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I've always fancied a long trian journey, not necessary luxurious, anyoen done one? I guess it would be best to break it up a bit, but must be a great way to see a country.
Plymouth to Bournemouth was pretty epic. 4 changes
[quote=cynic-al ]but must be a great way to see a country.
I'm not so sure. It would depend how often and for how long you got off to look around. I'm not sure that railways go through the most scenic part of a country either.
Dundee to Reading.
Took two days.
Found myself leaving Carlisle about 8hrs after setting off heading for Euston.
Had to spend the night in Warwick.
No special circumstances, just British trains are ****.
not as good as you think it will be. DO you think you would see the best of this country if you just went on a long train trip?
Wakefield to Aberdeen - seemed epic at the time, in reality it took 8 hours from start to finish.
Alnmouth to Loughborough had to overnight in York...
However did fancy Perth to Adelaide or Darwin to Adelaide
Moscow to St Petersburg was interesting the first couple of times. Was better than Aeroflot internal flights.
Mike, Alnmouth? From where do you hail originally?
Glasgow to kyle of lochalsh is the longest I've done. I wouldn't be in a hurry to do it again, but it was good to do once. 5h 45 if I remember right. If you do it make it one way, the return is a bit much. And any longer would probably drive you loopy without a bed.
Last train I was on was from Zurich to Zug. It left three minutes late! A Swiss railway, not on time! EPIC!
Done Calais to Innsbruk a few times.
Preceded by the delight that is Manchester - London, tube, then London - Dover.
I'm not sure that railways go through the most scenic part of a country either.
He's right. You tend to see a lot of car parks, industrial estates and scruffy canals.
Well you do on that trip anyway. 😀
As mentioned above, not the best way to see a country at all in my opinion.
Motorways are a bad way to see a country
Trains are even worse.
Driving From Calais to the South of France on Motorways for example, for 99% of the journey, it looks like France is devoid of any sort of life. Just flat fields everywhere (nice to look at for 5 mins, not hours and hours on end)
Railways are worse.
A Swiss railway, not on time! EPIC!
It happens. Apparently 10% of their trains are 5 minutes late.
This was a major national scandal and the chairman of the rail company had to go on telly and appologise to the whole country!
Brindisi to Innsbruck. Overnight sleeper. Not a journey I enjoyed but I'd do it again.
I travelled all over europe by train, I loved it and saw a lot more of the real country than you'd se as a tourist. I prefer trains to planes as you can see more, move around more and not put up with all the nonsense that goes with flying.
Uphilcruising west Bolton near glanton far too many trips on the east coast
I have taken the train from Montreal to Halifax, and from Winnipeg to Vancouver. The Montreal-Halifax trip was something like 24 hours, while the Winnipeg-Vancouver trip was a few days. Both were magnificent, and if you put them together, and added the addition 2400 kms between Montreal and Winnipeg, would make for more than a week's travel
You will see whales in the Gaspé, forests that go on forever, the citadel of Québec where General Wolfe defeated Montcalm and won Canada for Britain, more forests, the Great Lakes, cliffs and rocks like you wouldn't believe, moose, wolves, and bears, plains where the sky is so big there is nowhere else on land that you will get such horizons, the Rocky Mountains, and finally, Vancouver.
Do it.
Overnight Delhi to Dalhousie.
I did bordeaux to san sebastian, extremely dull until after biarittz, got better after that mind the closer and more in to spain you get.it looks like France is devoid of any sort of life.
Lake Garda,Italy to Munich airport German with my MTB.
Just rode the Transalp Challenge route from said airport to Lake Garda, kipped rough alot of the time on route which took about 8 days and only took a small rucsac (10 litres). Looked a bit of a state but the journey was quick, as I slept most of the way as I was f00ked.
Done Alice to Adelaide on The Ghan.
Frankly it was a bit boring and not very comfortable in sleeper seats. Sure there's the 'expanse' but that's pretty much all there is and I'd seen a lot of open spaces from the car or 4WD. Having a beer and a laugh with some old Aussie codgers in the bar carriage was entertaining.
