This glass-roof train that travels through the US and Canada was just named the world's best rail journey
But according to Travel + Leisure, one train is a cut above the rest, offering cross-country journeys and a host of diverse landscapes with panoramic views: all aboard the Rocky Mountaineer.
The Mountaineer's railways wind through Alberta and British Columba in Canada and Colorado and Utah in the US, taking travellers on journeys through — you guessed it — the mighty Rocky Mountains. But aside from the these dramatic peaks (which reach a staggering 4400 metres high), and the remaining scenery is just as stunning.
On the route from Vancouver to Banff, Canada's popular mountain town, travellers will journey past the serene, turquoise waters of Lake Louise of Banff National Park in Alberta. There's also the red and golden canyons that trace the routes to Colorado, the waters of Horseshoe Bay, the fjords of Howe Sound and the lush, green forests in between.
As for the train, it's an ode to classic luxury travel. The 'SilverLeaf' service includes comfortable seating, a signature cocktail, top-notch staff and guides, gourmet meals and panoramic views via the coaches' glass-domes. Opt for the 'GoldLeaf' service for access to a premium lounge and an outdoor viewing platform to properly soak in those views.
The 5 best luxury trains in the world for 2025, according to Travel + Leisure
Rocky Mountaineer
British Pullman, a Belmond Train
Napa Valley Wine Train
Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, a Belmond Train
Al Andalus Train
Did you see that Japan's iconic bullet train is getting a glow-up?
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The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Thrill of the night train: from Vienna to Rome on the next-gen moonlight express
Toasted ham baguettes in hand, we cheered as the new-generation Nightjet drew into Vienna Hauptbahnhof. It was a little before 7pm, and as the carriages hummed past I felt a rush of joy, like celebrity trainspotter Francis Bourgeois, but without the GoPro on my forehead. For more than three years I've been documenting the renaissance of sleeper trains, and I'd wondered if I might one day tire of them. But the thrill seems only to intensify each time I embark on another nocturnal adventure, this time with my two daughters – aged eight and five – who were already arguing over the top berth. The first four carriages were designated for travellers to the Italian port city of La Spezia, the other seven carrying on to Roma Tiburtina, where we would alight at 10am. Once in Rome we had 24 hours to eat classic carbonara, dark chocolate gelato, and bike around the Villa Borghese before taking a train to Florence. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) has played the lead role in resuscitating Europe's night trains. Towards the end of 2016, ÖBB launched its Nightjet network on 14 routes, using old rolling stock it bought from Deutsche Bahn. Then, to the delight of train nerds like me, it launched a brand-new fleet at the end of 2023, and now operates 20 routes across Europe. We were now on board this high-spec service, which smelled of freshly unpacked furniture, the carpets soft underfoot, the lighting adjustable to disco hues of neon blue and punk pink. We were booked into a couchette carriage, which mostly comprisesd mini cabins designed for solo travellers preferring privacy. Placing shoes and small bags in lockers, passengers can open a metal door with a keycard and crawl into their single berth, drawing the door closed around them, and not have to look at another human until morning. Last year I had trialled the mini cabins from Vienna to Hamburg alongside a tall friend who had likened the experience to sleeping inside a bread bin, though I hadn't found it as claustrophobic as I'd feared, just a bit hard, chilly, and with a pillow as flat as a postage stamp. So I was curious to see how the carriage's four-person private compartments, for families and groups, would differ. Normally happy to share with strangers, I'd booked a whole compartment for the three of us: more to protect other hapless travellers from my children, who were now swinging off the berths like members of Cirque du Soleil, their sweaty socks strewn under the seats. With raised sides, the upper berths were safe for the girls to sleep in without rolling out, and I set about tucking in their sheets while they settled down to finish their baguettes. There is no dining car on the Nightjet, so we'd bought food from the station, which was now moving backwards as the train sailed out of the Austrian capital in silence, smoothly curving south-west. Two days earlier we'd arrived in Vienna by train from London, via Paris, and had checked into the Superbude Wien Prater, a curious hotel that appeared part art-installation, part hostel, with gen Zs slouched around worn leather sofas on MacBooks. With four-bed family cabins overlooking the Prater amusement park, it was a great location from which to explore the city, then finish the evening with a terrifying rollercoaster and a spicy Bitzinger wurst. A friend had described Vienna to me as a grand and beautiful 'retirement village', but, on the contrary, its green spaces, playgrounds and museums made it an easy stop for 48 hours with kids. Hopping off the Nightjet from