Train travel is constantly expanding.
China has been putting down rails on its New Silk Road (from China to London); luxury trains have recently debuted, like Belmond’s Royal Scotsman and Andean Explorer Peru; and Virgin founder Richard Branson debuted the Virgin Trains USA (formerly Brightline, an express inter-city rail system) at Virgin MiamiCentral train station in Miami, Florida on Thursday. The high-speed train is expected to connect two of Florida’s most popular destinations, Orlando (near Walt Disney World) and Miami, with speeds up to 125 miles per hour.
Canvas Holidays, a travel operator based in the U.K., culled through 275,000 train travel photos on Instagram to determine which journeys were getting the most tags around the world (as of Friday, April 5).
Leading the pack was a European route: The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, which was tagged in 63,408 Instagram posts.
And only two U.S. routes made the cut: with 19,640 tags, the California Zephyr — which travels through Chicago, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City and San Francisco — ranked No. 5. And the No. 7 Coast Starlight goes through Seattle; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento; and Los Angeles and was tagged 14,244 times.
Here are the Top 10 most Instagrammable train rides in the world, according to Canvas Holidays.
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (tagged on Instagram 63,408 times) is one of the most recognized and oldest luxury train services in the world. The journey, aboard 1920s Art Deco carriages, goes through London, England; Paris, France; and Milan and Venice in Italy.
The Bernina express was tagged in 38,840 Instagram posts, perhaps because the four-hour journey provides picture-perfect views of the Swiss Alps. The train goes through Chur and St. Moritz in Switzerland and Tirano, Italy.
The famous Canadian Rockies train goes through Vancouver and Kamloops, British Columbia and Jasper, Alberta, Canada and was tagged in 25,464 Instagram posts.
The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway in the world with a distance of 5,772 miles. It goes through Moscow, Irkutsk and Vladivostok, Russia, and was tagged 22,864 times.
One of the most well known trains in America, The California Zephyr starts in Chicago and goes through Nebraska, Colorado and Utah and finally ends in San Francisco. The journey length is 2,438 miles (51 hours) and it’s been tagged 19,640 times.
The slow train ride on The Glacier Express through the Swiss Alps passes through 91 tunnels and across 291 bridges, from Zermatt to St. Moritz, Switzerland. It’s been tagged on Instagram 16,876 times.
Along the west coast of California, passengers can take in magnificent coastline views aboard The Coast Starlight (tagged in 14,244 Instagram posts). The train goes through Seattle; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento and Los Angeles.
A short, 49-minute journey, The Brocken Railway is among the most popular trains in Germany. It goes through the Harz Mountain Range to the highest peak in northern Germany and has been tagged 11,660 times.
The highest mainline railway in northern Europe (4,058 feet above sea level) has been tagged in 9,630 Instagram posts. The Bergen Rail goes through the breathtaking countryside between Bergen and Oslo, Norway.
The 45-hour, beautiful journey in Asia starts in Singapore and goes through Malaysia, ending up in Bangkok. It’s been tagged in 6,499 Instagram posts.
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