About two-thirds the way through I was starting to try and calculate how long it would take the TGV to cover the same distance...
Kind of glad I did it though as we were in Alice and I wanted to go to Adelaide so it made complete sense.
One of my favorite rail trips is East Coast Mainline from Yorkshire ideally up to Fife - York, Durham (cathedrals), Newcastle and Tyne bridges, Holy Island and Northumberland coast, Torness power station, run into Edinburgh (Bass Rock??) over the Forth Rail and into Fife. Flippin brill - just make sure you sit on the eastern side of the train.
I had another overnight trip to Toulouse, many years ago, on a sleeper. There were six bunks. Three people in the cabin.
I was the only one not in a couple. The couple in question were very, erm, close. The WHOLE journey.
A colleague at work (in his 40's) still does the Euro Rail pass thingy. He's almost been everywhere in mainland Europe now and loves it. He's off over Xmas for the full 2 weeks going from Eindhoven throu Northern Germany, the Baltic (costs more) then down to Slovinia and back through Hungary, Germany, Home,
He finds hotels along the way, spends no more than 15hrs on a train at any one time, knows Europe and the Towns/Cities like the back of his hand, knows a gazillion micro Breweries and wineries, pizza houses and rail side eateries.
I'm surprised he hasn't written a book.
And there was I thinking you couldn't do the Euro Railcard thingy anymore ( they cost something like £360.00 )
San Francisco to Portland - took 28 hours after delays because of prioritised freight.
Good job we took our own weight in beers, crisps and cookies.
Definately fancy the Trans Canada one.
Oh, did Limerick to Dublin at night once.
Reckon we saw a total of four or five lights out of the window all trip 🙂
I think they take the countryside in at night in Ireland. 😀
My wife went from Hanoi to Saigon - supposedly in almost 1st class - and said it was the most uncomfortable she has ever been. 2 x triple bunk beds in a compartment, and the toilet was a smelly hole through the floor of the train out to the world below. She numbed the experience with Thai Whiskey and playing cards with strangers.
Scenery was breathtaking though.
Mike, you could fall out of bed and into Thrunton woods from there. How does Tazzie compare?
You don't need to wash the bike as often. Riding not as developed and access laws are a long way behind. But it's 22+ this week so not all bad
Did the trans-Siberian Beijing to Moscow with my wife a few years ago.
Epic journey, broken up with stays in Ulan Bator, Irkutsk and Ekaterinburg en route. Think it was about 2 weeks in all. Beijing and Moscow at either end were also great places to explore.
Great trip but you'd need to be happy with the tempo of the train - think my wife read Ulysses on it, she won the trip's cribbage championship by 32 games to 31 in Moscow station, that sort of thing.
Not the sort of trip you would do at the drop of a hat - a lot of paperwork required in Russia for even just staying in a hotel. We did the trip through a tour company that organised places to stay etc that made it pretty effortless. Forget how much it cost but it was a substantial amount (for us), 2 1/2 grand (incl flying to China) or something like that - that was 10 years ago and it was a honeymoon trip so we were in 1st class, half decent hotels. Could be done for less I am sure.
Hanoi to hue was enough for me. Took the plane from hue to saigon, bout $20 more. Bargain.
Leeds to Saltaire in the summer at rush hour. People literally passed out because of the heat in the carriage and being packed in like sardines
I would love to do the trans - Siberian train ride, looks fantastic.
Beijing to Pyomgyang. Took about 24hrs and was mostly quite dull. The 5hrs getting across the border was the only interesting part. The return journey was much the same.
HaNoi to HoChiMinh - took about a week what with stop offs and sights etc. Too fond of my comforts now to consider it, but it was a pretty good adventure. At the time a foreigner couldnt buy the tickets - you had to get a local to act as "travel guide" to get them and that led to more adventures than the actual journey.
Also sleeper to Fort William (actually, it broke down about 5 miles short, so arrived in a coach.)