Paris, we'd gone straight to my favourite restaurant, Edelgreisslerei Opocensky – an unassuming nook serving homely dishes such as stuffed gnocchi, and goulash with dumplings – before whiling away an afternoon at the Children's Museum at Schönbrunn Palace. Dressing up like young Habsburgs, the girls had swanned around in wigs and musty gowns, laying tables for banquets and begging not to leave – a far cry from our usual museum experiences. Before boarding this train we'd had one last run around the interactive Technical Museum, where the human-sized hamster wheels, peg games and slides had so worn out the children that my five-year-old was asleep as the train plunged into the Semmering mountain pass. It was still light as we swept around the Alps, my eight-year-old kneeling at the window and asking where local people shopped, so few and far between were signs of human life. Horses grazed in paddocks, cows nuzzled, and the occasional hamlet emerged from round a bend as though the chalets were shaken like dice and tossed into the slopes. In the blue-grey twilight we watched streams gleam like strips of metal, and spotted a single stag poised at the edge of a wood, before the train made a long stop at the Styrian city of Leoben, at which point we turned in. Like the mini cabins, the compartment was still too cold, the pillow still too flat, but the berths were wider and the huge window a blessing compared with the single berths' portholes – this one allowed for wistful gazing. Shoving a rolled-up jumper under my head, I fell asleep, waking at 7am to rumpled clouds and a golden flare on the horizon. Most night trains terminate soon after passengers have woken up, but this one was perfect, allowing us to enjoy a leisurely breakfast of hot chocolate and jam rolls while watching the Tuscan dawn breaking into song, and Umbrian lakes and cornfields running parallel before we finally drew into Rome – on time. When travelling alone I relish arriving with the entire day at my disposal, but with children it's hard work waiting until 3pm to check in to accommodation, so I default to staying at a Hoxton hotel if one is available. Its Flexy Time policy allows guests to choose what time they check in and out for free, and by 11am we had checked in, showered and set off to toss coins in the Trevi fountain, finding thick whorls of eggy carbonara at nearby trattoria Maccheroni, and gelato at Don Nino. To avoid the crowds and heat, we waited until 6pm to hire an electric pedal car from Bici Pincio at the Villa Borghese and drove around the landscaped, leafy grounds, relishing the quietness of the evening ride. Excited about the next adventure in Florence, the girls had only one complaint: that they couldn't ride there on the night train. Monisha Rajesh is the author of Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train (Bloomsbury, £22), published on 28 August and available on pre-order at Omio provided travel in a four-person private compartment in a couchette carriage from Vienna to Rome (from £357). Accommodation was provided by Superbude Wien Prater in Vienna (doubles from €89 room-only); and The Hoxton in Rome (doubles from €189 room-only)
The Sun
11 hours ago
- The Sun
I save £100s on every holiday using easy phone tricks to slash the cost of food, booze and activities
HOLIDAYS don't come cheap, so it's more important than ever to make your spending money go further. I travel frequently throughout the year and have seen prices skyrocket - but there are clever tricks right on your phone that have saved me hundreds on each trip. 5 5 5 And I'm talking about the big expenditures you can't avoid, like food and booze. All it takes is a little bit of planning before your holiday, and you could end up paying like a local, all thanks to your mobile. Here's how I pull it off and the simple steps so you can too. Sort your data BEFORE you travel I'd encourage anyone on holiday to keep off their phone and enjoy the moment, but that's easier said than done. From showing off your travel snaps on social media to using Google Maps to get around, chances are you'll want data. Where possible, you can rely on your hotel or restaurant Wi-Fi, but it won't always be available when you're out and about. Sadly, most mobile networks, except O2, don't offer free roaming as standard with your existing data plan. Your provider will have add-ons for travel, but these don't tend to be very affordable. Instead, you should try getting an eSIM. eSIMs are virtual SIMs - meaning you don't need a physical SIM card. Flight cancelled or delayed? Top tips for handling travel disruptions The beauty of eSIMs is that you can have more than one loaded onto a phone and working at the same time, so you don't need to lose your existing mobile network provider. Instead, the eSIM will essentially work as a secondary option in the background. My UK mobile network wanted £20 so I could roam for 15 days across Europe. But a quick Google search and I found an eSIM provider offering 5GB of data for £5.90. If you avoid going wild on things like streaming and use your phone for uploading some pictures, checking the news - The Sun of course! - and using maps and web searches, I reckon 5GB will cover you for a week or 10GB for two. I've used Maya Mobile and previously but there are loads of options out there, so shop around. LOYALTY