5 Destinations to Add to the Top of Your Bucket List

I’m a lucky man. Even before my career at Railbookers, I had travelled to many corners of the world through sheer inquisitiveness and wanderlust, and now I do it for a living. I say now, but let’s address the elephant in the room and recognize that nobody in the world is travelling for the joy of travel at this precise point in time. That can’t stop us dreaming, however, and with that here are my top 5 destinations everyone should have on their bucket list once we are all able to travel again.

Porto

Porto is both dramatic and beautifully personal at the same time. The city is spread across the steep banks of the Douro river and the grand high bridges across lock the two sides together, but at its heart are the narrow, cobbled streets and medieval merchant houses and cafes of the central Ribeira district which warms the soul. The city is easy to explore and is blessed with some beautiful churches which are lit up at night and an abundance of gorgeously tiled interiors and exteriors. Tucking into a Francesinha is mandatory, as is a Pasteis de Natat or 4. Porto wine is in abundance and is a far different experience to what we’re used to tasting at Christmas with our cheese and biscuits. I may be cheating here a little, but Porto is best paired on a rail holiday with another city which was very close to making it onto this list, Lisbon.

Bordeaux

With the opening of the new and improved TGV line between Paris and Bordeaux back in 2017 the journey time reduced to just 2hrs and 14mins. For a journey of 310 miles, that’s fast, and it means that some of the best wines in the world are now just a 6hr city break by train from UK. Bordeaux, of course, is not just on this list because of its wine – of course not! In some eyes, Bordeaux is France’s greatest city, blessed with clement weather, some truly beautiful buildings and public spaces, and of course some amazing gastronomy. There is no better sight than the grand Place de la Bourse reflecting at night on the miroir-d'eau, whilst the Cité du Vin is a museum-like no other on earth.

Lucerne

There is one destination which I would include in every Railbookers holiday if the rules of geography, space, and time allowed it, and that would be Lucerne. It has everything any visitor could want from a train holiday destination: a gorgeous old town, a beautiful lake surrounded by huge mountainous peaks – many of which can easily be accessed by train, cable car, gondola, donkey (ok, maybe not donkey’s…) and jaw-droppingly rickety old elevator which climbs a sheer rock face and a picturesque ancient wooden bridge to boot. The air is fresh, and the fondue is delicious - Lucerne is somewhere for everyone.

Lake Garda

I’m not sure if it’s a fondness of lakes, but the largest of the Italian lakes certainly has a place in my heart, or more precisely, the small town of Sirmione on its south shores. The town is centered around a very thin peninsular and is entered from land via a drawbridge and gate through a medieval castle. There are the Roman ruins of Catullus’s villa to explore + Maria Callas old house to spot, as well as thermal baths to relax in lakeside, and the spectacular lake and surrounding mountains to the north to enjoy. A true bucket list experience would be to combine a night or two here as part of an Orient Express holiday!

The U.S. National Parks

Ok ok ok, technically speaking this isn’t one single destination, but as we are talking bucket list destinations these ALL need a mention. The Grand Canyon is rightly named Grand, but in some ways, this is very much the understatement of the century, and in fact, all the National Parks should have this title. I was lucky enough to visit 5 as well as the Grand Canyon last year, and now I want to visit them all. Each National Park is different, and each is jaw-droppingly phenomenal. Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion are all huge areas of land in Utah, but each so very unique in their own right. The drama and sheer wonder of these places cannot be understated, and this is just 5 out of the 62 across the US, each offering something different to the other. Part of the joy of a holiday by train is that you get to see the land you are travelling across and this is most rewarding in the US where such a vast country can be accessed by rail. The wildlife in Glacier National Park to the north is in huge abundance, the gushing geysers in Yellowstone National Park are otherworldly whilst the towering Sequoia trees of Yosemite National Park are in some cases older than civilization itself. These places deserve a place on everyone’s bucket lists in my humble opinion, and there is no better way to visit them than on a holiday by rail.