Britain’s greatest scenic train journeys
There is no more relaxing form of travel than rail, and no better way to enjoy the beauties and sights of a country than through a carriage window, whatever the season. When it came to seeing landscapes, Robert Louis Stevenson thought “none more vivid... than from a railway train”.
In 2025, Britain will mark 200 years since the birth of the modern railway, celebrated throughout the year with a series of events. Britain has hundreds of attractive rural railway lines offering scenic delights, and access to great walks or picturesque villages and towns. It has more tourist railways than any other country per capita, attracting millions of passengers every year.
Read on to discover the most scenic of them all.
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Scotland
1. Royal Scotsman
Edinburgh, Boat of Garten, Dundee
This hotel on wheels has become a byword for luxury in train travel. The cabins, all en suite, are generously proportioned for a train carriage, but it is the quality of food and the pitch-perfect friendliness of staff that makes a journey on the Belmond Royal Scotsman such a pleasure.
The small galley kitchen produces refined dishes using the country’s produce wherever possible, and there is a good selection of malts to accompany a chat in the lounge car before or after dinner. The varied tours, from three to eight days, are designed to showcase the finest scenery Scotland has to offer, with some focusing on history, others on food and whisky. An open balcony on the rear coach helps photographers capture the sights; wellness aficionados will appreciate the new on-board Dior Spa, with two tranquil treatment cabins. The ultimate accommodation is provided by two Grand Suite cabins, featuring Highlands-inspired furniture and design.
The details:
From £4,800 per person for its two-night Taste of the Highlands itinerary (0800 058 1237; belmond.com).
2. The Jacobite and Caledonian Sleeper
London, Fort William, Mallaig
The West Highland Railway traverses some of the wildest country crossed by a British railway line, connecting Glasgow with Fort William, though it’s the onward extension to Mallaig that is best known. The famous curving viaduct at Glenfinnan (pictured top) featured in four of the Harry Potter films, and the Jacobite steam trains that run to the fishing port from April to late October draw thousands to the area for its spectacular landscapes.
After a glimpse of the Caledonian Canal at Neptune’s Staircase – a flight of eight locks – the railway skirts Loch Eil and is soon running beside the sea. Cattle can sometimes be seen on the white sands near Morar with views over sea lochs to the Small Isles of Muck, Eigg and Rum. Inland there is a panorama of mountains dotted with the stones of sheep pounds and crofters’ cottages. The Caledonian Sleeper from London, with en-suite shower carriages and even double beds, is the most romantic and relaxing way to reach Fort William.
The details:
The Jacobite runs from April 7 to October 24, from £65 return (0333 996 6692; westcoastrailways.co.uk). Caledonian Sleeper, London to Fort William, from £425 for a double cabin (0330 060 0500; sleeper.scot).
North of England
3. North Yorkshire Moors Railway
Whitby, Goathland, Pickering
Britain’s busiest heritage railway runs through 24 miles of glorious countryside, much of it within the North York Moors National Park. Using a section of Network Rail, trains climb along the Esk Valley from the coast at Whitby to reach the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s own tracks at the junction of Grosmont.
Engineered by George Stephenson himself, the railway traverses wooded country to the moorland village of Goathland, still remembered as the setting for the TV series Heartbeat. Some passengers break the journey here to walk into the village or explore the famous mile-long stretch of road – Roman or even earlier – across Wheeldale Moor. Leaflets suggest walks from the other intermediate stations before journey’s end at the market town of Pickering and its 13th-century castle.
The details:
Daily services return on March 31, and tickets for 2025 will go on sale soon (01751 472508; nymr.co.uk).
4. Cumbrian Coast
Lancaster, Whitehaven, Carlisle
The fastest way between Lancaster and Carlisle is the West Coast main line over Shap summit, but the slow-travel route via Barrow and Whitehaven provides long stretches of railway beside the treacherous sands of Morecambe Bay and the Irish Sea. The West Coast main line is left at Carnforth Station where Brief Encounter was filmed in 1945.
Long viaducts carry the railway across estuaries, and the landscapes bear few scars from the mining, steel and shipbuilding industries that once dominated the Furness peninsula. Past the firing range at Eskmeals is Ravenglass and the start of the delightful Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, a 15-inch gauge line used by many walkers as a way to reach the western fells. Beyond Whitehaven, one of England’s first planned towns, the railway turns inland through pleasant farming country to reach the border city of Carlisle.
The details:
From £27.10 return (0800 200 6060; northernrailway.co.uk).
5. The Pennines and Yorkshire Dales
Settle, Ribblehead, Carlisle
The English railway journey everyone should take. The magnificently engineered railway through the Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales National Park was almost lost in the 1980s, but it was famously reprieved by Michael Portillo – his greatest political achievement, he has said. From the beginning of the climb through Settle to the descent through the Eden Valley to Carlisle, there is not a dull moment for those who love wild, dramatic countryside and lowering hills.