Done a few long journey's as a student:
Auckland to Christchurch only 24 hours
Glasgow to London to Paris to Strasburgh to Munich to Berlin to Prague to Berlin to Hamburg to Berlin to Krakow to Warsaw to Krakow to Prague to Frankfurt then flew back to glasgow, took three weeks
Philadelphia to Washington DC to Chicago to Seattle to Vancouver (by bus)to Seattle to San Francisco to Chicago to Pittsburgh
Oslo to Bodo (never seen so much snow in my life)
Long journey's are great; met some very strange and wonderful people on the train across America!
Sydney to Cairns. Took forever. The leg to Brisbane was 16 hours.
Outside temp around a hundred ,inside train temp frucking freezing and any warm clothes in baggage car. Nearly died of hypothermia.
Then Adelaide to Sydney via Melbourne. There sure is a lot of nothing out there.
Inter railed around Europe for 2 months. London,Paris,alps bottom of Italy. Boat to Greece train to Athens. Bummed around the islands for a month. Then up to Germany and Holland following The Nephilim. Good times.
1997 -
New York-Chicago-Memphis-New Orleans-Los Angeles-Las Vegas (that leg by bus)-San Francisco-Chicago (via Salt Lake City)-New York
New Orleans to LA leg we had a 15 hour delay, took us nearly 3 days went to sleep (in my seat, no cabins/beds) and woke up next morning to find we hadnt moved. Lost a day and half of our planned time in LA, which when we finally got there I was actually quite glad of!
In San Fran I hired a bike and went over Golden Gate bridge and up and around Marin County and Mount Tam
Helsinki to Rovaniemi. Took 10hrs, in mid winter. Dark for about 8 of those hours. Mind numbingly dull. Impossible to sleep due to frequent announcements in Finnish, Swedish and English about which station was next or what the buffet car was serving. Each announcement started and finished with a loud musical BING BONG!
Done chernomorskoye to somewhere north of kiev . Took 2 days. Was horrible . Was -28 outside.
Going to do Moscow to Beijing by train.
I intend to forget about my troubles, read and contemplate for the days of traveling it will take.
Also want to do the States to the UK on the Queen Mary 2. In fact I might merge both trips together.
Business brains take the train
Prague to Istanbul, in three legs (stopping in Budapest and Bucharest). Great way to see new places!
Went from London to Innsbruck, got off at St. Anton, then on to Innsbruck. On the way back stopped off at Interlaken to go up to Grindelwald just to see the Eiger, then stopped off at Zurich just to see the tram network, from where we caught the wrong train and got thrown off somewhere in Belgium and had to backtack to Strazbourg and wait four hours in the middle of the night for the right train to Dover. Happy days, I heartily recommend it to anyone.
Done Interrailing all over Europe and also a pretty epic USA journey - NY > Washington > New Orleans > Memphis > Chicago > Niagara > NY in two weeks. That was fun 🙂
Aswan to Cairo, 1st class as that's all tourists are allowed to buy
The diarrhoea on the plane home was EPIC !!!
I've spent approximately 100 days and nights on Indian trains. Longest was 72hrs in 2nd class(mainly use this as its more entertaining). Did 24 in 3rd once which was hell for the night but great in the day. Rajdhani express is all 1st and fast between Delhi/Kolkata very good. I love nothing more than sitting in the open door clacking through the Indian countryside, never bores me.
Don't think anyone has mentioned Oslo - Bergen, the main line goes from sea level to around 1200m with the option from Myrdal to Flam going back from 1200m to 0m in about 45mins. Definately the best views I have ever had from a train ride and I think holds some record for steepest conventional line or something.
Aswan to Cairo, 1st class as that's all tourists are allowed to buyThe diarrhoea on the plane home was EPIC !!!
alexandria to siwa by bus is far far worse
Junkyard, yeah, we took a nightbus from cairo to luxor
No a/c. Crammed full of itinerant workers going home. Muslamic swan-based videos blaring all night and everybody shouting over that. All chewing nuts & gobbing/throwing the bits all round the place. Bog blocked and overflowing for the entire trip.
It was OK though - it was an "executive" bus so there must've been worse options I guess 😯
(also had a taxi trip across the desert by lake nasser. about 4hrs, blazing hot with some freshly bought fish on the back shelf. My wife nearly killed herself)
Done a couple.
