Grand Tours

Be they multi-centre breaks or cross continent journeys, Grand Tours are the trip of a lifetime. Some tours favour breadth, covering vast tracts of land across a wide region, while others focus on more detailed explorations of smaller areas. We offer both types from the longest railway line in the world, to music-centric tours of the USA's Deep South.

The traditional Grand Tours became a trend in Britain around the seventeenth century but was the preserve of the super rich. With the introduction of train travel the Tour became open to the upper middle classes. Unfortunately the number of people taking the Grand Tour has declined in recent years as more and more young people are taking gap years in exotic locations rather than learning more about their own part of the world. In honour of the original Grand Tour we have compiled a selection of train journeys which are in keeping with the ideals of education and enlightenment as well as reflecting the make up of the modern world.

Our customers love our Grand Tours tours

Grand Tour of Vietnam and Cambodia

09 Nov 2022

Austin

“This was a full on experience expertly handled by Great Rail Journeys. The hotels and food were superb. The tour manger was excellent and had great attention to detail. Even a typhoon did not phase him and with quickly arranging a different hotel and internal flights we were back on track. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and will certainly book another with Great Rail.

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India’s Golden Triangle, Tigers and Shimla

03 Nov 2022

M Royle

“Excellent trip.

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America Coast to Coast

30 Oct 2022

Paul D

“It was our first visit to America, and it was great. Steve Pritchard our tour guide was brilliant from start to finish, the hotel and tour in New York was great, Washington tour very good hotel could have been better. Chicago was amazing hotel great, we will not be doing a overnight train again but the rest of the train trips were lovely, even the 12hr trip from L A to San Francisco. We loved the trip and will do one again.

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Ultimate Canada and The Rocky Mountaineer

29 Oct 2022

Paul

“Had a great 2 weeks in Canada, loads of happy memories of experiences, and meeting with some lovely people. The Rocky Mountaineer was a delightful experience, and the staff were very attentive. The Canadian train journey was also fabulous, and I managed to get some lovely pictures of the Rockies from my cabin. I would encourage anyone on The Canadian train to upgrade to a private cabin. I was a sigle / sole traveller, and I upgraded to a 2 person cabin, and occuied it by myself. Not that much more expensive, but worth it for the convenience of having your own private toilet. BTW if you upgrade to a 'one person cabin' you may find your bed gets let down on top of your own personal toilet, which personally I found a little gross, and rather inconvenient if you have to get u pat night for a pee. Mark our tour lead was tireless in his constant support of everyone in the group, and I guess he must have been knackered by the end of the 2 weeks. Thank you Great Rail Journeys, I'd certainly travel with you again.

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Grand Tour of America

28 Oct 2022

Gillian Thornhill

“An amazing adventure expertly led across the USA

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Tracks of the Deep South

28 Oct 2022

Mr Julian Bown

“Excellent!

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A Grand Tour of Italy