Autumn is a wonderful season to travel, and a train window is a great way to soak up the glorious colours of passing natural landscapes. Some railways even operate special trains during the weeks when the spectrum of yellows, golds and oranges is at its most appealing. Here are some of the lines in the northern hemisphere renowned for their autumn beauty, and, in some cases, places en route to be visited for the same reason.

Switzerland’s most scenic autumn journey belongs to this Ticino railway (Alamy)

Route: Locarno–Domodossola

Duration: 2 hours

How to book: switzerlandtravelcentre.com

Along the valley of the River Melezza, forests of larch and chestnut turn a glorious palette of yellow, gold and brown with the autumn chill. The valley has such steep slopes that there is thankfully no major road to defile its beauty, so this narrow-gauge railway journey between the Swiss canton of Ticino and Italy is the best way to enjoy it. The name comes from the hundred side valleys that the train has to leap over by often spectacular bridges and viaducts, and the railway serves a series of stone villages huddled round Italianate church towers. Nine of the twelve stations are request stops, often used by walkers hiking the network of footpaths through the woods. From Intragna, a cablecar ascends to Costa for a delightful walk though walnut woods to Cremaso, and another stretches from Verdasio station to the unspoilt hill village of Rasa, which cannot be reached by car.

This German train travels alongside Moselle River and past yellow-tinted vineyards (Shutterstock)

Route: Koblenz–Trier

Duration: 2 hours

How to book: ffestiniogtravel.com

Less well known than the famous lines that flank the Rhine valley between Cologne and Frankfurt is the railway that turns southwest from Koblenz along the north bank of the Moselle Valley to Germany’s oldest city, Trier. Leaving Koblenz, the Eltz Forest nature reserve enfolds Eltz Castle, one of Germany’s most dramatically sited fortifications. Neat ranks of vines climb above the railway and add to the colours of the trees, dominated by the beech whose cover extends into the distant hills of the Hunsrück. The villages are compelled to stretch along the river by the steep slopes behind them, and every patch of ground with enough soil and sun for vines is used.

Passengers capture the beautiful autumn trees from the Sagano Romantic Train (Alamy)

Route: Saga Torokko and Kameoka Torokko near Kyoto

Duration: 25 minutes

How to book: sagano-kanko.co.jp

Reached in 15 minutes by a Japan Railways train from Kyoto station to Saga-Arashiyama station, this train is as popular in spring for the cherry blossom as it is in autumn for the intense colours of the Japanese maples. The open-sided or windowed carriages crawl along during the most scenic parts of the journey, some sections of line burrowing through an avenue of trees. The line crosses the Hozukyo ravine at a sinuous point in the river valley, affording a view over an unbroken mass of autumn colour smothering the valley sides. The best time is mid-November to early December. The journey can be done both ways or by taking the train back to Kyoto from Umahori station, about five minutes’ walk from Kameoka Torokko station.

The Agawa Canyon Tour Train amidst the vibrant autumn foliage (Alamy)

Route: Sault Ste Marie–Hearst

Duration: 10 hours (including return)

How to book:agawatrain.com

The Agawa Canyon Tour Train into the roadless wilds of northern Ontario is all about autumn colours. Operating from early August to mid-October, the train heads north for 114 miles beside lakes and rivers to reach the spectacular canyon carved by the Agawa River. It threads the mixed forest of the Canadian Shield and passes impressive granite rock formations, captured in paint by Group of Seven artists who used the railway to reach their subjects. At journey’s end, there is a 300-step climb to a viewing platform over the gorge.

Ride the Dovre Railway through Norway’s golden-hued forests (Shutterstock)

Route: Oslo–Trondheim

Duration: 6 hours 30 minutes

How to book: entur.no

What Norway lacks in variety of trees, it makes up in numbers. The Dovre Railway is named after the range of mountains it crosses at 1,006m (3,300ft) to reach the Dovrefjell mountain plateau, home to a population of 300 wild musk ox. Birch, spruce and fir populate the forests flanking much of the railway to Norway’s former capital at Trondheim, the trees punctuated by ox blood-painted farm buildings. The railway skirts Norway’s largest lake, Mjøsa, where the world’s oldest working paddle-steamer takes passengers on excursions, to reach the winter sports centres of Lillehammer and Vinstra in the Gudbrandsdalen Valley. A steep, winding descent of a gorge lined with waterfalls that will soon freeze leads to the Trondheim lowlands.

