Luxury train journeys around the world

India can be exhilarating, but it can also be logistically intense. Here, the train absorbs much of that complexity. You head out during the day into forts, courtyards and chaotic market streets, then return to a cabin, a prepared dinner and a bed that is already moving toward the next stop. We have sent travellers on this journey and it is one they tend to talk about afterwards not just for what they saw, but for how much ground it covered so smoothly.

2. Rocky Mountaineer, North America

Route: Vancouver → Banff / Lake Louise or Vancouver → Jasper, with other route combinations available
Length: Usually 2 days per route, with an overnight stop built in
Style: Scenic, glass-domed, daylight-focused
Best for: Travellers who care most about scenery and want to miss none of it

Rocky Mountaineer is different from the more nostalgic trains on this list because it is built around the landscape first. The key fact here is that it travels in daylight only, specifically so guests do not sleep through the most dramatic scenery. That overnight stop in a midpoint destination is part of the format.

That makes sense once you see the route. The train threads through the Canadian Rockies past rivers, forests, canyons and mountain passes, with glass-domed coaches designed for looking outward. This is less like a traditional sleeper train and more like a moving front-row seat to one of the world’s great landscapes.

For travellers who want the comfort of organised rail travel but are really choosing the trip for the scenery, this is a very strong contender.

3. The Ghan, Australia

Route: Adelaide → Alice Springs → Darwin
Length: 3 to 4 days, depending on the journey
Style: Outback, cinematic, all-inclusive
Best for: Travellers drawn to scale and contrast 

The Ghan is one of the clearest examples of a train making a country feel legible. The journey crosses nearly 3,000 kilometres through Australia’s interior, linking Adelaide with Darwin via Alice Springs. The longer Ghan Expedition runs 2,979 kilometres over four days and three nights.

What stays with people is the changing palette. South Australia’s drier plains shift into the red centre, then the landscape loosens again as the train heads toward the tropical north. The route has been running in some form since 1929, and in 2024 it marked 95 years of outback crossings.

There is a stripped-back grandeur to this trip. You are not taking it to rush anywhere. You are taking it because there is no better way to understand the size of Australia.

It is more than nostalgia, though. The design is the attraction, but so is the simple pleasure of moving across Europe by rail at a slower, more deliberate pace. This is one of the rare journeys where the cliché holds true: the train is the destination.

6. Rovos Rail, Africa

Route: Pretoria → Victoria Falls or Pretoria → Cape Town, among others
Length: 3 to 4 nights on some signature routes, with longer options available
Style: Classic, polished, old-school glamour
Best for: Travellers who want Southern Africa to unfold slowly outside the window

Rovos Rail is one of those journeys where the atmosphere matters almost as much as the landscape. The restored wood-panelled carriages, proper dining cars and long observation windows all create a feeling that rail travel should still be elegant.

The scenery is part of the point. On the Victoria Falls route, the train covers roughly 1,400 kilometres from Pretoria north into Zimbabwe. On the Cape Town route, highlights include Matjiesfontein and Kimberley’s Big Hole.

There is something especially satisfying about seeing Southern Africa this way. Rather than flying over the distance, you actually feel the geography change. Bushveld gives way to open country, towns thin out, and the scale of the region starts to make sense.