The 7 most beautiful train journeys in the world

Some of the most spectacular scenery on earth wasn’t built for cars. It was built for trains — a century of rails carved through alpine passes, desert and rainforest so passengers could sit back and watch an entire country unspool outside the window.

These are seven of the most beautiful train journeys in the world, ranked from 07 to 01. Each is worth crossing a continent for. And for travel creators, each one is also a ready-made itinerary — a route your followers will actually want to book, with your links beside every hotel and rail ticket.

07 The Ghan — Australia

Three days, three thousand kilometres and the entire red heart of Australia between them. The Ghan runs from Adelaide in the south to Darwin on the Timor Sea, threading through vineyards, the MacDonnell Ranges and the spinifex desert around Alice Springs. Off-train excursions break up the journey — a sunrise cruise through Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge is the highlight.

06 TranzAlpine — New Zealand

If you want proof that a short ride can rival a legendary one, the TranzAlpine delivers. In roughly four and a half hours it crosses from Christchurch, over the Southern Alps via Arthur’s Pass, and down to Greymouth on the wild West Coast. River gorges, beech forest and dramatic viaducts flash past the panoramic windows before the train arrives at the Tasman Sea.

05 Trans-Siberian — Russia

The longest continuous railway on earth: roughly 9,289 km from Moscow to Vladivostok, crossed in about a week. Days of birch forest and steppe roll by, with the shore of Lake Baikal — the deepest lake on the planet — as the most photographed stretch. It’s less a train ride than a slow immersion in the scale of a continent.

04 Venice Simplon-Orient-Express — Europe

The train that defined luxury travel. Restored 1920s and ’30s carriages, Lalique glass panels, black-tie dinners and a brass-railed outdoor balcony. Routes connect London and Paris with Venice (and beyond), so you can step off the train straight onto a boat on the Grand Canal. One or two nights of pure, cinematic nostalgia.

03 Rocky Mountaineer — Canada

Daylight-only, glass-dome coaches and a front-row seat to the Canadian Rockies. The Rocky Mountaineer runs from Vancouver to Banff and Lake Louise (and Jasper), hugging rivers, passing glaciers and pausing overnight in Kamloops so you miss nothing in the dark. Expect turquoise water, eagles and snow-capped peaks for two straight days.

02 Hiram Bingham — Peru

The most glamorous way to reach Machu Picchu. The Hiram Bingham, a Belmond train styled like a 1920s Pullman, runs from near Cusco through the Urubamba Valley to the foot of the citadel, with brunch, live music and a pisco sour in hand. Andean ridges rise on both sides before the shuttle climbs to the ruins themselves.

01 Glacier Express — Switzerland

The “slowest express train in the world,” and arguably the most beautiful. The Glacier Express winds 291 km from Zermatt to St. Moritz in around eight hours, crossing 291 bridges and burrowing through 91 tunnels. Panoramic windows frame the deepest valley in Switzerland, the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 m and the famous Landwasser Viaduct — the image of European rail travel.

Turn each journey into a guide that earns

A post about these routes disappears. An itinerary keeps working. With your own app on Horizon, you can rebuild any of these journeys as an interactive guide — stops, map, photos and costs — and drop your affiliate links beside every hotel, rail ticket, tour and transfer.

Because every itinerary exports as a portable .travel file, one link works everywhere, and your followers can even import the whole trip into their own app. You’re not selling access; you’re placing your links in the exact moment someone decides to book — and Travelinfluencer keeps 0% of your commissions.

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