Stations have been reopened for walkers, and the Settle & Carlisle Railway Trust has done wonders to make them welcoming places for local users and visitors alike. Ribblehead Viaduct has become one of the best-known structures on Britain’s railways, but its exposed setting made it notorious in steam days when the ferocity of the wind was known to blow coal off the shovel.
The details:
Leeds to Carlisle, from £37.20 return (northernrailway.co.uk).
South of England
6. Dartmouth Steam Railway
Paignton, Torbay, Kingswear
West Country resorts were the destination of hundreds of excursion trains during the summer months when everyone went on holiday by rail. The Dartmouth Steam Railway was once the route of the Torbay Express and now makes an end-on connection with Network Rail before continuing south to a terminus beside the sea at Kingswear.
The line climbs from Paignton to give a panorama over Torbay before crossing a saddle in the hills to descend along the Dart Estuary to Kingswear, passing Agatha Christie’s holiday home at Greenway, now in the care of the National Trust. Various ticket options allow you to take the return journey by river cruise with a bus connection to complete the circuit between train and boat.
The details:
£22.50 return (01803 555872; dartmouthrailriver.co.uk).
7. Bluebell Railway
Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes, East Grinstead
Southern’s trains to East Grinstead provide an easy way for Londoners to reach the Bluebell Railway whose station is a few minutes’ walk from the main-line platform. The 11-mile journey to Sheffield Park weaves through well-wooded Sussex countryside, carpeted with bluebells in spring.
Each of the four stations is restored to evoke a different period in the line’s 137-year history, and the quiet country junction of Horsted Keynes, with its small refreshment room on the island platform, is one of the most atmospheric of all heritage railway stations. Because it was the first standard-gauge heritage railway, opening in 1960, the Bluebell has a fine collection of vintage carriages, adding to the charm of the journey. Take a stroll to the National Trust gardens at Sheffield Park before returning.
The details:
All-day Adult Rover tickets, advance booked, from £14, 14, Kid for a Quid Rover for child (3–15yrs) (01825 720800; bluebell-railway.com).
8. The Watercress Line
Alton, Four Marks, Arlesford
Easily reached by South Western Railway train to Alton, the Watercress Line runs through rural Hampshire and places that Jane Austen knew well from her years living at Chawton, where her home is open to the public. The watercress that is still grown in the area was once the main goods traffic for this branch line that meanders over downland, pausing at stations that still display a love of topiary in the gardens that once enhanced so many rural stations. Journey’s end is the delightful Georgian town of Alresford with its historic pubs, tearooms and independent shops. In common with many heritage railways, there is a programme of dining, real ale and afternoon tea trains, and those who have always wondered what it’s like to drive a steam locomotive can take a three-hour or full day Driver Experience course.
The details:
Alton–Alresford, £24 return booked online (01962 733810; watercressline.co.uk)
Wales
9. Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways
Blaenau Ffestiniog, Caernarfon, Porthmadog
Both these narrow-gauge railways terminate at a shared station in Porthmadog and thread Snowdonia. The Welsh Highland Railway to within a stone’s throw of the castle at Caernarfon, and the Ffestiniog Railway to the slate-quarrying town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
The Ffestiniog Railway has numerous claims as to why it should go down in railway history – locomotive trials in 1870 attracted delegations from nine countries, including Russia and India – but it is the spectacular scenery that fills trains. These leave Porthmadog across the narrow Cob with the sea on one side and a mountain-backed polder on the other, before climbing to a unique spiral near the summit.
The scenic highlight of the Welsh Highland Railway is the passage through the Aberglaslyn Pass, though there isn’t a single dull moment in its 25 miles. The steep gradients of both lines call for special steam locomotives. The Ffestiniog Railway offers an observation car while the Welsh Highland Railway has two Pullman cars, one of them with an observation end (a supplement applies to all).
The details:
Welsh Highland Railway from £70, return; Ffestiniog Railway from £50, return. Services restart on March 25 (01766 516000; festrail.co.uk).
10. Shrewsbury to Cardigan Bay
Aberystwyth, Tywyn, Pwllheli
The railway serving the resorts of Cardigan Bay between Aberystwyth in the south and Pwllheli in the north meanders through central Wales and landscapes of rolling hills devoted to livestock farming or woodland. The two lines diverge at lonely Cyffordd Dyfi (Dovey Junction), accessible only by footpath. The southern route heads for the university town and a chance to take the Vale of Rheidol narrow-gauge railway to the well-known eponymous falls.
Gingerly edging along the cliffs above the sea, the northern line also provides connections to narrow-gauge railways – the Talyllyn Railway at Tywyn and the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways at Porthmadog. A highlight is the crossing of the Mawddach Estuary by the 1867 timber bridge near Barmouth, shared with cyclists and pedestrians.
The details:
Shrewsbury to Pwllheli, from £28.40 return; Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth, from £26 return (0330 3211 180; tfw.wales).
This article was first published in December 2023, and has been revised and updated.
