it all. It’s an eye-opening travel experience. With so much beautiful Japanese countryside, you can pick pretty much any route and enjoy the view, but there’s something extra special about whizzing past Mount Fuji, Japan’s tallest mountain. You can do this on the Tokaido line, which you’ll use to go from Osaka or Kyoto to Tokyo. Our 12-day Japan Rail Trip features all three cities, and plenty of shinkansen time, but we’ll fly along the Tokaido line when we head from Takayama in the Japanese Alps to Hakone, which lies between the mountain and Tokyo.

There’s something so soothingly romantic about a European train journey. You undulate gently through pleasant countrysides, hopping on and off-board at picturesque medieval towns and cities. Italy is no different, and if your daydream image of this beautiful nation features the rolling green hills of Tuscany, lined with olive trees and vineyards, then the journey north from Rome is the ticket for you. That’s what we do on our nine-day Northern Italy Rail Trip, starting with a high-speed ride to Florence from the capital. Fall in love with the sophisticated splendour of Tuscany en route – don’t worry, once we reach Florence we’ll have a day trip to explore the crumbling old churches, sleepy towns and sun-soaked vineyards passing by. The scenery doesn’t get any worse as we continue on through Emilia Romagna to the culinary capital, Bologna, and eventually our final destination, Milan.