CARDS We're all used to Tesco's Clubcard Prices and Nectar Prices offers at Sainsbury's by now. And you may have spotted similar at the local supermarket when you're out food shopping on holiday too. In some countries, the savings can be quite substantial, with loads of bonus coupons available digitally to save more. Fortunately, these days you don't need a physical loyalty card anymore, you can simply sign up from your phone and instantly scan the digital QR code they provide you. And that's exactly what I've done on a number of occasions when away. I quite like buying snacks, sandwiches and booze from supermarkets when away on holiday to keep the cost down instead of constantly eating at expensive restaurants - especially if I'm having a day at the beach. Using loyalty programmes has saved me hundreds. For the best results, it requires a little bit of planning, preferably before you go on holiday, though you could always do it from your hotel room. I tend to look around the area I'm staying in on Google Maps in advance to locate the shops nearby. So, on a recent trip to Paris, I noticed there was an Auchan supermarket nearby and their equivalent of Clubcard Prices is called "Waaoh!". I signed up online and was able to add the virtual loyalty card to my phone, so I get the cheapest prices just like a local. When signing up, I recommend doing it via the supermarket's website if possible, that way you can use the automatic translation tools in Google Chrome to easily understand everything. Also, it's worth noting that this trick may not be possible at every supermarket in every country, so it does require a little bit of digging, but it's well worth the 30 minutes of effort for the huge money savings. SIGN UP TO A DIGITAL BANK 5 Pesky foreign transaction fees on your card can also rack up costs on holiday, too. If your bank doesn't offer fee-free transactions from foreign countries, there are some digital banks that do. Both Monzo and Starling have zero fees, and they're easy to use without switching bank providers. I signed up for Starling a few years ago and it's worked wonders on many of my trips. I simply top it up with money every now and again while I'm on holiday. So before your embarking on your next holiday, give these three tricks a go to save a fair bit or even stretch your spending money budget further.
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- The Guardian
Mary Russell obituary
My mother, Mary Russell, who has died aged 88, was a teacher, travel writer, broadcaster and storyteller. She journeyed to more than 50 countries and shared her experiences of them in print, radio and in person. After teaching in primary and secondary schools in London and Oxford during the 1960s and 70s, Mary started writing about travel for the Guardian on a freelance basis in 1980, while she was studying for an MA in peace studies at the University of Bradford. The following year she went to Lesotho in southern Africa and wrote a series on solo female travellers for the Guardian women's page. She was then invited to edit a nonfiction book, Survival, South Atlantic (1983), by two wildlife photographers, Cindy Buxton and Annie Price, who had become caught up in the Falklands war. The publishers, HarperCollins, subsequently asked what else she would like to do, and so she set about writing The Blessings of a Good Thick Skirt: Women Travellers and Their World (1986), which looked at the experiences of intrepid female travellers throughout the ages. Three other books followed: Please Don't Call it Soviet Georgia (1991), an account of her travels across Georgia just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Journeys of a Lifetime (2002), a travelogue bringing together many of her trips, and My Home Is Your Home: A Journey Round Syria (2011). Born in Dublin, Mary was the last of the four children of Evelyn (nee Smyth), and Michael Russell, a civil servant. She was educated at Our Lady's Bower secondary school in Athlone and then University College Dublin, where she studied in the mid-50s. Travelling back from an au pair job in Italy in 1960, she stopped off in London, where she met a writer called Ian Rodger. They married in 1960, after which they moved to Brill in Buckinghamshire and had three children, Deirdre, Russell and me. It was after a period of child-rearing and teaching that she began writing features for the Irish Times and for Irish radio, before hooking up with the Guardian. After Ian died of motor neurone disease in 1984, she took herself away to France the following summer, travelling with a tent on the back of her bike, and then caught a ferry to Algeria, continuing down into the Sahara to spend time with the Saharawi, a desert people displaced by warfare in the region. This, and other subsequent journeys, fed into the book Journeys of a Lifetime, and she continued to write well into old age. In addition, she was an election observer in Bosnia (1990), South Africa (1994) and Kyrgyzstan (2005). A keen musician, Mary sang, played the guitar, piano and electronic keyboards, taught herself the penny whistle and the accordion in her 40s, and learned the saxophone in her 60s, performing with the Blow the Dust orchestra in Dublin. She is survived by her three children, grandchildren Eta, Isabella, Charlie and Elizabeth, and a great-granddaughter, Lila.
