This is a scenic railway journey like few others. Starting a mile above sea level in Colorado's state capital, Denver, our train, the Rocky Mountaineer, makes its way through Wild West country to Moab in the state of Utah. On the way, we'll mine for gold, just as the first ‘fifty-niners' did in the mid-19th century. At almost 12,000 feet, we'll ski the continental divide, where any water falling to the west heads to the Pacific and any to the east the Atlantic. Entering the red rocks of the true Wild West, we'll pay homage at the grave of Doc Holliday, the dentist-turned-gunslinger who died peacefully in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. At the once thriving town of Cisco, Utah, we'll meet one of the last four residents. Their town began dying when the railroad switched to diesel and the trains no longer stopped there for water. Just before our train gets to Moab, we'll be in the water ourselves — white-water rafting down the mighty Colorado River.

This is a scenic railway journey like no other. Looping around Andalucía, the luxury Al Andalus train takes in some of the most staggeringly beautiful cities in Spain. Traveling south from Seville, we visit Jerez, where the horses of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art are trained. Then we rise up to the clifftop town of Ronda, before rolling on to the ancient cities of Granada and Córdoba. If the scenery outside doesn't take your breath away, the train itself definitely will. The Al Andalus is a five-star hotel on wheels, taking us back to the opulence of the 1930s.