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

Successful 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 continually in sight, usually belching out black smoke. On the early stretch from Riposto to Randozzo there have been few individuals 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 step by step grow to be extra city and we moved ahead in time at the least a century.
• circumetnea.it, single beneath €10
Hilary

Life classes, Yangon

A 3-hour journey on Yangon’s Round Railway is arguably probably the most culturally immersive expertise you possibly can have in Myanmar’s capital. This busy, native commuter line gives a window into the on a regular basis lives of Myanman individuals as males, girls and youngsters bounce on and off the rickety, wood carriages and recent meals distributors create transient, bustling markets. Amid the chaos there’s some calm: a younger monk studying; the plush inexperienced surroundings of rice fields and rural villages; a neighborhood 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 generally seem on the treninoverde.com web site, however not in these Covid instances. They could run solely as soon as per week within the top of the summer time, however discovering one is effectively well worth the effort. A single classic railcar toils up into the distant mountains by narrowing facet valleys till, marvel 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’ll 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 once 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 in recent times took me from Hendy-gwyn (actually Previous White Home, also called Whitland) to Cardiff, by Carmarthen. The only-carriage practice pulled unassumingly into the station and I boarded, together with one different particular person. It was probably the most calming journey: we trundled by a lovely, hazy panorama, beneath looming hills dotted with bushes and small cities. I don’t assume both of us stopped searching of the window. Whereas this 12 months might make us lust for landscapes on the opposite facet of the world, it’s additionally proven how a lot we’ve got 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 recurrently voted one of the best practice journey on this planet. Norway may 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 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 previous 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 energetic, loud jazz and soul bands strolling by the carriages with passengers dancing within the aisles whereas distributors supplied plantain-wrapped tamales, Colombian tinto (espresso), empanadas and big, creamy white merengon (meringues) for just a few 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 usually appears that the curve of the planet is seen over the horizon. Horses gallop alongside the practice earlier than altering path and melting into the gap, whereas at different instances there’s only one, loaded down with a rider and a few baggage. Sometimes a yurt or cluster of yurts group collectively in the midst of corn farms spanning miles and miles. All the pieces is huge, 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 somewhat 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, because the 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 girls to promote snacks, drinks, or peppercorns. There is no such thing as a timetable. The journey of 163km takes at the least 11 hours, usually for much longer. A honking horn clears the traditional tracks of individuals and animals. The Thirties Swiss carriages screech as they slowly descend by wooded ravines. Waterfalls and rivers sparkle in shiny solar till sudden dusk. The journey ends with occasional mild from villages or fireflies.
• madagascartravel.com
Debbie Rolls