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Rail journeys recommendations

There’s just something romantic about travel by train. The rhythmic swaying, the views from the window, the alluring departures boards. Deep down, we are trainspotters all

Top 10 train trips

1. Make the massive journey from Moscow to Beijing on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Yes, a plane would be far faster – the Trans-Siberian Railway, ridden non-stop, takes around six days – but nothing else will give you such an intimate exposure to these unique landscapes, and the people that live in them.


2. Ride the highest railway in the world, across the Tibetan Plateau, from China to Lhasa. The line from Golmud to Tibetan capital Lhasa crosses some epic emptiness and tops out at a whopping 5,072m. Some detractors view it as a way to more easily populate the region with Han Chinese, but it's certainly an awe-inspiring (if literally breathtaking) ride.


3. Cross Australia from north to south – Darwin to Adelaide – on the legendary Ghan. This far-rambling railway is 2,979km long; it takes two days to ride in full, though stopping off midway at Alice Springs will allow you to stretch your legs and take in the red-rock marvel of Uluru.
   


4. Recreate belle epoque glamour by taking the train from London to Istanbul – the Orient Express on the cheap! It's easy to string together regular local services to join the two cities – perhaps routing via Paris, Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade. You might not get wood panels and waiter service, but you will get great views, interesting company and a chance to sample travel as it used to be.


5. Take the train to Africa: link London to Tangier and beyond. It's simple and sensational to reach another continent by rail – just jump on a sleeper train to Madrid, Spain, then on to Algeciras – where Morocco, and the whole of Africa, is just a short ferry ride away.


6. Explore India by rail – the best way to get round the subcontinent. It's a vast, complex, ingenious network – there are over 63,000km of tracks transporting millions of people. Board a commuter train into Mumbai for full-on train madness, or pootle up to a hill station on a narrow-gauge line to get away from it all.


7. Ride the rails from Bangkok to the south of Thailand for Asia without the tourists. Sharing carriages (and snacks) with locals, discovering ancient historic towns that no-one else seems to know about, trekking into little-visited national parks in search of Asian elephants... this is the real, backpacker-free Thailand.


8. InterRail around Europe – the classic way to see the continent. A range of railpasses enables you to plan your own, economical train odyssey for days, weeks, even months. Combine Europe's great cities (Paris, Rome, Prague...) with smaller local services to get deeper into a variety of countryside.


9. Take deep breaths on the lofty train ride from Lima into the Andes, Peru. This high-altitude line offers magnificent mountain scenery and supplementary oxygen, to help you cope with the 4,000m-plus heights.


10. Make tracks into Mexico’s Copper Canyon, one of the world’s most amazing rail rides. The line teeters over bridges with plunging gorge views before delivering you to the quirky communities at the canyon bottom – a great place to get off for adventure activities and cultural insight.

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