The train is the day out. Book the right seat on it.
Which Delhi train reaches Agra before the coach parties. Whether the red panoramic carriage is worth the reservation fee on top of the ticket. Which side of the aisle the lake is on. Reviews of every rail day you can book, one seat at a time.
A market line, a train street, a red alpine train and a Taj express.
Four rides that explain the rest of the site. What each seat costs, how long you are actually on board, and what the people who rode it say.
01The market lineHalf-Day Railway Market and Floating Market Tour in ThailandTraders fold the awnings back as the train noses through Maeklong, then set them out again behind it. Half a day, and the ride is the shortest part of it.
02The train streetGuided Food Tour with Train Street VisitHanoi runs a working line between two rows of houses. Everyone stands, pulls the stools back, and sits down again once the carriage has gone.
03The red trainBernina Train and St. Moritz Day TripPanoramic carriages over the Bernina pass from Tirano. The seat reservation is charged on top of the ticket and it is the part that sells out.
04The early expressTaj Mahal Tour from Delhi by Express Train (Viator Award Winner)Delhi to Agra and back inside a day on a reserved seat, with the marble seen before the middle of the day.
Six countries where the train is the reason to go, not the transfer.
Agra expresses out of Delhi, a market the Bangkok line runs straight through, an alley in Hanoi, rack railways above Lucerne, Frecciarossa day trips, and a Shinkansen that gets you to Fuji and back by dinner.
Three ways to reach the Taj Mahal by train, and what each seat gets you.
The Agra run is short, the trains are reserved, and the difference between the options is the coach class and how early the guide has you at the platform. Here is what each kind of day costs to board.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Taj Mahal Tour from Delhi by Express Train (Viator Award Winner)
The Agra express dayReserved seat both ways, monument tickets and a guide waiting at the far end.
Delhi rail daysMetro and suburban rail used as the transport, with the sights strung along it.
Lunch on boardA meal served at the seat, so the middle of the day is not spent hunting for one.
Every rail day in India →
In Bangkok and Hanoi the line runs through the middle of everything.
Maeklong market packs up around the carriage four times a day and reopens behind it. Hanoi keeps a working track between two rows of front doors. Battambang runs a bamboo flatcar on the old French rails. None of it is a heritage exhibit; the trains still run.
Switzerland: the ticket is easy, the reservation is the decision.
Everything in Switzerland →
Rack railways climb where nothing else can, the panoramic carriages have sealed windows and numbered seats, and the mountain lines run to a timetable that assumes you read it. These three carry more travellers than anything else on Swiss track.
Cog railway, or cable car
A rack train grinds up at walking pace with the valley opening behind you; a cable car does the same climb in ten minutes and shows you less. On a clear morning take the slow one.
Panoramic carriage, seat reserved
Sealed curved glass, a numbered seat and a route that spends the day above the treeline. The fare is one thing and the reservation is another; only the second one runs out.
Zurich, then up and back
Out to Grindelwald or Interlaken on the main line, up on the mountain railway, back the same evening. The whole thing hangs on catching the first connection.
Bullet trains: a mountain, a temple city and dinner back where you started.
A three-hundred-kilometre-an-hour train turns a two-day trip into an afternoon. These are the days built around one, from Tokyo out to Fuji and back, Rome to Naples and home, Delhi and Shanghai on the newer lines.
The most-booked rail days on the site.
Every rail review →The rides more travellers take than anything else, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Damnoen Saduak Market and Maeklong Railway Market
Travel from Bangkok with a guide such as Patty, Pooh, Mike, or Aekaphol to see a train pass through Maeklong Market, then paddle through Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. The $25 tour includes transport, guide, water, and boat ride, with early departures best for cooler weather and smaller crowds.
From · $25
Read our review →
2
The Old Siam: Damnoen Saduak and Maeklong Railway Market
from $32
3
Mt Fuji & Hakone Cruise, Drum Show Bullet Train 1 Day from Tokyo
from $149
4
Montserrat & Cogwheel Train, Gourmet Wine Tasting & Tapas/Lunch
from $81
5
Guided Food Tour with Train Street Visit
from $19
6
Lake Como Cruise, St. Moritz & Bernina Red Train
from $159
7
Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site Tour from Munich by Train
from $64
8
Tokyo Mt Fuji 5th St & Hakone Cruise Bus Tour w/Bullet Train
from $154
What a day on the rails actually costs.
Every ride on the site, grouped by the price of a seat. Plenty of the best track comes in under the cost of the taxi to the station.
Tram tickets, city rail passes, the market line out of Bangkok, an hour on a heritage branch.
The full-day standards: Agra and back, the Bernina from Tirano, Kuranda, a Shinkansen day out of Tokyo.
Panoramic first class, private guides on the platform, the Vistadome to Machu Picchu, sleeper berths.
Three rides that exist nowhere else on the network.
