9 of the world's top tour operator itineraries by rail

Scotland’s West Highland Railway line has captured the imagination of visitors for over a century. It has even gained a new generation of followers thanks to the appearance of the 19th-century Glenfinnan Viaduct in the Harry Potter films. But there’s no wizardry here; just a serene, untouched wilderness. McKinlay Kidd’s Slowly Along the West Highland Line trip affords the time to soak it all in as you inch the tracks between Glasgow and Oban on the Scottish west coast, before taking boat trips to the Hebridean Islands and the Knoydart peninsula – one of the UK’s remotest and quietest spots. A private tour of the Isle of Skye completes the experience.

More information: McKinlay Kidd. Year-round (best Apr–Oct); nine nights from £1,745pp, including ferry travel.

The highlight of Trailfinders’ Western Cape & Wilderness by Luxury Rail tour is undoubtedly the days spent aboard the Pride of Africa train. Owned by private railway operator Rovos Rail, its sumptuous wood-panelled coaches and period Edwardian features speak to an era of rail travel when dining carriages, leather-backed chairs and fine china were de rigueur and it was all rather genteel. Visitors chug out of Cape Town, then rattle through winelands and mountains before crossing the vast semi-desert of the Karoo to visit the continent’s diamond capital, Kimberley. Four nights at the luxurious Ulusaba Safari Lodge in Sabi Sand Reserve are the icing on the cake, as you leave the tracks behind to spot the ‘Big Five’ on safari.

More information: Trailfinders. Year-round; 14 nights from £7,529pp, including international flights.

When the Belmond Andean Sleeper train launched back in 2017, it opened up the Peruvian Andes to luxury travel in a way we’d never experienced before. Llama Travel’s Grand Tour of Peru offers the option to make good use of this stately locomotive and its observation car on the overnight journey from Cusco to Lake Titicaca and its floating islands. Expect three weeks of forbidding mountains, shimmering altiplano and ancient history as you breeze through the mountains via the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, the condor-filled skies of Colca Canyon and the mysterious Nazca Lines. And if it all gets too much for you, a stint in the train’s piano bar or spa car will sort you out.

More information: Llama Travel. Mid-March to mid-November; 21 days from £3,929, including tickets for the Belmond Andean Sleeper and international flights.

Read next: South America's unforgettable train journeys

It’s never been easier to reach or get around Spain by rail, thanks to the boom in new high-speed routes and local services. Sunvil’s To Spain by Train and Return by Plane trip embraces the slow approach with an itinerary that starts in London before sliding down to Barcelona via Paris by train. From there, travellers head by rail to the last stronghold of the Spanish Moors, Granada, where the Alhambra recalls the height of the city’s medieval largesse. Stays in a 19th-century nobleman’s palace on the edge of the old town set a leisurely pace, with walks among the citadel filling your days, before swapping rails for four wheels and road trips among Andalucía’s white villages and the rugged wilderness of the Sierras Subbéticas Natural Park.

More information: Sunvil. Year-round; seven nights from £1,208pp, including international rail travel.

Parts of Colorado can feel like the past 150 years were just a dream. Bon Voyage’s Historic Trains of Colorado delves into the state’s Gold Rush past as you depart hip Denver for a ride on the 19th-century Georgetown Loop Railroad – one of Colorado’s first-ever visitor attractions. From there you will ride a series of old railroads that were built to transport gold and silver from the mines, skimming rocky hillsides on narrow-gauge tracks such as the Durango & Silverton and the Cumbres & Toltec routes. Expect side trips to Pikes Peak (the heart of the state’s 1850s Gold Rush), cowboy towns, unspoilt canyons and a trip across the continental divide on a journey that weaves through the Rocky Mountains and far back in time.

More information: Bon Voyage. Jun–Oct; seven nights from £3,850pp, including international flights.

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE) conjures everything that was special about the golden age of luxury rail, including carriages that have been restored from their 1920s and ’30s heyday. Abercrombie & Kent’s Venice and the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express trip spares no inch of glamour as you leave the canal-side romance and frescoed cathedrals of ‘La Serenissima’ for high life on the rails. The luxury on board is palpable in cabins replete with Art Deco designs and wood so polished that it gleams. Fine-dining meals accompany one of the most famous rail routes in history as you make for London via the Dolomites, before crossing the Channel and joining the Belmond British Pullman train for the final stretch.

More information: Abercrombie & Kent. Year-round (best: Mar–Nov); three nights from £4,750, including international flights.

The barren peaks of Mexico’s north-west are a rocky wonderland. At their heart is Copper Canyon, a labyrinthine mass of vaulting rock nearly four times the volume of the USA’s Grand Canyon. Through this winds one of North America’s most dramatic rail journeys: the El Chepe Express. Audley Travel’s Copper Canyon Train and Ixtapa-Zihuatenejo trip joins the train in El Fuerte, riding through rocky crag to the dizzying town of Bahuichivo (1,800m), followed by a night in the belly of the canyon at the tiny village of Cerocahui. Excursions include the Copper Canyon cable car and views over Balancing Rock, then the train ploughs on through the mountains to finish in Chihuahua, before a flight to the Pacific Coast shores of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.

More information: Audley Travel. Year-round (best: Nov–Jun); 14 days from £5,840pp, including international flights.

Discover the World’s Magnificent Norwegian Fjords by Rail trip sets off from London in search of the scenic landscapes and soaring fjords of Scandinavia. Travel via Cologne and Copenhagen before taking the train across the 8km-long Oresund Bridge to Sweden, where the buzzy coastal city of Gothenburg awaits. Then cross the Norwegian border to contrast the busy capital of Oslo with the sloping fjords of the coast on two of Europe’s most picturesque rail routes. Journey ‘Across the Roof of Norway’ on the Bergen Line to Myrdal, then twist and turn along Flam’s famous ‘Corkscrew Railway’ for sweeping views across the fjords below, followed by time in Bergen and Stavanger to explore the scenic coastline at your own pace.

More information: Discover the World. Apr–Oct; 12 nights from £2,098pp, including outbound rail travel; excluding flight on return.

Since South Korea’s first high-speed train service began in 2004, its rail network has expanded to over 4,000km; now KTX bullet trains cover huge swathes of the country. InsideAsia’s Essential South Korea takes full advantage of the nation’s wealth of rail routes, beginning in Seoul before zooming on to the old town of Gyeongju, known as the ‘Museum without Walls’ for its abundance of tombs, rock carvings, palaces and temples. From there, make for coastal city Busan and its retro Haeundae beach train – the world’s first battery-charged passenger locomotive – before returning to capital Seoul via KTX to explore its food, culture and mountainous fringes.

More information: InsideAsia. Year-round; seven nights from £1,143pp, excluding international flights.

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