When you’re not worrying about delays, extortionate fares or forced to spend your journey stood next to the toilet cubicle, railway journeys can actually be quite nice. Relaxing, even. They’re an opportunity to sit with your favourite album, channel your main character energy and watch the world go by.
Often, we’re treated to some stunning scenery along the way and, according to the Telegraph, the UK has two of the most beautiful train journeys in the world.
Ten travel writers from the paper have revealed their favourite rail routes that our planet has to offer. At number two on the list was the Heart of Wales line, which stretches from south Wales to Shropshire. The Telegraph described it as ‘a bit Alice in Wonderland, like you’ve gone down a very green rabbit hole’, which along its way ‘passes lovely Llandeilo, pointy Sugar Loaf hill, the handsome viaducts of Cynghordy and Knucklas’.
The second (half British) journey to make the cut is the Eurostar from London to Paris. Granted, you see nothing but black outside your window for a lot of it, but you do get views of the ancient Pilgrim’s Way. The Telegraph’s Nick Trend wrote that when he first rode the route in 1994, it ‘seemed incredibly glamorous’ and that ‘the excitement of getting from London to Paris without even seeing the sea has never faded’.
Britain by rail
If you’re a sucker for magnificent train views, take a look at Time Out’s own roundup of the most beautiful rail journeys in the UK. In other recent news from our railways, the UK’s first community-owned railway service will open in 2025, soon these two UK capital cities will be connected by train for the first time ever, this railway operator was ranked the best in Britain and you can have a first look inside England’s first luxury sleeper train.
