Suggestions needed for international rail trip

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AAARGH!

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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.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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...
 
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.
 
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.
 
If you have any miles left over, the Netherlands is interesting and English is widely spoken. In 2016 I went to a conference in Amsterdam and every "coffee pause" I would try to just eavesdrop on Dutch colleagues and they would segue to English without missing a beat.

2002 - tramways a part of living history museum.
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2002 - branch line passenger service.
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2002 - The Dutch narrow-gauge museum!
IMG0066 (2).jpg
 
When in Holland I would definitely also recommend the Stoomtram Hoorn Medemblik, a steam powered tourist train running through some of the deepest farming land that you would otherwise probably never get to experience, authentically recreating the type of rural railroad lines that have practically vanished, but would have been commonplace 70 years ago or more.The cars have open balconies and standing on one of these is an experience well worth it.

And it's only a little more than an hour out from Amsterdam on the train, so you can easily do it as a day trip and maybe even combine it with something else, such as the pretty old town of Alkmaar for example, famous for its cheese market (which I believe is held every Friday, but I would recommend to check online before travelling).
 
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When in Holland I would definitely also recommend the Stoomtram Hoorn Medemblik, a steam powered tourist train running through some of the deepest farming land that you would otherwise probably never get to experience, authentically recreating the type of rural railroad lines that have practically vanished, but would have been commonplace 70 years ago or more.The cars have open balconies and standing on one of these is an experience well worth it.

And it's only a little more than an hour out from Amsterdam on the train, so you can easily do it as a day trip and maybe even combine it with something else, such as the pretty old town of Alkmaar for example, famous for its cheese market (which I believe is held every Friday, but I would recommend to check online before travelling).
I also recommend the above trip. You can look around the depot, and the signal box too.

tram1.jpg

tram3.jpg
 
If you were planning the perfect world high speed train or scenic railway tour, what would you plan?
I'd say the Spanish High Speed Rail system has more going for it. And plan it right some interesting cities to explore in between. Costs in Spain are more favourable. I find the food is better and plan it well, some nice places to stay.

Switzerland, yes. A definite wow factor but as others have said at a huge price for the three essentials on any trip - travel, something to eat and a bed each night.

Phil
 
My inclination would be Japan. We did a week there in 2005. Fantastic!!! If you are not used to it, the mobs of people can be overwhelming, but they are very orderly. We had been in Taiwan for 15 years by that time, so masses of people and customs were not that difficult to deal with, and I could read a certain amount. Learn and UNDERSTAND basic customs before you go. Be conscious of them and act accordingly. Do not be a slob or impolite. Get a Lonely Planet guide book for the country before you go. Currency conversions: My experience has been you get better rates if you do them on the non-US end. Hold back some US dollars. You can probably use credit cards for most things by now. Call your card company before you go and tell them about what you are going to be doing. Otherwise, if they see a bunch of surprise charges, they may freeze the account. You can, in a relatively short time ride all classes of trains from local to high speed. Get a rail pass, which must be bought before you go. Six days, if I remember correctly. The pass is good for all trains except the highest class of Shinkansens and sleepers. The clock starts the first day you use it, so if your stay is longer, make either the first or the last day a low milage day and pay for it directly. I also bought a Japan Railways timetable as quick as I could. It was in Japanese only, but a map is a map and numbers in the timetables are numbers (24 hour clock). Match the map shapes in the Lonely Planet book with the map shapes in the TT. Most, maybe all, station signs are duplicated in the Roman alphabet at the station, but not in the TT. Most recorded announcements in the larger stations are bi-lingual. However, non-recorded announcements may be in Japanese only. If that happens for the train you are about to take, and you see people getting out of the line, ask, in an apologetic tone and not in a real loud voice something to the effect of, "I am sorry, but I do not understand Japanese, could someone please tell me what is going on?" There were travel services offices in most stations, so we would make our hotel reservations essentially one day ahead only in order to be as flexible as practical in our planning. If you are uncomfortable with crowded conditions, go somewhere else first. That said, there are areas in Japan that are not too crowded. The North Island, Hokkaido is relatively uncrowded and beautiful.
 
