When it comes to travel people often look for the quickest, easiest & most comfortable way to get to a place. Rail tours are time-consuming & are not always the most comfortable means of transport, which is why often people are often put off with the idea altogether & dismiss it without any consideration at all. The problem with this way of thinking is that they are not understanding that in today’s day & age a rail tour is not just a method of transportation. It is something we do for the experience & not just to get from point A to point B – Airlines are for that. A Rail tour should really be more compared to the likes of a Cruise, something we do for the experience & something we’re meant to enjoy. Given, sometimes it’s not necessarily the most comfortable way to travel however this as well can be taken into consideration & will depend on the type of tour or train you chose. Believe me, some of the most amazing destinations are covered by Luxurious railtours which will make you wish the journey would last just a little bit longer… and longer… and yet again longer. Don’t worry though, I have the perfect solution for such a dilemma: simply end your rail tour with an amazing stay in an amazing hotel! This will give you a little time to experience & explore your end destination, in short: just add-on a mini city break (who says you can’t have it all?) ;P

Personally I’m a big fan of travelling by rail. One of my funniest experiences and best memories involve hitching a ride with my mom in the locomotive/driver’s car of a freight train on one occasion after missing the last passenger train in Austria but that’s a story for another time. Being Austrian-Canadian and living in a place located high up in the Mountains of Austria I am no stranger to this. I used to get up at 6 in the morning to take the train to school during part of my school years in Austria, later I would take the train halfway across the country to get to and from my convent school towards week-end and begin. I never had a problem with this and always enjoyed the ride. Watching the world pass by and being given the chance to actually take the time to admire the view from the window, the fields, mountains, flowers, trees and lakes passing by and have an excuse to day dream as it all passes by sounds amazing to me.

My most recent rail trip was to the Spirit Hotel in a thermal village called Sarvar located in Hungary, which you can read about here. You’ll also find a couple of tips on how to save bigtime when going on a railtour in Europe which is what I was able to do on another occasion during a trip from Brussels to Amsterdam, so definitely a good read.

The Semmeringbahn and Erlebnisbahn (Austria)

Before I go into detail about the many amazing railtour possibilities around the world I would like to take this opportunity to mention the Semmeringbahn, which is the route I am fortunate enough to have been able to take to school for a couple of years and am still able to enjoy when I come home for a visit. For those of you looking to enjoy a short but lovely, scenic and historic rail tour I would suggest this one. You can enjoy a lovely city break in Vienna followed by an escape to nature by hopping onto one of these trains which will take you to a quiet Austrian Mountain resort you could only dream about.

The ride will take you between an hour or two depending on the train you catch. If you are lucky (or well prepared) you will be able to hop onto a railjet, which will take you directly from Wien Meidling to Semmering in an hour and 11 minutes without having to change lines for about €20. My tip of the day is to try to take this ride on the Erlebnisbahn, a tribute service to Steam Locomotives which will provide a day trip from Vienna to Semmering and back. The scenic bit is located between Gloggnitz and Mürzzuschlag (41km) and was the first mountain railway in Europe ever built. A UNESCO world heritage site since 1998, it is often referred to as the world’s first true mountain railway due to the difficult terrain and altitude difference. It features 16 viaducts, 14 tunnels and over 100 curved stone bridges, interestingly enough is that most train stations along this route were constructed using waste material produced from the tunnel construction. It was constructed between 1848 and 1854 by 20,000 workers and this remarkable piece of construction contributed significantly to the original opening of Semmering region for tourism (Wikipedia). **At this point I would like to mention that they will be celebrating the 160th anniversary of the Semmeringbahn with a locomotive trip on June 8th 2014, get in touch for more details.**