Mount Washington Cog Railway is popular for leaf peeping (Shutterstock)

Route: Marshfield Base Station–Mount Washington

Duration: 3 hours (including return)

How to book: thecog.showare.com

The Mount Washington Valley is famed for its autumn colours between mid-September and late October, and the world’s first rack railway is a great way to see them. Opened in 1868, the railway scales the highest peak in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, climbing above the tree line for the alternative attractions of a 360-degree panorama and dramatic sunsets. Tree species and colours change as the train ascends, beech, birch and sugar maple giving way to red spruce and fir before reaching the sub-alpine zone of dwarf trees, often subjected to ferocious winds – until 1996 the mountain had recorded the world’s highest wind speed, of 231mph.

Azay-le-Rideau castle in the Loire Valley (Shutterstock)

Route: Paris–Orléans–Blois–Tours–Nantes

Duration: Paris–Orléans 1 hour; Orléans­–Blois 45 minutes; Blois–Nantes 2 hours 30 minutes

How to book:raileurope.com

From Orléans to Nantes and beyond to Le Croisic, the Interloire line is seldom far from the river and its 15 châteaux, and there is even an app to keep you company with information on what you’re looking at out the window (le Val de Loire vu du train). Local stopping trains allow the free carriage of bikes for those planning a linear journey between châteaux, many offering paths through their wooded estates for walking or cycling, such as the 15km of cycle paths around Chambord.

It’s hard to beat South Korea’s autumn foliage (Shutterstock)

Route: Seoul–Busan

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes – 5 hours 30 minutes

How to book: koreantrain.com

Few countries can rival South Korea for the brilliance of autumn foliage in October and November. The country’s longest railway journey links Seoul and its second largest city, Busan on the south coast, and a good way to cross the country, perhaps breaking the journey at Darjeon to visit the Jangtaesan Recreational Forest for its gingko and metasequoia trees and dizzying suspension footbridge across a gorge. Unless you’re in a hurry, skip the KTX high-speed route and take a slower train over the older Gyeongbu Line to enjoy some of the country’s best views and autumn colours along Korea’s busiest corridor.

You may recognise the West Highland Railway from the Harry Potter films (Alamy Stock Photo)

Scotland’s West Highland Railway line has captured the imagination of visitors for over a century. It has even gained a new generation of followers thanks to the appearance of the 19th-century Glenfinnan Viaduct in the Harry Potter films. But there’s no wizardry here; just a serene, untouched wilderness. McKinlay Kidd’s Slowly Along the West Highland Line trip affords the time to soak it all in as you inch the tracks between Glasgow and Oban on the Scottish west coast, before taking boat trips to the Hebridean Islands and the Knoydart peninsula – one of the UK’s remotest and quietest spots. A private tour of the Isle of Skye completes the experience.

More information:McKinlay Kidd. Year-round (best Apr–Oct); nine nights from £1,745pp, including ferry travel.

Take a rail journey through South Africa on Rovos Rail (Rovos Rail)

The highlight of Trailfinders’ Western Cape & Wilderness by Luxury Rail tour is undoubtedly the days spent aboard the Pride of Africa train. Owned by private railway operator Rovos Rail, its sumptuous wood-panelled coaches and period Edwardian features speak to an era of rail travel when dining carriages, leather-backed chairs and fine china were de rigueur and it was all rather genteel. Visitors chug out of Cape Town, then rattle through winelands and mountains before crossing the vast semi-desert of the Karoo to visit the continent’s diamond capital, Kimberley. Four nights at the luxurious Ulusaba Safari Lodge in Sabi Sand Reserve are the icing on the cake, as you leave the tracks behind to spot the ‘Big Five’ on safari.

More information: Trailfinders. Year-round; 14 nights from £7,529pp, including international flights.

Travel through Peru on the Belmond Andean Sleeper (Shutterstock)

When the Belmond Andean Sleeper train launched back in 2017, it opened up the Peruvian Andes to luxury travel in a way we’d never experienced before. Llama Travel’s Grand Tour of Peru offers the option to make good use of this stately locomotive and its observation car on the overnight journey from Cusco to Lake Titicaca and its floating islands. Expect three weeks of forbidding mountains, shimmering altiplano and ancient history as you breeze through the mountains via the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, the condor-filled skies of Colca Canyon and the mysterious Nazca Lines. And if it all gets too much for you, a stint in the train’s piano bar or spa car will sort you out.

More information:Llama Travel. Mid-March to mid-November; 21 days from £3,929, including tickets for the Belmond Andean Sleeper and international flights.

