RAIL JOURNEYS

For comfort and style there's no journey like a rail journey. And increasingly rail travel can be the most efficient way to get around as well, with services like the Deutsche Bahn InterCity Express and Japan's famous bullet trains pinging you straight from the heart of one major city to the next. Cover the distance while enjoying unparalleled views through your carriage windows on long-distance journeys:  lakes, snowscapes and endless forests on Russia's Trans-Siberian Express, or miles upon miles of martian red sandy outback on the Ghan in Australia. And then there are the rail journeys where the destination, however thrilling, is secondary to the glorious opulence of the train itself: silver service on the Royal Canadian Pacific, personal butlers in the Blue Train to cosset you on your way from Pretoria to Cape Town, and luxury suites with cypress-wood baths in Japan's brand new Shiki-Shima.