I love the flair of Semmering in general simply because of its rich history and strong evidence of its popularity during the 19th and 20th century by posters such as the ones I have included in this section. Remarkable mansions were constructed in an architectural style which is featured an books such as “Villenarchitektur am Semmering” by Günther Buchinger. During this time Semmering was able to boast not one, but 2 Grand Hotels including the remarkable Südbahn Hotel which you can read about in my post about the Historic Railway Grand Hotels. We had the first alpine Swimming facility, Casino, annual motor vehicle rally’s (we still host annual Oldtimer and Ferrari treffen/meetups), ski and sledging facilities, a renown hospitality school and college and the thing which made it all accessible: the Semmeringbahn. As a former upper class weekend destination for the noble and Viennese high society, Semmering offers all kinds of facilities today including a Golf course (6km), indoor Tennis Court (2km) and state of the art Ski facilities which includes Europe’s brightest slope for Night Skiing. For a place with such history Semmering is surprisingly authentic and not touristy at all during the year, its busiest period being the winter and when it hosts the Ski World Cup for Women every second year. We offer luxury apartments in our Villa so please do not hesitate to let me know if you’d ever like to visit Semmering.

Ok… on to the rest of the world:

Travelling by rail in Europe

I’m not going to go into too much detail about travelling by rail in Europe except that I definitely want to mention how super convenient and easy it is once you get the hang of it! In my opinion this is the best (!) way to experience and explore Europe. Travel by rail is 100% normal in Europe and therefore as safe as any other means of public transportation. People in Austria for example commute to and from work and it’s no different in the rest of Europe, trains run all over and I can’t think of a more comfortable way to travel (just go to the station, get your ticket, hop on and enjoy the ride). There are loads of ways to save on these trips and plenty of promotions such as the Euro Spar-Scheine in Austria in which you can go from Vienna to Switzerland or Paris starting at €19 per person! Other great promotions in Austria include the Einfach-raus! (get me outta here) tickets in which groups of up to 2-5 can travel on one ticket of €35. Most train stations in Austria have been completely redone, are modern and feature automated machines in which you can purchase tickets directly (yes, language selection is possible on these as well). Given it can get a little confusing when you’re travelling between countries with different languages and currencies but as long as you’re not rushing and take/have the time to explore the station you should be fine.

The Eurostar and hi-speed trains

Now what would a post about railways be without a mention of the Eurostar? This, in my opinion, is seriously one of the most convenient and greatest inventions of all time. Back in the day when I lived in Brussels it often was a lot more comfortable, convenient and less expensive (or equivalent) to just hop onto the Eurostar to London instead of trying to go through the ordeal of searching for a flight and commuting to and from the airports. While airline travel can be considered efficient and quick, a trip on the Eurostar between London and Paris or Brussels is relaxing and actually even a lot more convenient just because you go from city centre to city centre and can save the commute to and from the airports (which is usually also quite expensive considering it’s usually just around a 30 minute journey). Because it’s considered international travel you still have to go through considerable security but the whole experience is just more easy-going and at a slower pace, people seem more chilled. Another thing I like about traveling on the Eurostar is I often would meet a lot of interesting people and have a nice conversation simply because they, like me, had the time to chat during the trip and did I mention it only takes around 2 hours and goes from Brussels, Paris, Eurodisney and Bruges to London and vice versa?!? These hi-speed trains by the way are also common in Europe and other countries like China and Japan in which you are able to cross the whole country in a fast, comfortable and convenient way without letting anything pass you by (you might want to check my Japan Rail Pass section for amazing savings on rail tours in Japan).

