Christmas by train
Daily Telegraph
Published on Saturday September 1, 2007
Chris Alden picks five rail itineraries for Christmas.
There’s a reason why train travel is becoming so much more popular than it was. It’s not just the fact that trains are greener than planes, less bumpy and involve less waiting in queues – it’s the fact that when you get on a train, your holiday has already started. Here are five itineraries for Christmas.
Christmas markets of Germany
If the identikit British high street gets you down this Christmas, make tracks to Germany for a traditional seasonal market. The most famous is Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarkt, held every December, where you can explore the restored walled town, then shop at stalls selling handmade toys and gifts – and buy Lebkuchen, cakes made with eggs and spices, that will be a hit on Christmas day. Nuremberg is by no means the only city in Germany that hosts a Christmas market – Cologne, with its Gothic cathedral, is less than six hours from St Pancras via Brussels.
• Great Rail Journeys (www.greatrail.com, 01904 521936) offer a four-day Cologne tour from London for £425-525 including Rhine cruise, or a five-day Nuremberg tour for £725, from end of November to mid- to late December. Or book directly at www.bahn.co.uk.
The Glacier Express
Looking for the right kind of snow? Take the most famous winter train ride in Europe, the Glacier Express – a twisting, climbing, narrow-gauge railway from St Moritz to Zermatt, in the heart of the Swiss Alps, with panoramic views that can be enjoyed from glass-roofed cars. The seven-and-a-half hour journey crosses 291 bridges and through 91 tunnels – and its highest point, the Oberalp pass, is more than 2km above sea level.
• Second-class tickets for the Glacier Express start from just 129 Swiss francs (£53). Train-only packages from London include Great Rail Journeys (www.greatrail.com, 01904 521936, from £1,495 for a 10-day tour at Christmas and New Year) and European Rail (www.erail.co.uk, 020 7387 0770, £638-£873 second class, £839-£1,051 first class, for a self-managed seven-day tour).
Coast to coast in Canada
There’s nothing like crossing a continent to make you feel like you’ve arrived – but the ride from Toronto to Vancouver on the stainless steel Canadian is as much about the journey as it is the destination. Leaving the Altantic and passing through the lakelands of Ontario, you then cross the Prairies before climbing through the foothills of the Rockies before descending to the Pacific coast. Tip: when in the observation car, look out for elk. If you see one, shout “Elk!”
• Great Rail Journeys (www.greatrail.com, 01904 521936) runs a 10-day Canadian tour including flights to and from Heathrow, coast-to-coast train ride, hotels in Toronto and Vancouver, and excursions to Niagara Falls and Grouse Mountain, for £2,195 at Christmas and £1,995 at New Year. Or book the train directly at Via Rail (www.viarail.ca); you can order a “special stop” away from a station if you reserve it in advance.
A Russian Christmas
If you’re crackers about Christmas, why not do the whole thing twice? Have your celebrations at home, then nip off to Moscow and St Petersburg, where you can visit the Red Square and the Hermitage – and, if you’re so inclined, the “golden ring” cities with their onion-domed churches – before enjoying the epiphany of a second celebration on January 6.
• GW Travel (www.gwtravel.co.uk, 0161 928 9410) runs an 11-day luxury tour from St Petersburg to Moscow via the golden ring, from £3,995 silver class to £4,995 gold class based on two sharing. European Rail (www.erail.co.uk, 020 7387 0770) offers a self-managed 11-day tour starting in London, excluding the golden ring, for £1,323-£1,767 second class, with a mixture of sleepers and four-star hotels.
Colonial splendour in Asia
Luxury train journeys always trade on the glories of the past – but for unabashed colonial splendour, take a trip down the Malay peninsula from Bangkok to Singapore with the Eastern & Oriental Express. Arriving in December, you’ll have missed the worst of the monsoon – though it will still be hot and wet, so you’ll be glad of your luxury compartment as you pass tropical rainforest, idyllic coastline and fertile hills. There’s an observation car with a veranda-style deck, where, given a break in the clouds, you can drink your Singapore sling, then doze in the afternoon and dream of friends poking at their sprouts.
• Eastern & Oriental Express (www.orient-express.com, 0845 077 2222). Three-night trip from Bangkok to Singapore (or vice versa), from £1,030 for a Pullman compartment to £2,110 for a “presidential” suite that’s the full width of the train.
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