Western Europe’s most populous country doesn’t always spring to mind as a low-cost destination. However, in a place this big and diverse, there will always be a smarter way to spend your euros.
21.07.2023 - 07:28 / roughguides.com
What is it that makes British steam trains so captivating? Is it their invention by the British themselves? Or could it be the evocative imagery of peaked caps, billowing steam, and nostalgic tales like The Railway Children that stir a unique emotion in the hearts of grown men? Whatever the reason, there's something about the UK heritage railways and their steam trains that only a ride down the line can start to explain. All aboard our pick of the steam.
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Ten stations in twenty miles, not to mention the rolling Somerset countryside, brings the steam buffs out in raptures. It’s all about tradition and nostalgia on this resurrected branch line of the old Great Western Railway. West Somerset is the longest heritage railway in England. This line goes past infamous stops such as Crowcombe, Stogumber, Doniford Halt and Blue Anchor – each with a tale to tell.
If you can't wait to enjoy the beauty of the United Kingdom, also read our guide to the best road trips in the UK.
On The West Somerset Railway — Between Minehead & Bishops Lydeard © Robin Vanags/Shutterstock
The world’s oldest independent railway company (founded in 1832) is surely the place to spark a love for steam. The thirteen-mile journey through the spectacular North Wales countryside is one of the best things to do in Wales and pulls out all the engineering stops, from full-circle loops to mountain tunnels.
What's more, the recent completion of the link to the Welsh Highland Railway from Caernarfon offers a magnificent and unforgettable experience. This line spans an impressive forty magnificent miles of narrow-gauge steam.
There’s railway heritage packed into the very DNA of the NYMR. This is one of the oldest UK heritage railways, built in 1835 by railway pioneer George Stephenson of Locomotion fame.
It connects Pickering in the heart of the North York Moors to the coast at Whitby. It puffs through a dramatic high moorland backdrop and stops at time-warp village stations for cream teas and hearty walks. It’s pretty wizard all around, so no surprise to see Goathland Station double as Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter films.
North Yorkshire Moors Railway © Shutterstock
The first indication that you’re not in Kansas any more? Probably the request halt that connects Ronaldsway Airport to Douglas on the Isle of Man.
If you can get over the fact that you can go from baggage reclaim to the island capital by steam train, ponder – as you rattle along fifteen miles of narrow-gauge countryside line – that this is still government-owned and run. And yet, the trains and carriages have hardly changed a jot since 1874.
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Western Europe’s most populous country doesn’t always spring to mind as a low-cost destination. However, in a place this big and diverse, there will always be a smarter way to spend your euros.
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Jacob Keanik scanned his binoculars over the field of ice surrounding our sailboat. He was looking for the polar bear that had been stalking us for the past 24 hours, but all he could see was an undulating carpet of blue-green pack ice that stretched to the horizon. “Winter is coming,” he murmured. Jacob had never seen Game of Thrones and was unaware of the phrase’s reference to the show’s menacing hordes of ice zombies, but to us, the threat posed by this frozen horde was equally dire. Here in remote Pasley Bay, deep in the Canadian Arctic, winter would bring a relentless tide of boat-crushing ice. If we didn’t find a way out soon, it could trap us and destroy our vessel—and perhaps us too.
There are high-speed trains and then there are high-speed maglev trains. While there are plenty of examples of the former (in the UK, in Spain, in France and even in Florida), only one of the latter is in commercial operation today: The Shanghai Maglev Train (SMT), also known as the Shanghai Transrapid Maglev Train. This unique train runs between Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the Shanghai’s financial district every 15 minutes and is the fastest commercial train in the world.
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For five days of the year each summer, the somewhat soulless exhibition centre in Earls Court is transformed into a giant pub (pictured above). Or at least that’s what it feels like. Gone are the trade stalls and suited delegates, replaced by an army of (mostly bearded) volunteers manning hundreds of kegs, dispensing beers few people have ever heard of to thousands of squiffy punters – a lot of whom are wearing traffic-cone hats or sombreros for no apparent reason.
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In a city where it’s possible to pay up to US$250 for a rib eye steak, it is no surprise that most feel daunted at the prospect of visiting the pricy Russian capital, Moscow . Yet there are plenty of quirky cafés, hidden restaurants and expat haunts that will not break your budget. Here is a selection of some of the city’s best.
The Ridgeway really is as old as the hills — well, almost. For over 5000 years, travellers, farmers, soldiers and, more recently, cyclists have followed this 87-mile-long trackway (pictured above) between Avebury in Wiltshire and Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire — part of an ancient trading route that once stretched from the Dorset coast all the way to Norfolk. The chalky downland ridge that comprises the Ridgeway's western half is open to cyclists all year round, and provides a moderately challenging 42-mile ride.
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