Train trip like a cruise?

September 14, 2023 7:08 PM

Do you know of any rail trips that are like a cruise? That is, I am mainly looking for a trip where passengers get multiple stops to sightsee, etc., but need to unpack their bags only once.
posted by NotLost to Travel & Transportation (17 answers total)

Denver to Moab in two days, with a stop in Glenwood Springs
posted by nickggully at 7:15 PM on September 14, 2023

Response by poster: To clarify, I mean that the passengers would sleep aboard the train.
posted by NotLost at 7:20 PM on September 14, 2023

Japan has some!

I forget why, but I came across this one very recently: Twilight Express Mizukaze

And I just did a quick search and found two more: Train Suite Shiki-Shima and Cruise Train "Seven Stars in Kyushu".
posted by whatnotever at 7:30 PM on September 14, 2023 [4 favorites]

The Belmond Royal Scotsman. It's probably worth having a poke around The Man in Seat 61 for others as well.
posted by offog at 8:06 PM on September 14, 2023 [5 favorites]

The Rocky Mountaineer!
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 8:57 PM on September 14, 2023

The Ghan (and others) across Australia. Darwin to Adelaide, Sydney to Perth, Brisbane to Adelaide, or Adelaide to Melbourne.
posted by alby at 10:43 PM on September 14, 2023 [4 favorites]

Rocky mountaineer passengers sleep in a different hotel every night of the journey.
posted by Mitheral at 11:31 PM on September 14, 2023

Sorry, NotLost, I missed your second stipulation of sleeping on board the train.

I once took a train from that travelled from Moscow to Paris via Berlin. I don't know if an ex soviet sleeping car qualifies as a "cruise", what with stopping while soldiers enter with their dogs and their machine guns.

That said, starting in 2025, you can take the Orient Express again, and live your Agatha Christie fantasies in luxury sleeping cars....
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 12:26 AM on September 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

As well as those mentioned above (especially the Ghan and the Japanese trips), the following are particularly renowned :
The Indian Pacific (Australia)
The Blue Train (South Africa)
The E&O (SE Asia)

In more normal times, there's obviously the Trans-Siberian/Manchurian/Mongolian.
posted by plep at 1:53 AM on September 15, 2023

I am not sure about off-train sightseeing stops but The Canadian involves sleeping on the train.
posted by synecdoche at 3:41 AM on September 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Andean Explorer (link goes to YouTube review)
posted by Gable Oak at 3:59 AM on September 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

thank you for asking this question and revealing to me an aspiration i did not know i had!
posted by wowenthusiast at 5:21 AM on September 15, 2023 [12 favorites]

I’ve done a trip on the Royal Scotsman mentioned above, and it was great. Much fancier than I was prepared for as a 20-something with no money (I was on a work-related freebie).

Stunning landscapes outside the window, two of the carriages are laid out like lounges with proper chairs, sofas etc, so you’re not just sitting in rows of train seats the whole time, and there’s an open veranda on the back. Incredible food, and a-dress for-dinner ethos (which I was also totally unprepared for). Most of the passengers were American, which was exotic to me, but just in case you’re also from the US and hoping for a train full of Scots.

I also had the experience of breakfasting on an omelette with truffle shavings, while whizzing through some of the more deprived housing schemes of Glasgow, which was a little peculiar.
posted by penguin pie at 5:27 AM on September 15, 2023 [7 favorites]

The Maharaja Express in India maybe - Kara and Nate took a tour
RovosRail in South Africa offer “the world’s most luxurious train” -here is a review.
posted by rongorongo at 7:32 AM on September 15, 2023

Renfe has four different luxury train routes in Spain.
posted by newsomz at 2:06 PM on September 15, 2023

India’s Palace on Wheels is like this.
posted by tinymegalo at 10:11 PM on September 15, 2023

I'm taking one next week! El Transcantábrico, a train across the north coast of Spain. I also took one a few years ago from Delhi to Mumbai, the Maharajas Express. You can see what it's like aboard these on the TV show Mighty Trains, from Smithsonian.

Definitely a genre of travel. The two I mentioned are quite expensive. Our train in India had excellent furnishings, excellent outings every day, a butler assigned to our cabin and one other. We're expecting the Spain trip to be pretty swank as well.

The Indian trip had a lot of the convenience of a cruise, the unpacking and the meals on board and the planned excursions. The train cabins are about as small as a cruise cabin (but much nicer than an overnight train sleeper). The train itself is much smaller than a cruise ship, but then they make up for that by it being so easy to go to interesting places. It was pretty comfortable and delivered on the luxury promise. Although I'll say trying to sleep while the train jolts through a rough switchyard was not great. (The Spanish train doesn't travel at night for that reason, but it's only going like 40km a day.)

It was a great way to see India; we took a week to visit various sites, mostly in Rajasthan, that otherwise are very long drives or awkward trips. There are several Indian companies that offer them in different parts of the company. I'd definitely do it again.
posted by Nelson at 6:50 AM on September 16, 2023 [4 favorites]