Some people may think trains are a thing of the past, but with views like these, they are a vacation in and of themselves!

Consider one of these train rides next time you're trying to reach that trifecta of travel, transportation, and tranquility.

Here they are – the most scenic train rides in the world:

Mind-Blowing Scenery From These Nearly Forgotten Train Routes

1. Kuranda Scenic Railway, Australia
Australia is famous for a landscape that changes many times across this singular but massive island. Carrying passengers from Queensland to Turanda, it crosses the Great Dividing Range Highlands and the epic plateaus of the Atherton Tableland, with a legendary stop at Barron Falls station.

Mind-Blowing Scenery From These Nearly Forgotten Train Routes

2. Glacier express Switzerland
This is the slowest express train on the planet, and for good reason – you won't want to miss any of these incredible mountain tops and drops as you glide through the snowy in winter and bright green in summer Alpine terrain. The ride is 8 hours in total, featuring the famous Landwasser aqueduct.

Mind-Blowing Scenery From These Nearly Forgotten Train Routes

3. Copper Canyon Rail, Mexico
This train runs along one of the longest and deepest canyons in the world through the northern Mexican desert, full of mountains lined with Behemoth trees and under bright blue skies.

Mind-Blowing Scenery From These Nearly Forgotten Train Routes

4. The Jacobite, Scotland
Most people already know this train from its days carrying young wizards and witches to Hogwarts; that was just in the movies, but the train is really real! It rolls through the Scottish highlands, endless green hills with blue lochs pocketed in every corner.

Mind-Blowing Scenery From These Nearly Forgotten Train Routes

5. Belgrade-to-Bar railway, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Passing through 3 countries and 300 miles of almost uninhabited mountains, this truly incredible scenery is one of the world's best-kept secrets, hiding from the rest of the world in the Balkan mountains. The train even goes down the middle of the Balkans' largest river.

Mind-Blowing Scenery From These Nearly Forgotten Train Routes

6. Transsiberian Railway, Russia
The longest train ride in the world, this route connects Russia to the far east and many places in between with 5,752 miles of rail – running alongside rivers, mountains, forests & grasslands, and giving amazing views of the world's largest freshwater body, Lake Baikal – crystal clear to the eye. During Siberian winters, it even freezes over, making it extra beautiful.

Mind-Blowing Scenery From These Nearly Forgotten Train Routes

7. Pacific Surfliner, California, USA

It goes along almost the entire US stretch of the Pacific Ocean, from almost the southern US border right up to Canada, hugging the coast the entire time as the scenery changes from sandy dunes and desert tundras to lush and tropical mountain forests and cliffs.

Mind-Blowing Scenery From These Nearly Forgotten Train Routes

8. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, India
Nicknamed the Darjeeling Toy Train and inspiring train toys worldwide ever since, this train was built between 1879 and 1881, and it retains its original design and most of its original parts today.