DESTINATIONS — escorted tours
S peed is of the essence on most train journeys – whether it’s a daily commute to work or a fun day out with friends, we just want to reach our destination in as little time as possible.
But that all changes when it comes to the world’s rather more impressive rail journeys: if travellers have dreamt about seeing the snowy heights of the Bernina Pass or traversing the vast red expanse of the Australian Outback, the last thing they want is to watch it whizzing past the window in a blur.
That’s why knowing how much time they are wiling to spend on the train is key to picking the right rail tour. Here, we take a look at train journeys lasting just a few hours, a few days or longer, so they can choose the adventure that’s right for them.
l DAY TOURS: EASY DOES IT
Rail tours don’t have to be epic adventures in far-flung lands to be worthy of attention – the
British Isles is home to a host of charming journeys.
“The UK is one of the best places to explore by rail,” according to Grand UK sales director Harold
Burke, who says rail tours such as Secrets of the
Manx Isle, which includes a handful of shorter journeys, are most popular with its over-55s audience.
“This tour epitomises the attraction for train enthusiasts, as it covers both modern and vintage eras of rail travel, including nostalgic rides on steam and electric railways.”
The seven-day tour takes the Snaefell
Mountain railway to the island’s highest point, from where it’s possible to see England,
Scotland, Wales and Ireland on a clear day, and the Isle of Man steam railway to the beach at
Port Erin (from £729).
The age of steam is not over on the
4 June 2015 — travelweekly.co.uk • 47

West Highland line
DESTINATIONS — escorted tours strathspey steam railway
Glacier express mainland either, if Rail
Discoveries’ five-day Yorkshire by
Steam itinerary is anything to go by. This nostalgic tour takes the
North Yorkshire Moors Railway through rolling countryside – once the backdrop for ITV drama
Heartbeat – and the Keighley &
Worth Valley railway through the rugged hills and wild moorlands of
Bronte country (from £295).
But it’s in the Scottish Highlands that British rail travel really comes to life, with tracks cutting through wild, mountainous landscapes otherwise inaccessible by road.
Newmarket Holidays finds its five-day Scottish Highland
Railways tour always receives great feedback from customers, bringing together the famous
West Highland Line from Fort
William to Mallaig, charming
Strathspey steam railway, and one of Scotland’s most scenic journeys, from Inverness to the
Kyle of Lochalsh (five days, from
£429, including flights to
Edinburgh).
Product director
Teresa Taylor says:
“This hugely popular holiday includes three rail journeys, all of which offer stunning varied scenery and the chance to travel journey remains an integral part of the Highland Rail Voyager tour to this day.
New to Railtrail’s
portfolio this year
– combining two of Scotland’s greatest assets
– is a Scottish
Highlands Steam
& Malt Trail, which not only journeys along both branches of the through areas totally inaccessible to cars and coaches.”
Taking the Kyle Line journey,
West Highland Line in autumn to see the scenery at its best, but ends with a journey across the Glenfinnan viaduct on over dramatic mountains and lochs, with Skye visible just across the strait, was enough to inspire Railtrail
Tours founder Dave
Felstead to set up his travel business 35 years ago, and the the Jacobite steam train. And best of all? Passengers aren’t driving, so they can enjoy a wee dram at the Oban and Glengoyne distilleries along the way (five days, from £445).
Across the
Channel, the
Continent is home to some of the most iconic trains from the golden age of rail travel – and none more so than the Glacier Express through the Swiss Alps. Famously the slowest express train in the world, this scenic service takes seven-and-a-half hours to travel
180 miles from the foothills of the
Matterhorn at Zermatt, through the 2,033m-high Oberalp Pass to chic Swiss town Saint Moritz.
It’s the focal point of Diamond
Rail Holidays’ Glacier Express
Winter Magic tour, though it’s just as beautiful – albeit in a different way – in summer, when Collette’s
Alpine Lakes and Scenic Trains tour operates. These itineraries also feature the Golden Pass panoramic train and breathtaking Bernina
Pass train across the Italian border.
Ffestiniog Travel’s equivalent –
Florence, Lake Garda & Swiss Alps
– includes a six-hour leg of the
Glacier Express from Samedan
48 • travelweekly.co.uk — 4 June 2015

