Travel Writers Vote for World's 10 Best Trains

North American and European trains prevail on SATW list

The Society of American Travel Writers recently polled its members (including moi) to come up with the “Top 10” train rides in the world in terms of excitement and scenery. SATW listed the world’s “Top 10” train rides in order of the number of votes. The top five of the top 10 include one in my own Colorado, three in two of my favorite countries (Switzerland and Canada) and one that I long to visit (Peru). In fact, every one of the top 10 is in the Western Hemisphere or Europe, which is tad odd considering how widely traveled SATW members are. In any case, these trains offer trips from multi-day rail excursions to a tourist ride of less than an hour.

Below are the Top 10 in SATW's words and a few of my images of trains that take travelers on such memorable journeys.

1. The Rocky Mountaineer offers spectacular two-day journeys through the Canadian Rocky Mountains from Vancouver to Banff or Jasper.

2. The Glacier Express is the famous Swiss mountain railway from St. Moritz to Zermatt, a 7 12-hour railway journey that crosses 291 bridges and burrows through 91 tunnels.

3. Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (top right) winds through rugged canyons in the remote wilderness of Colorado’s two-million-acre San Juan National Forest. The narrow-gauge train is pulled by a coal-fired, steam-powered locomotive along the same tracks traveled over a century ago by miners, cowboys and settlers of the Old West.

4. The Bernina Express from Chur, Switzerland to Tirano, Italy, makes the highest rail crossing of the Alps, passing from icy glaciers to palm-shaded piazzas in just a few hours. It crosses 196 bridges and passes through 55 tunnels, while winding around countless spectacular switchbacks. You can take the scenic stretch from St. Moritz to Tirano for lunch in Italy in just three hours.

5. Peru Rail, Cusco to Machu Picchu, carries passengers on a spectacular journey through the high Andes. There are three levels of service, from backpacker trains to Vistadome cars to the luxurious blue and gold Hiram Bingham train, named in honor of Hiram Bingham, the explorer who discovered the Inca citadel in 1911. The train passes by lush green fields and colorful villages in the foothills of the Andes and climbs along the Urubamba River through a dramatic canyon before reaching Machu Picchu.

6. The Coastal Classic Train on the Alaska Railroad winds through the wilderness between Anchorage and Seward. Massive glaciers are visible from the track as the train climbs into the Kenai Mountains and travels to the shores of Resurrection Bay for convenient connection to Kenai Fjords National Park, offering whale watching, sea kayaking, tidewater glacier viewing, fishing, and dog sled rides.

7. The Royal Scotsman rolls through the ever-changing landscapes of sweeping glens, towering peaks and mirror-calm lochs as the train weaves through wild countryside and along virgin stretches of coast on two to seven night journeys in the Scottish highlands.

8. The Whistler Mountaineer in Canada is a three-hour ride along the magnificent coast of British Columbia, from Vancouver to Whistler, famous for its views of cities, old-growth forests, deep valleys, snowcapped peaks and seascapes.

9. Mexico’s El Chepe ventures into the imposing landscapes of the Sierra Tarahumara and into Mexico’s famed Copper Canyon, passing through 87 tunnels and crossing 37 bridges. The Copper Canyon is four times the size of the Grand Canyon – and deeper.

10. The Flam Railway is regarded as one of the highlights of the “Norway in a Nutshell” tour. The 20-km-long train journey from the mountain station of Myrdal down to Flam, beside a fjord, takes 55 minutes. On the journey, you have views of some of the most magnificent mountain scenery in Norway with a panorama of tall mountains and cascading waterfalls. The train moves slowly or stops at the best views.