Stop off in Granada on your Sunvil rail itinerary (Shutterstock)

It’s never been easier to reach or get around Spain by rail, thanks to the boom in new high-speed routes and local services. Sunvil’s To Spain by Train and Return by Plane trip embraces the slow approach with an itinerary that starts in London before sliding down to Barcelona via Paris by train. From there, travellers head by rail to the last stronghold of the Spanish Moors, Granada, where the Alhambra recalls the height of the city’s medieval largesse. Stays in a 19th-century nobleman’s palace on the edge of the old town set a leisurely pace, with walks among the citadel filling your days, before swapping rails for four wheels and road trips among Andalucía’s white villages and the rugged wilderness of the Sierras Subbéticas Natural Park.

More information:Sunvil. Year-round; seven nights from £1,208pp, including international rail travel.

Autumn colours on the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (Yvonne Lashmett)

Parts of Colorado can feel like the past 150 years were just a dream. Bon Voyage’s Historic Trains of Colorado delves into the state’s Gold Rush past as you depart hip Denver for a ride on the 19th-century Georgetown Loop Railroad – one of Colorado’s first-ever visitor attractions. From there you will ride a series of old railroads that were built to transport gold and silver from the mines, skimming rocky hillsides on narrow-gauge tracks such as the Durango & Silverton and the Cumbres & Toltec routes. Expect side trips to Pikes Peak (the heart of the state’s 1850s Gold Rush), cowboy towns, unspoilt canyons and a trip across the continental divide on a journey that weaves through the Rocky Mountains and far back in time.

More information:Bon Voyage. Jun–Oct; seven nights from £3,850pp, including international flights.

The Venice Simplon-Orient Express is one of the most glamorous trains there is (Shutterstock)

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE) conjures everything that was special about the golden age of luxury rail, including carriages that have been restored from their 1920s and ’30s heyday. Abercrombie & Kent’s Venice and the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express trip spares no inch of glamour as you leave the canal-side romance and frescoed cathedrals of ‘La Serenissima’ for high life on the rails. The luxury on board is palpable in cabins replete with Art Deco designs and wood so polished that it gleams. Fine-dining meals accompany one of the most famous rail routes in history as you make for London via the Dolomites, before crossing the Channel and joining the Belmond British Pullman train for the final stretch.

More information:Abercrombie & Kent. Year-round (best: Mar–Nov); three nights from £4,750, including international flights.

Riding through Mexico’s Copper Canyon (Shutterstock)

The barren peaks of Mexico’s north-west are a rocky wonderland. At their heart is Copper Canyon, a labyrinthine mass of vaulting rock nearly four times the volume of the USA’s Grand Canyon. Through this winds one of North America’s most dramatic rail journeys: the El Chepe Express. Audley Travel’s Copper Canyon Train and Ixtapa-Zihuatenejo trip joins the train in El Fuerte, riding through rocky crag to the dizzying town of Bahuichivo (1,800m), followed by a night in the belly of the canyon at the tiny village of Cerocahui. Excursions include the Copper Canyon cable car and views over Balancing Rock, then the train ploughs on through the mountains to finish in Chihuahua, before a flight to the Pacific Coast shores of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.

More information: Audley Travel. Year-round (best: Nov–Jun); 14 days from £5,840pp, including international flights.

Enjoy the Scandinavian scenery from Flam’s Corkscrew Railway (VisitFlam/Morten Rakke)

Discover the World’s Magnificent Norwegian Fjords by Rail trip sets off from London in search of the scenic landscapes and soaring fjords of Scandinavia. Travel via Cologne and Copenhagen before taking the train across the 8km-long Oresund Bridge to Sweden, where the buzzy coastal city of Gothenburg awaits. Then cross the Norwegian border to contrast the busy capital of Oslo with the sloping fjords of the coast on two of Europe’s most picturesque rail routes. Journey ‘Across the Roof of Norway’ on the Bergen Line to Myrdal, then twist and turn along Flam’s famous ‘Corkscrew Railway’ for sweeping views across the fjords below, followed by time in Bergen and Stavanger to explore the scenic coastline at your own pace.

More information:Discover the World. Apr–Oct; 12 nights from £2,098pp, including outbound rail travel; excluding flight on return.

Colourful capsule trains in Busan (Marek Slusarczyk/Alamy Stock Photo)

Since South Korea’s first high-speed train service began in 2004, its rail network has expanded to over 4,000km; now KTX bullet trains cover huge swathes of the country. InsideAsia’s Essential South Korea takes full advantage of the nation’s wealth of rail routes, beginning in Seoul before zooming on to the old town of Gyeongju, known as the ‘Museum without Walls’ for its abundance of tombs, rock carvings, palaces and temples. From there, make for coastal city Busan and its retro Haeundae beach train – the world’s first battery-charged passenger locomotive – before returning to capital Seoul via KTX to explore its food, culture and mountainous fringes.

More information:InsideAsia. Year-round; seven nights from £1,143pp, excluding international flights.