100 Train Journeys of a Lifetime

About the book, 100 Train Journeys of a Lifetime: The World’s Ultimate Rides

Climb aboard the world’s 100 greatest railway adventures with this beautifully curated travel guide from National Geographic.

Filled with unforgettable journeys, including a weeklong excursion through Italy’s wine country and a four-hour sojourn in the Swiss countryside, this illustrated collection will add to your train trip bucket list.

Experience 100 of the most sought-after train rides around the world, from a luxurious trip through the Rocky Mountains to bullet trains that whizz you across Japan.

This is the ultimate collection for railfans, featuring centuries-old railways, modern and speedy engineering marvels, and trips that take you through bustling cities like Chicago or ancient wonders like Machu Picchu.

Along with where and when to go, 100 Train Journeys of a Lifetime includes inside info on passenger cars (like the best cabins to book or the tastiest meals en route), sidebars on historic stations and jet-setting train trips, and top excursions to take while off the rails.
Throughout, National Geographic highlights the top 100 lines that offer a window to the beauty of our world, including:

Italy’s Espresso Cadore, a retro sleeper train that whisks you from the ruins of Rome to the ski resort of Cortina in the Dolomites.
Norway’s Nordlandsbanen railway, the only train line in the country that takes you to the Arctic Circle for a chance to spot the Northern Lights.
South Africa’s Blue Train, which travels 950 miles between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
The Ethan Allen Express, a revived route from Manhattan to Burlington, Vermont, along the shores of Lake Champlain.
Belmond’s Royal Scotsman, an intimate 40-passenger train (including a spa carriage) that takes you through the heart of the Scottish Highlands.
The Grand Canyon Railway, with views of the national park you won’t find anywhere else.
The Hiram Bingham Orient-Express, a four-hour ride in a 1920s-style locomotive from Cusco through the Sacred Valley to the Inca Citadel.
India’s Palace on Wheels, a week-long sojourn from New Delhi to Jodhpur, Udaipur to Agra.

And so much more!

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop | Goodreads

About the author, Everett Potter

Everett Potter is a columnist for Forbes, a contributor to National Geographic, and an expert for National Geographic Expeditions. The editor of Everett Potter’s Travel Report, he is a former travel columnist for The New York Times Syndicate, Smart Money, Ski, USA Today, and USA Weekend. A longtime contributor to Outside, Money, National Geographic Traveler, and Travel + Leisure, he is the recipient of four Lowell Thomas Awards.

Connect with Everett:

Amazon Author Page | Everett Potter’s Travel Report | Facebook | Instagram

My Thoughts

Everett Potter’s 100 Train Journeys of a Lifetime is one of those rare travel books that feels like a ticket drawer full of possibilities. Each page hums with the quiet, anticipatory music of a station platform—steam rising, doors opening, landscapes rolling toward you like a promise. Curated with National Geographic’s signature eye for wonder, it’s part atlas, part armchair adventure, and entirely irresistible.

I came to trains early. Childhood afternoons were spent steering HO-scale engines across miniature countryside, learning to dream in rail lines. As a teen, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle convinced me that trains held mysteries as well as destinations. By adulthood, the romance of rail travel had lodged itself somewhere deep in my DNA. So opening this book felt less like browsing a travel guide and more like paging through a family album filled with places I’ve loved and places I’ve yet to meet.

Potter guides us along railways that span continents and centuries. Luxury sleepers glide through the Rockies as if tracing the spine of a giant; sleek bullet trains whisk across Japan with clockwork precision; a retro Italian night train sweeps you from Rome to the Dolomites in a soft blur of moonlight and motion. I’m especially smitten with sleeper trains, so the Espresso Cadore instantly joined my personal bucket list the moment I read about it.

As always with these “of a Lifetime” volumes, the delight is in the detail. Potter’s insider notes point you toward cabins worth claiming, meals worth lingering over, and stations worth exploring. Sidebars shine a lantern on everything from the engineering that powers high-speed marvels to the lore behind beloved routes like the Palace on Wheels or the Hiram Bingham journey to Machu Picchu. The result isn’t just informative; it’s cinematic. You can almost hear the conductor call “All aboard.”

And the photography? Pure temptation. Lush, sweeping, beautifully composed images that pair with the text to whisper, buy a ticket right now. Whether you’re daydreaming about Scotland’s misty highlands on the Royal Scotsman or plotting a long weekend aboard the Ethan Allen Express, every spread offers its own small escape.

Goes well with: A steaming cup of Darjeeling and a warm, flaky pasty—preferably enjoyed beside a window where the next train might glide past at any moment.