DESTINATIONS — escorted tours indian Pacfic
Venice simplon-orient-express
Rocky Mountaineer to Brig, adding a Global InterRail
Pass for unlimited travel in Italy and first-class Swiss Pass for good measure (from £2,375 for
14 nights).
l A FEW DAYS:
SEE AND STAY
For real rail enthusiasts, it’s not a proper journey unless you pack a toothbrush, with longer routes giving passengers time to see the scenery change while they revel in the romance of travelling by rail.
Harking back to the elegance of the 1920s, the Venice Simplon-
Orient-Express is probably the most famous train in the world, with original art deco dining cars, vintage cabins, sublime cuisine and lively onboard entertainment.
The London to Venice route takes two days, and since the original carriages have a washbasin but no en suite facilities, that’s about the right amount of time for most people.
Just as iconic, the Rocky
Mountaineer carves a line through
Canada’s most impressive peaks.
Popular routes include the Journey
Through the Clouds, which ticks off landmarks such as Pyramid
Falls and Mount Robson, and
First Passage to the West, which traverses the Continental Divide.
Both are two-day journeys with an overnight at a hotel in Kamloops.
It’s always worth considering a rail journey rather than a domestic flight – not only does it mean clients see more than just clouds, but it can turn an otherwise unexciting transfer into a flagship
the Ghan part of the holiday. The crosscontinental journeys of The Ghan and Indian Pacific, for example, can link up multi-centre Australian itineraries without clients feeling like they are wasting their precious time Down Under transiting through airports.
Travel 2 product manager
Michael Creighton recommends taking a Rovos Rail trip in South
Africa, instead of flying from Cape
Town to Johannesburg. “There are a number of short rail journeys, with the main route from Cape
Town to Pretoria or vice versa,” he says. “This journey takes two nights, providing just enough time to have a real rail tour experience, yet short enough to fit into a tailor-made tour of South Africa.
“The train passes through some of South Africa’s most scenic areas, from Cape Town and the
Winelands to the vast expanse of the Karoo, before finishing in
Pretoria. There are sightseeing stops en route at the historic town of Matjiesfontein or at Kimberley to visit the diamond mines.” l EPIC JOURNEYS:
BUCKET LIST
Road trips tend to reign supreme in the States, but Route 66 isn’t the only way to cut across the
Diamond Rail Holidays offers a five-day Glacier Express Winter
Magic tour from £799, for departures in February or March
2016. The price includes return
Eurostar travel from St Pancras
International, four nights’ bedand-breakfast accommodation in
Interlaken, and a tour manager. diamondrailholidays.co.uk
Cape Town hotel, followed by two nights’ all-inclusive in a
Pullman Suite on the Rovos
Rail’s Cape Town to Pretoria route, from £1,599. The price includes outbound flights to
Cape Town and returning from
Johannesburg in September. travel2.com
Insight Vacations features an all-inclusive Gold Luxury tour, Grand Canadian Rockies, which includes two days on the
Rocky Mountaineer. Prices start at £5,625 including flights, 12 nights’ bed and breakfast, UK transfers and a tour leader. insightvacations.com/uk
Travel 2 offers three nights’ bed and breakfast at the SunSquare
The 14-day Moscow to Beijing
Trans-Siberian Railway Group
Tour from Regent Holidays includes six nights onboard the train, with time to explore
Lake Baikal, Terelj national park and an overnight stay in Ulaanbaatar. Prices start at £1,700, including accommodation, transfers, train travel, excursions, visas and an
English-speaking guide. regent-holidays.co.uk
50 • travelweekly.co.uk — 4 June 2015
Rovos Rail
4 June 2015 — travelweekly.co.uk • 51

trans-siberian
DESTINATIONS — escorted tours
Golden eagle
Danube express continent. Amtrak’s California
Zephyr travels nearly 2,500 miles from Chicago to San Francisco, via Denver, Salt Lake City and
Sacramento, so clients get a real sense of how the country transforms as they travel west.
Funway’s East Coast to West
Coast rail tour builds in time to explore, featuring hotel stays in eastern & oriental express each city (12 days, from £679, excluding flights). Great Rail
Journeys’ mammoth 21-day USA
Coast to Coast tour also includes the Zephyr, but adds three other
Amtrak journeys – Capitol Limited,
Southwest Chief and Coast
Starlight – along with the historic
Durango & Silverton Railroad,
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad and
Grand Canyon Railroad, for the ultimate rail adventure.
Over in Asia, the Eastern &
Oriental Express doesn’t quite have the same pedigree as its
European sister – its history stretches back only as far as the
1990s – but that doesn’t make it any less luxurious. The main route is a two-night run from
Singapore to Bangkok (three nights in reverse), but this year a
‘land-cruise’, The Fables of the
Peninsula, has been added.
The 60 guests start with a stay at the famous Raffles Singapore
Hotel, followed by a five-night journey through Malaysia and
Thailand, with excursions to Kuala
Lumpur and Penang, a night at a tea plantation in the Cameron
Highlands, and a tour of rural community Huay Yang.
But the most epic route in the east must surely be the Trans-
Siberian Railway, which is not only the longest rail journey in the world but also the best way to appreciate the vastness of Russia.
The railway encompasses three main routes: the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostock, and Trans-Mongolian and
Trans-Manchurian, which take different routes to Beijing. The
Vladivostock trip features six nights onboard, but tours should always incorporate time off the train so passengers don’t just rush through the Siberian scenery.
For clients with a cultural bent, rail tours can open up new destinations. The Golden Eagle
Danube Express famously became the first European private train to enter Iran, on its 11-night Heart of
Persia itinerary last year, visiting some of the country’s most ancient cities.
For clients still anxious about travelling through Iran, the luxury train also runs The Balkan Explorer, a 12-day tour from Istanbul to
Venice, via Greece, Macedonia,
Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and
Slovenia, taking in destinations not previously visited by a private train.
TW
52 • travelweekly.co.uk — 4 June 2015