Planes, Trains and cruise ship addicts. Top trips with trains…

It occurred to me the other day that most cruise ship passengers love modes of transport. I am not saying that cruise ship passengers are all trainspotters by any stretch of the imagination. The most popular tours on Cruises tend to be the ones including a train ride, a tram ride, or a carriage ride. I then started thinking about all of the packages that we have at cruise.co.uk where there are multiple modes of transport included to make the journey more interesting.  So here are my top train journeys that you can do either during a cruise, before or after.

Close to the UK we have the  Norwegian fjords and one of the most popular of shore excursions whilst travelling in Norway is the Flam railway.  This spectacular journey takes you up from the fjord to the mountainous plateau through a very Scenic Valley. the train passes through several tunnels en route and makes a stop at a tremendous waterfall. This has to be booked in advance as the places are limited by the number of seats on the train….

In the Caribbean there are options like the St Kitts railway. Which takes you through the cane fields enjoying the views, whilst hearing all about the history of slavery  in the Caribbean and the cutting of sugarcane for the production of rum. On this tour there were also drinks provided including rum punch, although the service was a little slow for my liking…

In the Mediterranean from Palma Majorca you can take the train ride in the mountains called the Soller train.  This was one of my favorites as it takes you away from the touristy parts of Majorca. Up in to the mountains and the village of Soller where although there are tourist items that you can purchase they were very reasonably priced. I found that a lot where the further inland you go the more reasonably priced things become.

From Civitavecchia you are able to take the train into Rome.  Although this was one of the most expensive tours from the tour office.  The places always went quickly and the train was always fully booked. The tour by train drops you off at St Peters and there is then a coach waiting to take you around  Rome with your guide. The train was offered mainly as a time saving exercise as the journey from Civitavecchia into Rome takes a long time by road.

I know this one is not a train.  But the Vintage tram ride in Helsinki was a great tour. The tram is chartered especially for the ships tours.The guide was especially knowledgeable and the stop in the marketplace allowed us to purchase some of the largest raspberries and blackberries I have ever seen. There was fried fish for sale and the timing was perfect as it had been more than two hours since I was last fed.

I could add the Orient express in here but I have not experienced it myself. However it can be done before a sailing by travelling down from London the Venice.

The Rocky Mountaineer in Canada is on a lot of peoples must do train journeys.

But away from the sea there are lots of fabulous train journeys that can be combined with river cruises in Europe. For example the Glacier Express in Switzerland. A lot of River sailings end in Basel and a Swiss pass can give you the chance to explore the area surrounding Lake Lucerne, Zermatt, St Moritz, Zurich and Bern the Capital.

As you might have guessed…. I too love modes of transport and cruising so if you need any help planning your next trip let me know on 0333 300 2480 Adrian