Trans-Siberian Railway

A rail tour can enable you to actually physically cross an entire country or even continent if you wish. Routes such as the Trans-Siberian Railway take you all the way from St. Petersburg in Russia to Beijing, China of the sea of Japan by crossing the longest railway line in the world (9289km). There are 3 possible routes to choose from: the Trans-Siberian line (Moscow to Vladivostok) on which you can connect to North Korea from Ussuriysk (6-9 additional days), the Trans-Manchurian line (Moscow-Beijing) and the Trans-Mongolian line (Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia). By crossing 7 time zones on a journey which takes a minimum of 8 days one must understand that they are not just going from A to B but conquering an entire continent by completing this journey. If you want to try a kind of cool (and maybe a bit corny) virtual tour of the Russian Railway you can click here, I found it amusing anyway… ;D

For all you luxury fans out there I could suggest the following:

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Europe – the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

The roaring 20’s is often referred to as the golden age of travel, especially in the world of rail tours in which celebrities were transported on a “palace on wheels” however these elements have remained true to the heart and can still very much still be enjoyed on one of these journeys. With routes such as London-Venice, Venice-Paris, Budapest-London or Paris, Istanbul-Bucharest-Budapest-Venice, Paris-Budapest-Bucharest-Istanbul and others including Brussels, Vienna and Prague honestly the sky is the limit on the countless possibilities of experiencing and exploring Europe in an unforgettable way.

 UK – The Belmond British Pullman and Northern Belle

Similar to the above mentioned Orient Express, these luxury trains have remained true to the golden age of travel and offer historic destinations throughout the UK and weekend breaks and experiences such as Wine Tasting Dinners, Travel with Dinner, Murder Mystery Lunches, Rat Pack on the Tracks dinner only to mention a few and prices for such packages range from as low as £185 per person to £1150 for a weekend away including rail tour, brunch, lunch and dinner as well as the transfer, hotel, excursions and return transfer by skybus.

Scotland – The Royal Scotsman

The flair and essence of Scotland are the theme of this luxury railtour experience which will take you all across the highlands to experience the magic of all that Scotland has to offer. With various Scottish-themed routes to choose from you can embark on a Whisky journey, a Golf tour and of course the Highland journey. In case you would like to explore the whole of the UK, England and Scotland included you may take the Grand Tour of Great Britain which departs and concludes in Edinburgh after doing a round of the entire country. Prices on the Royal Scotsman range from £900 to £8930 for the whole shabang of the entire country.

South East Asia – The Eastern and Oriental Express

Similar to the previous mentioned luxury services the Eastern and Oriental Express offers you South East Asia on a silver platter. With routes to include Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Laos are able to select the route of your choice from £1310 to £5700 per person, please note these prices include very luxurious accommodation and pretty much anything you need over the duration of your journey.

South America – The Belmond Hiram Bingham

I suppose Peru and the Machu Picchu is one of those destinations that everyone would like to experience once in their lifetime and tick it off their bucket list. Personally I’m no exception to this and I guess to do this on a luxury train I suppose is like hitting two birds with one stone (it’s an expression guys, no birds were harmed in the composing of this post… or ever). Named after the explorer that made the Machu Picchu known to the public, this train follows a route from Cuzco to Machu Picchu and takes about 3 and a half hours per journey (seriously, check out that bar!).

Canada – The Rocky Mountaineer

Finally, what kind of Austrian-Canadian would I be if I didn’t take this opportunity to provide Canada with the chance to introduce the opportunity to experience the great Canadiana it in all it’s glory – via the Rocky Mountaineer. You can hop on in the US if you like in Seattle, which will take you up to explore Canada starting from Vancouver. There are a couple of tour options available which will include things to do in the various areas as well including Circle tours (as in covering a big circle on the map), One-Way tours (point A to point B), Trans-Canada-Tours, Rail and Drive tours (for those of you that want the freedom to also explore a bit on your own) and Canadian Rockies and Coastal Highlight packages.

I don’t imagine I need to mention that all of these luxury railway services boast luxurious comfort, breath-taking scenery and mouth-watering cuisine but just for the record… ok, I mentioned it. Please feel free to let me know if you’d like some more information on any of these experiences or if you’d like to go and explore on your own via rail and need a bit of advice, is my pleasure to assist you.

Inspired? [jbutton color=”blue” link=”http://www.thoryatravel.com/contact/” newpage=”yes”]get in touch now[/jbutton] to arrange your free consultation and first step towards your personal travel experience!