Plenty of countries have a pretty branch line. A market that dismantles itself for the train, a residential alley with live rails down it, and a flatcar of bamboo on a single track do not travel.
The Maeklong Market Line
The market is built over the rails, and the awnings and produce trays fold back a few feet as the train comes through at a crawl. Traders have it down to seconds and put it all back before the last carriage has cleared. Tours pair it with the Damnoen Saduak boats an hour away, so most of the day is spent in a minibus between the two.
- 1Damnoen Saduak Market and Maeklong Railway Market★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 26,723 reviews
- 2The Old Siam: Damnoen Saduak and Maeklong Railway Market★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 10,992 reviews
- 3Floating Market and Train Market Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,998 reviews
The Train Street
A single track runs between two rows of houses in Hanoi with barely a metre either side. Cafes put stools on the sleepers and clear them when a horn sounds up the line. Access has been closed and reopened more than once, so the guided visits go where the barriers are open that week rather than to one fixed doorway.
- 1Guided Food Tour with Train Street Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 6,239 reviews
- 2Street Food Tour with Train Street & Hidden Alleyways★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,831 reviews
- 3Guided Street Food Tour with Train Street Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,479 reviews
The Bamboo Train
A bamboo platform on two axles with a small engine, running on the warped rails of the old French line. There is one track, so when two carts meet the lighter one is lifted off, the other passes, and it is dropped back on. Twenty minutes each way, and no timetable worth the name.
- 1Tuk-Tuk, Bamboo Train, Killing/Bat Caves, Sunset★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,436 reviews
- 2Full Day tour .City tour.Countryside.Bamboo Train.Secret Bat Cave★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 178 reviews
- 3Battambang Full Day Tour from Siem Reap – Bamboo Train, Killing Cave & Sunset★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 101 reviews
Which class, which side, and how long you are actually sitting there.
Three questions decide whether a rail day is the best part of a trip or four hours of a hedge. How long the ride runs, whether the fare includes a reserved seat or only the right to stand, and which side of the carriage the view is on. Every review answers all three, and the short rides below are the ones to start with when travelling with children.
Four rail days where the seat, not the ticket, runs out.
Most of this can be arranged the night before. These four run on numbered seats, a single daily departure or a permit count, and none of them care what time your flight lands.
- 01Lake Como Cruise, St. Moritz & Bernina Red TrainThe panoramic carriages are reservation-only and the fee is separate from the fare. The train still runs when they are gone; you just are not on it.
- 02The First Class Machu Picchu Train by Inca RailEntry to the site is capped by timed slot and the train up the valley is sold as a numbered seat. Both are bought before you leave home.
- 03Guided Tour to Jungfraujoch – Top of EuropeThe last leg is a single mountain railway with fixed departures, and a clear-weather morning empties the seats fast.
- 04Taj Mahal Tour from Delhi by Express Train (Viator Award Winner)The Agra trains are reserved coaches, and the monument closes to visitors on Fridays. Turn up without both booked and the day does not happen.
Some trains are not transport. You book the ride and nothing else.
Bernina red carriages over a pass with no tunnel to hide the view, a rainforest line above Cairns, the Peruvian Vistadome up the Urubamba. On these the timetable is the itinerary and the window is the attraction.
Every scenic journey →
The short rides: a city tram, a cog train, a bamboo flatcar.
Not every rail day needs a whole day. Lisbon runs its hills on a wooden tram, Prague keeps a 1920s car on a numbered line, and half of Europe still hauls people up a cliff on a water-balanced funicular. An hour each, and cheap.
- 1Franschhoek Wine Tram Hop-on Hop-offfrom $50
- 2Hop-on Hop-Off Historical Tram Ticket for Line 42from $20
- 33-in-1 Hop-On Hop-Off Bus and Tram Toursfrom $44
By country - where the track goes
Milan to Zermatt: the run most first-timers do on European track.
Milan
Lucerne
ZermattThe newest rail reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Audio Guided City Tour and Train to “Top of Zurich”
Read our review →
Zermatt Village & Gornergrat Railway Tour | From Bern
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Zermatt & Mt. Gornergrat Small Group Day Trip from Bern
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Zermatt & Mt. Gornergrat Small Group Day Trip from Zürich
Read our review →
Zagreb: Private Walking Tour with Funicular Ride & Transfers
Read our review →
Zagreb: Plitvice With Secured Tickets, Boat And Train Ride
Read our review →
Zagreb: Group walking tour of Zagreb (funicular included)
Read our review →
Xi’an: Maiji Grottoes & Fuxi Temple Day Trip by Bullet Train
Read our review →
York Day Rail Tour from London including Hop-on Hop-off tour
Read our review →
Wroclaw: Private Tour by smal Historic Tram (1,5h, 16 seats)
Read our review →
With the steam train through Transylvania- 8 Day
Read our review →
Winter Tour Viking Village, Nærøyfjord Cruise & Flåm Railway
Read our review →