Bangkok to Trang when the airports were closed, 2nd class. Not bad, bit sweaty, but quite an adventure.
London to Corsica - not quite up to what I expected, unfortunately. Didn't sleep much.
My sister's done Amtrak from Chicago to LA, IIRC, and thought it was great.
So yes, broadly, but depends on the route.
East Croydon to Eastbourne, 7 hrs of sitting on trains pretending I didn't work for a rail company after a landslip shut the main London to Brighton line and the coast way services got stuffed with a major signalling failure.
36hrs Jodhpur -> Margao in india, just don't eat the train catered food!
Also +1 for the whisky...
Glasgow-Oban or Glasgow-Ft William, I don't care if 5 hours isn't epic, but the potential to use those trains for hillwalking and biking epics is huge. That train is basically the party/holiday/mountain train.
I'm sitting in Vancouver at the moment waiting to fly home in a week's time and all I'm thinking about is getting on that train, I'm even fantasising about the cheeky halftime cigarette at the Crianlarich station while looking at up at Cruach Ardrain...
Done a few 24 hour trips and some shorter ones on Soviet trains - a bit boring but 12 hours on the train was usually preferably to awful plane rides.
Not the sort of trip you would do at the drop of a hat - a lot of paperwork required in Russia for even just staying in a hotel.
It's a lot easier now - you can book hotels all online and do the visa invite online too.
we went on 'sleeper' from bucharest to chisinau (moldova) this summer, old soviet rolling stock-- at the border at 4 am-- two sets of customs and immigration--then off to a shunting yard where the whole train is split up, your carriage is jacked up about ten feet , changing the boogies for different gauge-- then through moldovan countryside-- seemed like going back centuries-- all water from wells, every one on bicycles, the odd van-- now want to go cycle touring there-- train was ace-- hot cooked food,cold beer, proper coffee, all for buttons..
About 16 years ago
Shenzen to Beijing - 36hrs
Beijing to Xian - 24hrs
Xian to Guilin - forgotten
Can't remember scenery being inspiring (or visible), but meeting the people was superb
remembereed it now it was chernomorskoye to poltava - its actually to the east of kiev but you had to go into kiev and change trains....
train from chernomoskoye was sooooooo slow - and stopped randomly.
consisted of a bunch of hard wood wooden bench seats and a fan heater in each carridge and a woman with a tray of disgusting looking cling film wrapped "open sandwiches"
Transylvania to the Black Sea was quite pleasant. It trundled through the rather nice countryside at apparently walking pace. It had a proper buffet car serving the best (strongest) coffee I've ever had.
I remember thinking at the time that it put our shoddy overpriced railways to shame. As long as you weren't in too much of a hurry. Which we weren't.
The playground of Russian Gangsters, Oil Rich Saudi's and Eastern European hookers it delivered us into was an eye opener 😯
About 20 years ago on a trip around Peru we did:
Puno - Cusco (took about 4 hrs longer than scheduled, but the scenery was epic)
Cuzco - Agua Caliente (Machu Pichu) - again epic views, and the switchbacks to gain height out of Cuzco were interesting.
Also did
Cairo - Aswan on an overnight sleeper. Cabin for two - sounds like luxury but was actually a bit seedy.
I quite fancy doing St Petersberg to Beijing by train but would want a month or more to do it so I could get off and explore when I wanted (within reason). Mind you, I almost self-harmed on a 4-hour train ride from Brussels recently so maybe that's not a good idea.
Pretty much anywhere in the UK on the train on a Sunday is going to be an epic.
Personally, felling asleep on the last train to Croydon from Victoria and ending up in Brighton (during freshers week) ticked the box.
Also sleeper to Fort William (actually, it broke down about 5 miles short, so arrived in a coach.)
was also on one that did that
night train London-Glasgow, drunks kept pulling the emergency chain, so train was stuck before Watford for an hour or two, till the cops arrived to escort them off the train. Parents with kids going on and on and on about how brilliant it is to see the sun rise as the train crosses from England in to Scotland.
