Europe is renowned for its beautiful train journeys, with some of the very best being in the UK.
Much of their majesty and beauty lies in the time of year you take them.
In the summertime, some of the best routes cut vast swathes of countryside in half, piercing otherwise isolated and rural areas you might never see.
In the winter, it is a different picture, and once green landscapes transform into magical scenes of ice and snow.
The Bergen Line, which takes travellers from Oslo to Bergen in Norway, is perhaps one of Europe’s most other-worldly journeys both in summer and winter.
The line has multiple departures to and from both cities, with various options from morning through to night trains, with tickets costing as little as £34 for a single despite a journey time of seven hours.
It is perhaps the morning journey that is the most remarkable: as the train leaves the capital city and begins its mammoth hike west, the skies burst into life and open almost immediately into the country.
As Monisha Rajesh, one of Britain’s forefront writers on the art of train travel, described in her piece for The Guardian: “Soon the city is gone and lakes emerge like mirrors, with armies of snow-dusted spruce lining their banks.”
From this point, the Bergen line snakes through some of Norway’s most beautiful landscapes and natural parks.
The line follows the Drammenselva River upstream and curves along the Tyrifjorden and onto the town of Hønefoss.
From this point, the buildings truly begin to peter out and Norway’s wild side emerges, with the keen-eyed traveller sure to spot red and roe deer racing to find cover.
By the end of the journey, you’ll likely not want to leave the comfort of the train, the familiar and soothing motion its tracks have lulled you with.
But, you’d be wrong not to get off, for Bergen itself is a place that must be seen.
Known as the capital of the fjords, it sits smack bang in the middle of two of the biggest fjords in Norway, the Hardangerfjord and the Sognefjord, meaning the city is an ideal starting point for fjord excursions.
