They say that to enjoy the journey, one has to enjoy the moment and the view. There is no other mode of transportation which can make you sit back, relax and enjoy the view more than riding a train. To get you started, here are the 5 world's most scenic rides:
Britain's most spectacular railway connects the ports of Mallaig on the West Coast of Scotland with Glasgow. The 90-minute journey weaves through lonely glens, somber lochs, castles and moors, before arriving at the aquamarine coast with views of the Small Isles Eigg, Muck, and Rum.
The original Rocky Mountaineer route from Vancouver to Calgary follows the 1885 Canadian Pacific train route through Western Canada and the Canadian Rockies. You'll see untouched wilderness: glacial lakes, turbulent rivers, black lava cliffs and canyons, bighorn sheep, and maybe even a black or grizzly bear.
The romantic eight-hour trip on this whimsical "Toy Train" from the Siliguri, in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas, to the hill station of Darjeeling offers views of Himalayan peaks as high as 7,000 plus feet. You'll pass through tea gardens, dense jungle, verdant valleys, and forests of maple, chestnut, cherry, pear, and cardamom trees on this two-foot wide, narrow-gauge line. This surely makes it to the cut as one of the 5 world's most scenic train rides.
Departing from Gloggnitz, the hour-long Semmering traverses the Austrian Alps' Semmering Pass to Murzzuschlag. Finished in 1854, before the age of dynamite and tunnel-drilling machines, it passes through 14 tunnels, all carved by hand into the rock, and through 16 viaducts. It's one of the masterpieces of civil engineering from the pioneering days of building rail.
Switzerland may be renowned for the punctuality and quality of its trains, but it's the majestic Alps, craggy and awe-inspiring against the brilliant blue sky, and sweeping chalet-and-cow-dotted green valleys that make the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz such a visual treat. This Fun Fact surely makes this train ride included in the 5 world's most scenic train rides; that the train crosses 291 bridges and plies through 91 tunnels and on its 7-hour journey.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
