Travelling by train can be one of the most luxurious ways to discover the beauty of a country. While some luxury train journeys promise breathtaking scenery or gourmet cuisine, each has its own charm – discovering the world at a leisurely pace.
This inspired Japan Rail Pass experts to analyse the most popular and talked about luxury train journeys around the world to pick the best ones. They looked at a range of factors including TripAdvisor ratings, Instagram hashtags and global search volumes, and then weighted their total to arrive at an index score.
The 10 best luxury train journeys around the globe
| Train | Location | Average rating on Tripadvisor | Instagram hashtags | Global average monthly search volume | Index value (/10) | |
| 1 | Rocky Mountaineer | Vancouver, Canada | 4.5 | 54,029 | 368,000 | 8.92 |
| 2 | GoldenPass Express | Montreux, Switzerland | 4.4 | 15,786 | 18,100 | 8.39 |
| 3 | The Ghan | Adelaide, Australia | 4.4 | 12,571 | 22,200 | 8.35 |
| 4 | Rovos rail | Pretoria, South Africa | 4.4 | 12,146 | 33,100 | 8.31 |
| 4 | Seven stars in Kyushu | Kyushu, Japan | 4.4 | 49,219 | 3,600 | 8.31 |
| 6 | The blue train | Pretoria, South Africa | 4.2 | 41,654 | 6,600 | 8.29 |
| 7 | Venice Simplon Orient Express | London, England | 4.4 | 8,731 | 33,100 | 8.13 |
| 8 | British Pullman | London, England | 4.4 | 5,222 | 5,400 | 7.77 |
| 8 | The Royal Scotsman | Edinburgh, Scotland | 4.3 | 3,910 | 8,100 | 7.77 |
| 10 | Maharaja’s Express | New Delhi, India | 4.3 | 2,282 | 90,500 | 7.72 |
1. Rocky Mountaineer: Vancouver, Canada
Rocky Mountaineer Located in Vancouver, Canada, the journey is considered the best luxury train journey in the world and has a score of 8.92 out of 10. This luxury scenic train travels on four rail routes in British Columbia, Alberta, Colorado and Utah. The luxury train has an average TripAdvisor rating of 4.5 out of 5, 54,000 Instagram hashtags and is searched online an average of 368,000 times a month – interestingly, these search volumes are 1,933% higher than the second place and 1,558% higher than the third place.
2. GoldenPass Express: Montreux, Switzerland
In second place is the GoldenPass Express with a score of 8.39 out of 10. The GoldenPass Express is located in Switzerland and takes passengers from the resort town of Montreux to Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland. The journey takes three hours and there are four departures per day (in both directions). This experience has an average Tripadvisor rating of 4.4 out of 5, 15.6k tagged hashtags on Instagram and an average of 18,100 online searches per month.
3. The Ghan: Adelaide, Australia
Third place, with a score of 8.35 out of 10, goes to Australia’s The Ghan – a service that runs between the north and south coasts through the cities of Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin on the Adelaide-Darwin rail corridor. This luxury ride has an average score of 4.4 in TripAdvisor reviews, 12.5k tags on Instagram and an average of over 22,200 searches per month.
4. Rovos Rail: Pretoria, South Africa & Seven Stars: Kyushu, Japan
Joint fourth place: Rovos Rail in South Africa and Seven Stars in Japan – both with 8.31/10 in the study. The Rovos Rail is a rail journey that explores southern Africa and is considered one of the most luxurious rail journeys in the world. The Seven Stars Kyushu, known as Japan’s answer to the Orient Express, travels east from Fukuoka to Oita Prefecture for three nights and four days. Both luxury trains achieved an average score of 4.4 on Tripadvisor and 12,000 points on Insta hashtags.
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