Keep Australia on your list. I lived in New Zealand for 15 years - this is not a non-sequitor - and had the pleasure of riding the Ghan in Australia just before lockdown. The Ghan is three nights Darwin to Adelaide. (Engine in my photo. Better looking than the old guy blocking the view.). It was my first overnight on a train and it was and remains the best travel experience of my life. Great service, food, drink, off-train excursions, and scenery. Now, a word about the scenery. I took this trip because I specifically wanted to see the Australian outback, in this case the Red Centre. For those who equate scenery with mountains or lakes or rocky coasts this isn’t your best bet. The Australian outback looks like a lotta nuttin. You won’t even find a proper mountain in the whole country. So this may be a trip that is done for the novelty of the outback. I haven’t done the Indian Pacific (yet), but the experience would be similar. But, as I say, the Ghan was exactly what I wanted and way exceeded my expectations. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Now, New Zealand. I rode all the trains in New Zealand, including the short tourist excursion trains. The scenery is quite beautiful in some places, but you can say that about any part of the country. Keep in mind though that except for the Auckland - Wellington line the trips are all fairly short. ALK-WLG is about 10 hours/500 km. However, as nice as the scenery is, the service aboard the trains is pretty pedestrian. There are no compartments, no dining cars, no bar cars, just cafe cars. Some have decent food for a premium price that is served at your seat. We never did that since the trips were so short and the price difference was so large. (We were locals and locals have a different price tolerance than visitors, and we were ending up at home anyway and we could bbq our own steaks.). In other words, don’t expect the Orient Express, or even the California Zephyr.

My advice on New Zealand trains is to plan a trip to New Zealand to see New Zealand - and ride trains as part of the experience. By all means, visit New Zealand! You will love it. (Take money.). But if you want a sumptuous train trip in the southern hemisphere, The Ghan and the Indian Pacific are wonderful. If necessary, I will spend my last several thousand dollars to do The Ghan again, and maybe the Indian Pacific after that.

I can provide more detail but that’s way too much for my first post. But you hit me in my sweet spot and I couldn’t help myself. 😀
 
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...
True. I just returned from there and with how weak the Yen is right now it is kind of crazy how affordable it is these days.

Not on a lot of people's (well, Americans at least) radar, but Taiwan is both a super great country and has some cool train features for such a small island. High speed rail that runs on the west coast, higher speed lines on the east coast and some old scenic lines. The Pingxi line near Taipei is an old coal line that has been converted for tourism. Goes through old mining towns, right down the middle. The tracks are essentially the "Main Street" of the villages. Shifen is a popular destination on that line, where there are waterfalls nearby. My favorite is the Alishan Forest Railway that goes up to the Alishan National Scenic Area. It is an old logging railroad built over a century ago by the Japanese when they controlled the island. It is narrow gauge and has lots of winding turns and switchbacks as it rises from 30 meters altitude where it starts in Chiayi to Alishan at over 2,200 meters. A couple of smaller branch lines take five-minute rides within the park as well, and one of those lines has an extended early morning trip to a farther out spot for sunrise viewing. Another line is out of service and has been converted into a trail, but the tracks are still there as there is talk of reopening it.

There is also a cruise train that goes around the whole island in 13 hours. It's Disney themed, not to everyone's taste in that regard.
 
On my bucket list: Oslo to Bergen, by https://www.vy.no/en/traffic-and-routes/stations-and-network-maps/the-bergen-line. Probably whetted by a PBS "Great Railway Journeys" episode, or train porn, as my family calls it. (They like trains but don't love 'em as we do...for us, taking a long flight in order to ride trains is very normal.)
If you wish to do Oslo - Bergen I would recommend doing the Norway in a Nutshell tour to get the most relevant portions of the Bergenbahn and in addition get the Flombahn from Flom on the Fjord upto Myrdal on the Bergen Line, plus a steamer ride in a fjord.

The other line in Norway that I would recommend is the Rauma Line from Trondheim to Andalsnes on the fjord. And if you have more time and wish to claim bragging rights of crossing the arctic circle then the train between Trondheim and Bodo is worth it.

I have been on all three.
 
Agree with others that Switzerland and Japan are great options. They are my favorite 2 countries... certainly for rail travel... perhaps everything else too.

As long as you stay away from luxury hotels in Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan is very reasonable. Award tickets in premium classes will wipe out your million miles fast if going to Japan unfortunately. Sometimes you can find space to Korea.

Switzerland is tricky, but if you hit the right region at the right time, you can actually score some 5-star grand dames for a pretty good price. It is unfortunately an expensive country for almost everything except perhaps cheese :). If finding award space to Switzerland is not going well, consider Milan or Frankfurt as rail connections from there are pretty easy.

