7
GREAT SOUTHERN
Australia; 23nights
There’s alwaysroomforanewface.TheGreat
Southern doesn’tevenstartrunninguntil
6 December 2019,andeventhenitsinauguralseason
only lasts 16 journeys, but we’restillexcited.Atrioofroutesoer
dierent stops between AdelaideandBrisbane,skirting
everything from the ruggedGrampianstothevineyardsof
Hunter Valley, while top-endcabinsaordchaueur-driven
transfers and cosy doubles.Plus,ifyou
inishupinAdelaide,
you can always link up withTheGhanandextendyourepicrail
adventure 2,979km across theRedCentretoDarwin.
From AU$1,829pp (£1,009)one-way,basedontwopeople
sharing a cabin; trains runfrom 6 Dec 2019 to 30 Jan 2020
and Dec–Jan thereafter; greatsouthernrail.com.auKyushu Railway Company; Dreamstime
WANDERSLEEPERS
wanderlust.co.uk September 2019 799
TRANSSIBERIAN
RAILWAY
Russia; 47 nights
It’s the granddaddy of
adventure sleepers, fording
barren steppe and desolate tundra.
Scheduled services and luxury ‘tourist trains’
run its four main routes (including China and
Siberia detours), but the 9,258km week-long
Moscow-to-Vladivostok route is still the
classic. If booking a service, look for the
com
iest ‘FIRM’ (irmeny) trains. First class
(two berth, includes food) has shared
facilities at either end of the coach and is
worth the added expense, however you’ll
want to schedule in stops, such as scenic
Kazan on the banks of the Volga and the
breathtaking Lake Baikal, or it’ll be a long
144 hours. Buy tickets at counters, the oicial
site (eng.rzd.ru) or via a third party like Real
Russia, which books 180 days in advance.
From £900pp one-way, based on two
people sharing a irst-class cabin from
Moscow to Vladivostok; trains run all year
but the long nights of summer are best;
realrussia.co.uk8
KYUSHU SEVEN STARS
Japan; 13 nights
In the land of the bullet, the Japanese ‘cruise train’ is
a glorious throwback, and a popular one. Tickets are so
in demand that lotteries often decide who rides. Some
require you to be in Japan to enter, but the Seven Stars, which loops
the island of Kyushu, can be applied for online. The train itself is
a plush palace of maple and rosewood, aording a moving window
on cypress forests, hot springs and wild volcanoes. A cruise and
overnight ryokan stay are also included on its three-night route.
From JPY315,000pp (£2,296) return, based on two sharing a cabin;
for details, visit cruisetrain-sevenstars.jp/en