980 Express from Cairo to Aswan
The early-morning express departs frenetic Cairo, heading south alongside the palmed-fringed River Nile for a relaxing 13 hours. Out of the window, farmers tend their flock as the train makes its way to Aswan, famed for white-sailed feluccas and Nubian villages.
See all hotels in Cairo See all hotels in Aswan Eurostar from London to Paris
Europe’s longest champagne bar at St Pancras Station sets the tone for this 2¼-hour high-speed journey. The slick train dips into the tunnel for a 20-minute foray under the English Channel, to emerge into France and for you to say “bonjour” to Paris’s Gare du Nord.
See all hotels in London See all hotels in Paris Toy train from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling
The tiny single-gauge railway, now a World Heritage Site, ambles up to the hill station at Darjeeling at 10km/hour, slow enough to photograph green hills, hairpin bends and lush forests. It stops at Ghum, the world’s second-highest station at 2,258m.
See all hotels in Darjeeling The Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver
Great lakes, deep gorges and the dramatic snow-capped Rockies are your scenery on the three-day journey on this sleek, stainless steel train. The dining cars are Art Deco – but you’ll probably be more fascinated trying to catch sight of prairie dogs and elks as eagles soar overhead.
See all hotels in Toronto See all hotels in Vancouver Tokaido bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka
This famous high-speed train whizzes six times hourly past Mount Fuji at 186mph – blink and you’ll miss it. The beauty is its enviable punctuality, arriving within six seconds of its schedule time in an effortless display of efficiency and technology.
See all hotels in Tokyo See all hotels in Osaka West Highland Line from Glasgow to Mallaig
This route’s romance and beauty make it one of the top 10 train trips in the world. Leaving metropolitan Glasgow, it passes freshwater lochs and fields dotted with Highland cattle, with Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, a prominent landmark. From the fishing port of Mallaig, ferries travel to Skye.
See all hotels in Glasgow Qingzang railway from Shanghai to Lhasa
It’s a 50-hour journey on the world’s highest railway – with cabins equipped with oxygen masks. Get ready for the dimpled mountains dazzling with snow on the Tibetan plateau and glaciered Tanggula Mountain, before descending into Lhasa.
See all hotels in Shanghai See all hotels in Lhasa Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Los Angeles
This 2,000-mile route from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific has been going for over a century. The top of the double-decker carriages, and the glass-sided lounge car, offer the best views of the Texas plains and the Arizona desert.
See all hotels in New Orleans See all hotels in Los Angeles Hiram Bingham from Cusco to Machu Picchu
The weekly luxury train is the tourists’ easier alternative to reach Machu Picchu. Grab a seat in the observation car, partially open to the elements, for the best photo opportunities of the Urubamba river and Sacred Valley.
See all hotels in Machu Picchu Glacier Express from Zermatt to St Moritz
Linking these two famous resorts, in seven hours, the train crosses 291 bridges and goes through 91 tunnels – hardly surprising as this a panoramic spiralling journey through the jagged Swiss Alps at 2,000m altitude.
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