These 14 Train Rides Prove the Journey Still Matters More Than the Destination

There’s something about a train that no other mode of travel can replicate. Maybe it’s the way strangers become companions over shared meals, or how the world outside the window shifts from city to canyon to sea without a single announcement. As travelers increasingly seek slower, more intentional ways to move, rail travel is enjoying a renaissance—and these 14 journeys are the ones that keep calling us back.

Take Turkey’s Doğu Express. Originally built to carry workers and soldiers across 800 miles from Ankara to Kars, it’s now a winter favorite among young Turks who string fairy lights through their compartments and picnic on baklava as snow-covered Anatolia rolls by. In Canada, the Rocky Mountaineer’s glass-domed cars turn the teal lakes and jagged peaks of British Columbia into a living postcard. Japan’s Seven Stars Kyushu is so exclusive that reservations require a lottery, with interiors paneled in rare woods and gold fixtures.

Closer to home, Amtrak’s California Zephyr cuts through seven states and 52 hours of Colorado canyons and Utah mesas. India’s Darjeeling Toy Train chugs uphill at just over four miles an hour, a rickety relic from the 1880s that still delivers tea-country views. And the newly revived Eastern & Oriental Express winds through Malaysian rainforests, with stops for Vespa tours of Penang.

Then there’s the Rovos Rail in South Africa, where formal dinners and open bars recall an era of unhurried elegance. The Alaska Railroad connects remote communities across 470 miles of glaciers and fjords, guided by local narrators who make the landscape come alive. Whether it’s the champagne-soaked glamour of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express or the stripped-down charm of a mail train in India, these rides remind us that the best part of travel isn’t just arriving—it’s the clatter of the tracks, the strangers you meet, and the view that keeps changing.