Suggestions needed for international rail trip

[AAARGH!]

I have a good problem. I now have over 1,000,000 frequent flyer miles split 70 / 30 between two major U.S. Airlines.

I'm thinking of doing 1 or 2 international rail journeys, 1 for high speed rail, the other for the most scenic routes. The sky's the limit. No destination is off limits.

If you were planning the perfect world high speed train or scenic railway tour, what would you plan?

As for scenery, I know the jungfrau (sp) line in Switzerland is up there.

For high speed, I'm thinking about the Japanese bullet trains and perhaps the French TGVs. Not sure about anything in China.

I've traveled on almost all the Amtrak long distance routes, so these trips will be international.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I have a good problem. I now have over 1,000,000 frequent flyer miles split 70 / 30 between two major U.S. Airlines.

I'm thinking of doing 1 or 2 international rail journeys, 1 for high speed rail, the other for the most scenic routes. The sky's the limit. No destination is off limits.

If you were planning the perfect world high speed train or scenic railway tour, what would you plan?

As for scenery, I know the jungfrau (sp) line in Switzerland is up there.

For high speed, I'm thinking about the Japanese bullet trains and perhaps the French TGVs. Not sure about anything in China.

I've traveled on almost all the Amtrak long distance routes, so these trips will be international.

Switzerland and Japan are great choices!

You also might consider the Alaska RR and VIAs Canadian between Vancouver and Toronto.

Peru has some great Scenery, and the Train ride to visit Macu Picchu is something else!

Mexico has the Copper Canyon Train between Los Mochis and Chihuahua, which is a Bucket List Trip also!

I haven't been on Chinese( lots of High Speed Trains) and Vietnamese Trains , but friends who have say they're really Fantastic!

 

[jiml]

Not high-speed, but either of the long-distance "cruise" trains in Australia are on many bucket lists.

 

[MARC Rider]

Switzerland and Japan are great choices!

I would agree on these two. You get a lot of variety of different types of trains and great scenery. Switzerland even has trains with panorama windows to get those good views of the Alps. Japan has the original Shinkansen, ekiben, and the added bonus of a truly foreign culture to see, also.

China might be interesting, too. They have a very extensive high speed rail network that even includes overnight HSR trains. But the visa requirements are complicated and I'm not sure about single travelers going off on their own, especially if they don't speak the language(s).

Morocco might be interesting. Not only do they have the famous "Marrakesh Express," they have a 320 km/hr high speed train Tangier to Casablanca. Interesting culture, and you can even hike on the International Appalachian Trail in the Atlas Mountains (which a geologically related to our own North American Appalachian Mountains.) One could combine that with a rail tour of Spain, which has high-speed rail, at least three operating gauges, and interesting culture as well.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Since you have all those flyer miles, sounds like someplace far from the US would be the best use. East Asia has a lot of possibilities - Japan, Thailand, Vietnam. I have heard Indonesia has some good trains. As mentioned the cruise trains in Australia such as the Indian Pacific. Also New Zealand. The hard part will be whittling down the list.

 

[John Bredin]

I haven't been there, but a coworker recently returned from a trip to Japan and she was singing the praises of the place. She was with a tour group but they went everywhere by train, and she was impressed by the trains. More interestingly, she said the trip was inexpensive, which pleasantly surprised me because I've always heard Japan is expensive.

 

[cirdan]

China might be interesting, too. They have a very extensive high speed rail network that even includes overnight HSR trains. But the visa requirements are complicated and I'm not sure about single travelers going off on their own, especially if they don't speak the language(s).

I have a friend who did exactly that. This was just before Covid, in 2019, but i don't think that should have much effect.

He travelled with a friend and said they were just fine. Once inside the country he said they could travel wherever they wanted and no questions were asked. He seems to have avoided the high speed lines mostly and gone off the trodden path on conventional trains, stopping off at smaller stations to photograph trains, staying in places that obviously didn't see many tourists and where the hotels were rather basic. Although he did have one or two unpleasant encounters, he said people were for the most part very friendly and keen to help. Especially railroad workers were very happy to see that somebody was interested in their work and were proud to explain things and to show off how well they were doing their job. He even got to ride on a freight locomotive once. He only knew a handful of the most basic of Chinese words and got by mostly with translation software and miming and goodwill.

I guess one's personal mileage may vary with the limits of one's personal comfort zone.

 

[caravanman]

I haven't been there, but a coworker recently returned from a trip to Japan and she was singing the praises of the place. She was with a tour group but they went everywhere by train, and she was impressed by the trains. More interestingly, she said the trip was inexpensive, which pleasantly surprised me because I've always heard Japan is expensive.

I met a Brazilian older chap in one of the hostels in America on my recent trip. He was on a "world wide budget trip", and he also mentioned that Japan was not as expensive as he had heard...

 

[JamesWhitcombRiley]

Shanghai has the maglev from the airport. World's only high speed maglev. It's fast, but not the fastest train you can take. For some reason a few years ago they bumped the speed down from 268 mph to 186 mph, maybe to reduce maintenance? It runs 19 miles.

Japan has a maglev that's even shorter, less than 6 miles, at 62 mph, on a 6% grade. It's quiet, a benefit maybe not discussed much these days. When Amtrak announced the Superliners in the 1970's, it promoted less noise upstairs.

 

[Steve4031]

There is a website call man in seat61. Here is the link. https://www.seat61.com/

This website discusses the nuts and bolts of booking travel in every country in the world.

The two easiest country to plan trips in are Switzerland and Japan. I have traveled in both countries. In Switzerland you can purchase a swiss pass that is good on all train routes and public transportation such as busses and trams. You can check schedules easily, and you do not need to make reservations for most trains in Switzerland. Hotels are expensive in Switzerland. Hyatt has two solid properties at the Zurich Airport. Otherwise, I would try the Accor hotel group to book hotels in other parts of Switzerland. The scenery in Switzerland is jaw dropping great. The seats align with the windows on swiss trains. International trains to other countries requires reservations.

Japan is amazing for its bullet train network. The Limited Express trains are great for exploring scenic routes. The seats align with the windows on nearly every train. You can make reservations for free at any train station in Japan. The bullet trains run on very frequent headways. Possible 15 minute headways on each Shinkansen line out of Tokyo.


You can use google translate to communicate with the Japanese and they are very willing to help. One amazing example was my experiences at several McDonals. I used Google Translate to order two cheeseburgers with ketchup only and fries with extra salt. Every time my order came out correctly made and with better quality than in the United States. My order routinely gets screwed up in the United States. I also used Yelp to find japanese restaurants off the beaten tourist track. I walked into one and the servers had an "oh no what do we do look". I used Google translate and pointing at the pictures in the menu. The person waiting on me was again very helpful.

Tokyo is an amazing, possibly overwhelming city. The city is crisscrossed by subway lines and commuter lines. Your rail pass is good on the commuter lines. The signs are in English and in the Japanes symbols. Shinjuku station serves 4 million passengers a day which I believe makes it the busiest station in the world. I have made wrong turns on each of my trips in Shinjuku. I came out of the wrong exit but was eventually able to get my bearings.

If you have not been out of the USA, Switzerand is a good first choice. Japan would be good for your second choice. There are youtube videos about train travel in both countries.