The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
TRAINS TO MACHU PICCHU
Apart from hiking the Inca Trail, the only way to reach the most famous legacy of the Inca empire is by train through the spectacular scenery of the Sacred Valley, following the Urubamba river for the first half of the journey. It begins by crossing the fertile Pampa de Anta, planted with quinoa, beans and potatoes. Pigtailed women in fedoras and traditional shawls populate the adobe villages before arrival at Ollantaytambo, where colourful vendors line the train. Agriculture gives way to a cloud forest of orchids and hummingbirds as the train threads the Urubamba Gorge and the mountaintops become higher and higher. The only question is which of three trains to take?
LUXURY BELMOND
The Belmond Hiram Bingham, named after the explorer who rediscovered the ruins in 1911, is the most luxurious, using a train modelled on Twenties Pullman cars and emulating the Orient Express. Lunch is served on the outward journey and dinner on the return, with live local music and dance, and the fare includes use of a VIP lounge at Machu Picchu, bus transfer to the ruins and the entrance fee, and tea at the Belmond Sanctuary Lodge Hotel.
Belmond Hiram Bingham (0051 84 581414; belmond. com) from £683pp.
FIRST CLASS PERURAIL
PeruRail has two services: the Vistadome train with panoramic windows, live dancing, an on-board fashion show featuring alpaca clothes, a snack made of local ingredients and non-alcoholic drinks. The Expedition service is more basic, but food and
Peru and the line from Cuzco to Lake Titicaca are also on the list. In India, the toy trains up to Simla and Darjeeling are a delight, but I still have to travel the line to Ootacamund – or “Ooty” – down south. Africa’s first high-speed train also beckons, Tangier to Casablanca at up to 186mph – and naturally the journey to Morocco will start from St Pancras. drinks are sold on board. PeruRail (0051 84 581414; perurail.com) Vistadome, return from £133; Expedition, return from £86. have the time. Last time I was Stateside I crossed the Atlantic aboard Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, caught Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited and California Zephyr to San Francisco, then drove back from LA to DC in a 31ft hired campervan via the fabulous original Route 66, before sailing back to Southampton on the “Mary”. A no-fly holiday if ever there was one, and one of the best family trips we’ve ever taken.
ECONOMY
rather than a full meal.
Inca Rail (0051 84 581860; incarail.com). First Class from £142; 360° from £64; Voyager from £59.
Whichever you choose – and you could go with one operator one way and another for the return – the train is a wonderful way to travel to one of the world’s greatest sights. Enjoy! Trackwork this year will see all trains replaced by a coach between Cuzco and Ollantaytambo until April 30.
shower and lavatory facilities, and the scenery across eastern Turkey is breathtaking. If these three countries are travel’s Next Big Thing, you heard it here first…