Then the train broke down at Carlisle (I think it stops for a while anyway, but this was a much longer while).
By now it was bright day light. So the aforementioned parents were whingeing and whining, because they'd been conned and missed a seriously crucial part of their away break.
Then we got towed in to Glasgow c/o a thunderbird. Obviously even in the days before GSM, news travels quickly, so Glasgow Central was swarming with anoraks with flasks of weak lemon drink, presumably due to the rare configuration of the arriving train.
Well over 12 hours for a journey that tbf I could have done during the day in less than half.
Done a few
Hayes (Kent) to Beijing, with stops
Mumbai to Trivandrum, again with stops
Bristol to Finale Ligure (with bikes to do the 24hr race)
Interrailing
Bristol to Barcelona
around Morocco
Sydney to Melbourne
Too many eurostar trips to rember
I love trains.
have been to edinburgh from swindon return quite a few times when i was young (went with my grandfather to visit his/my relations in edinburgh (he was born in the dean village).sadly those days are long gone 🙁
Did the Eurostar to Paris and then the TGV to Avignon which was fun sitting on the upper floor watching the country go past at 180mph. Not much to see though.
I was looking at the train from Oslo to Bergen, which is about 7hrs plus and goes through the most stunning landscape......sounds fab!
got sacked in cristobal(atlantic side of panama canal)- so was 'transferred ' to panama city via that railway that hugs the canal-- supposedly 'great train trip '-- no it wasn't, wooden bench in stifling heat, nowt to drink and endless 'jungle'--oh the odd glimpse of canal.
I did Manchester to Warsaw a few weeks ago
Manchester - Euston
St Pancras - Brussels - Cologne - Warsaw
It was a great way to travel. The time seemed to go quite fast, the trains were smooth (apart from the Cologne Warsaw sleeper)
Managed about 4 or 5 hours kip in a couchette
South of France by train is lovely: Eurostar to Paris, TGV to Nice, then we took the boat to Corsica.
Inverness to Euston on the sleeper - table service in the lounge car!
Couple of overnighters in Thailand.
My wife has done Moscow - Vladivostock. seven days, very slow and mostly boring, apparently.
Don't think anyone has mentioned Oslo - Bergen
I was about to. Did it three times. You'll see a dirt road coming and going as you cross the wilderness, and you'll really want to ride it 🙂
Regularly on the Caledonian Sleeper from work in Nottingham to home in Elgin - 12-14 hours each way. Most scenic parts are through Cumbria/Borders and through the Cairngorms (the stop on the way up at Aviemore always makes me want to get off and go climb/walk/run/bike...).
Calais to Bourg St Maurice on the ski train, the only scenery we saw was the inside of the party coach...
Venice to Paris Bercy, overnight.
Didn't see much really. Nice double sleeper. Good coffee wake up in the morning. Ate before departure so didn't use the restaurant car but had plenty of drinks. Very first world civilized.
My wife has done Moscow - Vladivostock. seven days, very slow and mostly boring, apparently.
she must have been sore !!
Trans Siberian Railway from Moscow to Perm 5 years ago. Was amazing, but very, very cold! 🙂
I like travelling by train.
Very relaxing.
Ive done some fairly big trips by trains - a couple in Vietnam & a couple in Africa, all overnight. Great fun. I saw lots of the countryside, you can get up & wander around, you get to meet all sorts! The African trains had a bar...that got messy..
Ive done the Sea to Sky in BC as well, very mellow..
Perth to London - ok until the border, then pretty dull there not being much int he way of scenery south of York
Rome to Naples - not really epic, but gps clocked nearly 200mph which is my personal best land speed time.
Some amazing journeys above; as long as you're prepared to rough it the train is a great way to see developing countries. My most 'epic' journey was Munich to Athens with a stopover in Zagreb. I seem to remember a lot of the conversation travelling through Yugoslavia (it was a while ago) consisted of listing Liverpool and Man.U football players with National Service lads. It was snowing in Athens when the guard woke me up as he checked the carriages with the train in the sidings 😕