I have not ridden the cruise trains in Australia (but did ride the routes when they were more like Amtrak) and that also sounds promising (although scenery can be rather repetitive). Unfortunately, that's another difficult place to use your miles.
 
Not on a lot of people's (well, Americans at least) radar, but Taiwan is both a super great country and has some cool train features for such a small island. High speed rail that runs on the west coast, higher speed lines on the east coast and some old scenic lines. The Pingxi line near Taipei is an old coal line that has been converted for tourism. Goes through old mining towns, right down the middle. The tracks are essentially the "Main Street" of the villages. Shifen is a popular destination on that line, where there are waterfalls nearby. My favorite is the Alishan Forest Railway that goes up to the Alishan National Scenic Area. It is an old logging railroad built over a century ago by the Japanese when they controlled the island. It is narrow gauge and has lots of winding turns and switchbacks as it rises from 30 meters altitude where it starts in Chiayi to Alishan at over 2,200 meters. A couple of smaller branch lines take five-minute rides within the park as well, and one of those lines has an extended early morning trip to a farther out spot for sunrise viewing. Another line is out of service and has been converted into a trail, but the tracks are still there as there is talk of reopening it.

There is also a cruise train that goes around the whole island in 13 hours. It's Disney themed, not to everyone's taste in that regard.
Taiwan, Taiwan: I could talk about it for hours. I called it home from 1990 to 2007, although there was a 3 year hole in the middle for me not working there, but my family remained there. First 5 years on the Taipei MRT, the last 9 years on the Taiwan HSR, from line on a map to riding the trains. With the exception of one 3 km segment, managed to ride the entire railway system. The round the island train did not exist while I was there. In fact, the south end link making a round the island trip possible was built while I was there. The trains, etc. on the HSR are Shinkansen. When the structures were started, the equipment and operating basics were supposed to be some form of combination of French and German. The Europeans were ultimately invited to go away, and I will skip the why, to be replaced by the Shinkansen system trains, power, everything operational. Shinkansen trains were far and away the better choice, since they are single level, near car floor level platforms, so much faster unloading and loading. (Is this a non-problem in Europe?) 3&2 seating in coaches, with a premium car, forgot what they call it, having slightly wider 2&2 seating. I never had any problems fitting my 220 pound body into the seats in the 3&2 cars. (The platforms meet US ADA (American with Disabilities Act) horizontal gap and are just a few mm lower than the ADA vertical difference.) Speed is 300 km/hr (186 mph), excluding short distances at each end and all concrete base track, excepting about 2 km on the south end. Track gauge 1435 mm. (4 feet 8 1/2 inches). The remainder of the railway system is 1067 mm gauge (3 feet 6 inches), except the Alishan Railway which is 762 mm (2 feet 6 inches) track gauge. The West Side mains and the East Side mains (to at least Hualien. I do not know about south thereof) are double track and electrified 25kV 60Hz with speed limit of 130 km/hr (81 mph). The top trains are EMU's. At the time I was there, there were four classes of trains with the lower classes locomotive hauled, and the bottom level unairconditioned locals. All levels were reasonably comfortable. Nice seats, but no dining cars nor compartments in any class. When I was there, all but the bottom were reserved seat trains, but they would sell tickets beyond the seating capacity with the understanding that you would be standing unless there was an unoccupied seat. There was a limit, but I do not know what it was.

The terrain is quite rugged, particularly on the east side. The roughly 80 km between Suao and Hualien was not built until around 1980. Before that to get to the southeast part of the island from Taipei was either by boat or driving on a one to one and one half lane road best described as a fingernail scratch on the side of a cliff. (This road is now a reasonably good two lane highway.) When we were there the railroad was single track with multiple tunnels, but has been double tracked and electrified since. I think much of the second main in the more rugged sections is on a somewhat offset alignment with semi-parallel tunnels. Not on the railway, but a fascinating sight is Taroka Gorge which is not far from Hualien. The drive up through the gorge is best described as like seeing the Grand Canyon from the bottom. The road is now reasonably good and has quite a few tunnels so some of the gorge sights can no longer be seen from the road. When we were there, the road was another fingernail scratch on the side of a cliff. Much of this is still open only for walking and maybe bicycles.

A side note: The Taipei MRT, which was why I was there for the first 5 years, is the first urban transit system in Asia that meets all requirements of the US ADA. Everybody involved was quite proud of that. A major part of the first line built, the Tanshui line is on the alignment of what was a railway branch line to Tanshui from Taipei.
 
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