First launched in 1970, the Indian Pacific train travels between Sydney and Perth – a journey of 2,704 miles across southern Australia. I recently joined it at Adelaide for the three-day western half of its journey, said Emma John in The Telegraph, and I can confirm it is “one of the world’s great luxury rail experiences”.
The train itself was splendid, with its 35 silver carriages and comfortable en-suite cabins, and there was a plethora of “natural wonders” to see, including the vast, red-rock Nullarbor Plain (the continent’s emptiest wilderness). Beyond it, we passed through rolling green wilds where kangaroos and emus raced the train, and later “gorgeous” pastoral country.
Perhaps most magical, however, was the banquet we were treated to on a platform at Rawlinna, Australia’s biggest sheep station, where the skies are among the darkest on Earth, and the stars are breathtakingly bright.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Latest Videos From
The three-day trip costs from £1,532pp (journeybeyondrail.com.au).
One of Tuscany’s most idyllic islands
The Tuscan island of Giglio hit the news in 2012 when a cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, ran aground here and capsized, with the loss of 32 lives. Today, it is hard to imagine that such a tragedy should have struck this beautiful, “laidback” place, said Elizabeth Heath in Travel + Leisure. An hour by ferry from Porto Santo Stefano, on the Monte Argentario peninsula, the island has a “completely away-from-it-all feel”. The main town, Giglio Porto, is “colourful” and charming, and there are some good, if occasionally steep, hiking trails (Giglio is five miles long), with views to the larger island of Elba, 30 miles to the north. Hire a boat to reach hidden coves – perfect spots to “swim, snorkel or picnic” – and be sure to look up the island’s summer theatre season and its festivals of opera, film and wine.
The stylish La Guardia hotel has rooms from £280 a night (laguardiahotel.it).
The rose gardens of Rapperswil
There’s something to be said for “stopping to smell the roses” – and there can be few better places to do it than Rapperswil, said Steven King in Country Life. This “exceptionally pretty” medieval town beside Lake Zurich has a towering triangular castle, a peaceful waterfront promenade, and several magnificent rose gardens, which are home to thousands of the plant. The quirkiest is perhaps the small Mainau garden, created in the last century by a Swedish prince, Lennart Bernadotte, who was stripped of his title for marrying a commoner. But the most enchanting is the Fragrant Rose Garden. Established in 1984 with blind visitors in mind, it’s a place of “transcendent wonder” with roughly 1,500 plants from 75 varieties, all of which are strongly scented.
