Rail Holidays

The art of slow motion and soulful transit

The Ghan across the outback, the Glacier Express through the Alps, Japan's scenic local lines and the West Highland Line to Mallaig.

There is a quiet, restorative magic in watching a landscape unfold frame by frame through a train window. While air travel compresses distance into a disorienting blur of security lines and jet lag, rail travel honours space. It invites you to step outside the frantic pulse of modern life, swap boarding passes for a cup of steaming tea in a panorama car and let the gentle, rhythmic hum of iron tracks soothe a tired mind.

A slow rail journey is fundamentally wellness in motion. It gives you permission to be still, to think without distraction and to connect deeply with the changing topography outside. From crossing vast, sun-bleached outbacks to gliding past ice-capped alpine peaks, these iconic rail journeys offer the ultimate antidote to burnout.

At Pauls Travel, we design rail journeys around your sense of adventure. Some travellers want a structured programme of guided tours and hotel stays. Others simply want a place where the only decision is which window seat to choose.

The track unwinding from the door of a moving train.

Australia: crossing continents on The Ghan and Indian Pacific

Few journeys capture the sheer scale and quiet solitude of the natural world like Australia's epic transcontinental trains. Spanning thousands of kilometres across the heart of the southern continent, these legendary iron snakes transform travel into a long, meditative breath.

Deep outback stillness and red earth horizons

Stepping aboard The Ghan as it cuts north to south between Adelaide and Darwin—or riding the Indian Pacific coast-to-coast from Sydney to Perth—offers an immediate shift in perspective. As the urban fringes fade, the landscape melts into an endless horizon of crimson earth, salt flats and spinifex under an impossibly wide blue sky.

The onboard experience is designed around unhurried luxury. Between off-train excursions to ancient gorges and remote desert towns, days are spent reading in your cabin, dining on locally sourced native ingredients or gazing out from the observation lounge. As night falls over the Nullarbor, the train pauses in the middle of nowhere for off-train starlight bonfires, where you can trace the Milky Way far removed from light pollution.

Red earth and spinifex running to a flat horizon under a wide blue sky.

Experiences to include

The Ghan between Adelaide and Darwin, or the Indian Pacific coast to coast.
An off-train excursion into one of the ancient gorges.
Dinner built on native ingredients, somewhere past the last town.
A long afternoon in the observation lounge doing nothing at all.
The bonfire stop on the Nullarbor, after dark.
The Milky Way with no light pollution anywhere near it.

Best for: Travellers happy to give two days to a single train, and anyone who wants the outback sky more than the lounge car.

Switzerland: alpine glaciers and high-altitude serenity

Switzerland has perfected the science of rail travel, turning every pass, tunnel and viaduct into a front-row seat for some of Europe's most breathtaking mountain scenery.

The Glacier Express and the Flåmsbana tradition

Referred to lovingly as the "world's slowest express train", the Glacier Express connects the famous alpine resorts of Zermatt and St Moritz over an eight-hour journey through the heart of the Swiss Alps. Clambering over 291 bridges and through 91 tunnels, the train's glass-domed carriages offer unobstructed views of dramatic snow-capped peaks, deep gorges carved by glacial rivers and sleepy timber chalets tucked into pine-scented valleys.

Here, wellness means high-altitude crisp air, organic regional wines served directly to your seat and the mesmerising trance of winter landscapes shifting seamlessly into spring meadows.

A red alpine train crossing a high valley below snow-covered peaks.

Experiences to include

The Glacier Express between Zermatt and St Moritz, all eight hours of it.
A glass-domed carriage seat, booked well ahead.
Regional wine brought to your seat as the gorges go past.
A night in Zermatt beneath the Matterhorn.
The Bernina Express, if one alpine line is not enough.
A walk out from a village the train stops at anyway.

Best for: Travellers who would rather look out than arrive, and anyone who wants the Alps without having to walk them.

Japan: mindful speed and scenic alpine lines

While Japan's hyper-efficient Shinkansen, or bullet trains, are celebrated for connecting cities in minutes, its scenic local lines and slow-paced luxury trains offer a profound lesson in mindfulness and design.

The art of the Shinkansen and Kurobe Gorge Railway

Taking a rail trip through Japan's mountainous spine reveals a quiet reverence for the journey itself. Aboard trains like the Resort Shirakami along the wild Sea of Japan coast or the open-air carriages of the Kurobe Gorge Railway, every detail—from the cedar-wood interior finishes to the impeccably packed regional bento boxes, or ekiben—is designed to heighten your senses.

The movement is whisper-smooth. As you glide past emerald rice paddies, ancient cedar forests and misty mountain shrines, the train becomes a sanctuary of calm reflection, seamlessly connecting travellers to hot spring, or onsen, towns hidden deep in the hills.

Two bullet trains nose to nose at a Japanese platform.

Experiences to include

The Shinkansen once, to feel how quiet that speed can be.
The Resort Shirakami along the Sea of Japan coast.
The open-air carriages of the Kurobe Gorge Railway.
An ekiben eaten properly, at your seat, as the paddies go by.
An onsen town at the end of a branch line.
A mountain shrine reached on foot from a small station.

Best for: Travellers who want the local lines as much as the fast ones, and anyone heading for a hot spring at the end of the track.

Scotland: highlands, Hebrides and heritage steam

To ride the rails through Scotland is to step straight into a romantic landscape painting brought to life by mist, heather and moody glens.

The West Highland Line and Royal Scotsman

Winding from Glasgow up to Mallaig, the West Highland Line is regularly voted one of the world's most beautiful train routes. The journey takes you past the dramatic heights of Ben Nevis, across the wild expanse of Rannoch Moor and over the famous curved stone arches of the Glenfinnan Viaduct.

For those seeking luxury wellness, stepping aboard the Belmond Royal Scotsman is like entering a country house on wheels. Complete with an onboard spa car offering botanical massage treatments, open-air observation decks and evening storytelling over single malt whiskies, this is rail travel at its most poetic and restorative.

A steam train crossing the curved arches of the Glenfinnan Viaduct.

Experiences to include

The West Highland Line from Glasgow to Mallaig.
Rannoch Moor, which no road reaches the same way.
The curved arches of the Glenfinnan Viaduct.
The Royal Scotsman, if a country house on wheels appeals.
Its spa car, booked before you board rather than after.
Whisky and stories on the observation deck once it is dark.

Best for: Travellers who like weather in their scenery, and anyone who would rather the hotel came with them.

Tips for planning a restorative rail journey

Pack light and purposefully

Train cabins benefit from uncluttered space. Bring a favourite book, a journal and comfortable loungewear rather than bulky luggage.

Choose slow routes over express lines

Look for regional or scenic trains that take the long way around. The extra hours spent on board are where the real relaxation happens.

Embrace off-grid moments

Use time spent travelling through tunnels and remote valleys as a natural digital detox, allowing yourself to simply watch the world go by.