My most memorable train ride: 10 readers’ travel tips | Rail travel

Profitable tip: Etna circuit, Sicily

The 68-mile journey spherical Mount Etna in japanese Sicily was filled with contrasts: the grim black landscapes of the lava fields; lush valleys lined in fig, orange, pistachio and olive groves; the almost-abandoned villages and stations initially and the busyness of Catania. Etna was always in sight, typically belching out black smoke. On the early stretch from Riposto to Randozzo there have been few folks inside or out. At Randozzo we grabbed a fast espresso on the buffet earlier than altering to a contemporary practice to proceed to Catania. The surroundings regularly develop into extra city and we moved ahead in time at the very least a century.
• circumetnea.it, single underneath €10
Hilary

Life classes, Yangon

A 3-hour journey on Yangon’s Round Railway is arguably essentially the most culturally immersive expertise you may have in Myanmar’s capital. This busy, native commuter line supplies a window into the on a regular basis lives of Myanman folks as males, girls and youngsters leap on and off the rickety, wood carriages and contemporary meals distributors create transient, bustling markets. Amid the chaos there may be some calm: a younger monk studying; the luxurious inexperienced surroundings of rice fields and rural villages; an area man ambling barefoot alongside the tracks. Value: solely 11p! (buy on platform).
Katy

Not often noticed mountain practice, Sardinia

The adventurous traveller will attempt to catch a practice from Sassari to Tempio Pausania in northern Sardinia. They often seem on the treninoverde.com web site, however not in these Covid occasions. They might run solely as soon as every week within the top of the summer time, however discovering one is nicely well worth the effort. A single classic railcar toils up into the distant mountains by narrowing aspect valleys till, surprise of wonders, it climbs right into a spiral tunnel, passing over itself earlier than dashing throughout a plateau to the cathedral metropolis of Tempio and its near-derelict artwork deco station. It prices round €20 together with, if wished, a much-speedier return by bus.
Robert Goundry

America’s biggest hits

In 2012 I took the Amtrak Empire Builder route from Chicago’s Union Station to Seattle (singles from $150). It takes two days, however you may be rewarded with a biggest hits compilation of American surroundings: the Minneapolis skyline, the infinite plains of North Dakota and the spotlight, Glacier national park. You’ll judder into stations like Fargo and Wolf Level and end up making buddies with a vibrant assortment of fellow passengers. Sleeper vehicles can be found, however why sleep while you’re chatting to a photographer from the Twin Cities, a trombone participant headed to North Dakota or an acupuncturist from Hell (Michigan)?
Adam McCulloch

Calm in Carmarthenshire

My most memorable practice journey lately took me from Hendy-gwyn (actually Outdated White Home, often known as Whitland) to Cardiff, by Carmarthen. The only-carriage practice pulled unassumingly into the station and I boarded, together with one different individual. It was essentially the most calming journey: we trundled by a wonderful, hazy panorama, underneath looming hills dotted with timber and small cities. I don’t assume both of us stopped searching of the window. Whereas this 12 months could make us lust for landscapes on the opposite aspect of the world, it’s additionally proven how a lot we’ve to discover on our personal little island.
• tfwrail.wales, single from £28
Cath

Snow as much as the home windows, Norway

Bergen to Oslo is frequently voted one of the best practice journey on the planet. Norway will be eye wateringly costly however this eight-hour journey value about £35 and the views have been unbelievable as we crossed excessive mountain passes. The engine had an enormous snow plough on the entrance and as we handed by the very best station in Europe the snow got here as much as the home windows. The roofs of summer time cabins poked by the drifts right here and there and at one level we stopped by a resort the place a person on a skidoo got here to gather important provides. He was the one signal of life for miles however as we descended the snow melted and birds and people got here again in to view. By the point we reached the outskirts of Oslo it was spring once more.
• Vy.no
Amy Williams

Music, meringues and merriment, Colombia

The Sunday practice from Bogota to Zipaquirá’s Salt Cathedral was filled with excited passengers. The carriages, as outdated because the puffing steam engine, had grand leather-based seats. Tannoy bulletins flowed thick and quick in Spanish, however a close-by teenager interpreted for us. On the two-hour, 50km journey we have been entertained by full of life, loud jazz and soul bands strolling by the carriages with passengers dancing within the aisles whereas distributors provided plantain-wrapped tamales, Colombian tinto (espresso), empanadas and large, creamy white merengon (meringues) for a number of pesos. The spotlight was meant to be the cathedral.
• turistren.com.co, rail.cc/blog
Roy Messenger

Epic expanses, Mongolia

I travelled by practice from Hanoi to Berlin, and the huge expanse of Mongolia is of such epic proportions that it typically appears that the curve of the planet is seen over the horizon. Horses gallop alongside the practice earlier than altering course and melting into the space, whereas at different occasions there’s only one, loaded down with a rider and a few baggage. Often a yurt or cluster of yurts group collectively in the midst of corn farms spanning miles and miles. All the things is large, panoramic, and when you see the sundown, no phrases can aptly describe what it’s prefer to expertise Mongolia.
• Tickets booked by way of Real Russia
Debbie Clare

Bears, elks and a child, Canada

We selected the Skeena train to get us from Jasper, Alberta to the Pacific at Prince Rupert moderately than one of many costly vacationer trains that cross the Rockies. It’s a sluggish native practice whose two-day journey stops at remoted tiny communities, many with names indicating their First Nations previous, and an in a single day cease at Prince George, the one city on the route. Alongside the best way, due to the conductor, we noticed bears and different wildlife within the wilderness, noticed elk invading somebody’s backyard and realized that the inhabitants on the subsequent cease had simply elevated to 13, for the reason that start of a child boy. The only fare after we travelled was $99.
• viarail.ca
Michael Wilson

Jungle journey, Madagascar

Journey between Fianarantsoa within the highlands and the Madagascan coast at Manakara is sluggish. Jungle stations are fully inaccessible by street. Because the practice approaches, crowds seem: males to load and unload produce, youngsters and ladies to promote snacks, drinks, or peppercorns. There isn’t a timetable. The journey of 163km takes at the very least 11 hours, typically for much longer. A honking horn clears the traditional tracks of individuals and animals. The 1930s Swiss carriages screech as they slowly descend by wooded ravines. Waterfalls and rivers sparkle in brilliant solar till sudden dusk. The journey ends with occasional mild from villages or fireflies.
• madagascartravel.com
Debbie Rolls