This Scenic Rocky Mountain Railroad Is The World's Best Fall Train Journey For 2025

It's a common refrain that the romance of travel is dead. 

The tedium of airport security lines. The pallid lighting and subpar food of departure lounges. The delays and the hidden costs and the "Are we there yet?" of nagging children. But there's one experience that's never quite lost its romantic luster: the rail journey. Whether you're winding through the breathtaking landscapes of western Scotland on the West Highland Railway Line or traversing frost-rimmed Alaskan wilds on the "Scenic Railway Of The World," there's something about the gentle chug-chug of an old train that ignites introspection in the most meaningful of ways. The only way to enhance that feeling is to undertake your journey during the fall.

The team at JR Pass, a reseller of Japanese rail tickets, came up with a list of the top autumn rail journeys worldwide, using TripAdvisor reviews, Instagram hashtags, internet search volumes, and seasonal weather data. They then collated this data to create an index score out of 10 for each journey. And the top-rated autumn rail journey for 2025 was the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, running along a dramatic stretch of the Rockies from Colorado to New Mexico.

Interestingly, the Cumbres & Toltec actually had the lowest monthly search volume of all railroads on the list, with just 600, but it made up ground with the highest percentage of clear days (73%) and the fewest days of precipitation per month (5.13). With an average review score of 4.48, it also topped this category, helping it to an overall score of 9.08. The closest competition was the Tren de Sóller on the Balearic island of Mallorca and the GoldenPass Line in the Swiss Alps, both scoring 8.11.

The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad is a National Historic Landmark that's been in action since the late 19th century. Winding along 64 miles, the steam train crosses the border between Colorado and New Mexico 11 times, traverses the 10,000-foot Cumbres Pass, and passes through rocky canyons, rough-hewn-tunnels, tree-bound meadows, and highland deserts. Although internet search data suggests the Sagano Romantic Train in Japan and the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway in Appalachia (the best way to see Georgia's fall foliage) are much more popular, the Cumbres & Toltec was voted the most scenic train in America by USA Today readers in 2016, 2019, and 2020.

Travelers are wise to the wonder of these types of journeys. According to Travel Weekly, train ticketing platform Railbookers observed a 35% increase in bookings for 2025, and a 51% increase for 2026 compared to the same time last year. The Cumbres & Toltec is enticing even more passengers with seasonal passes, which are great for frequent hikers, trail runners, or wildlife watchers in the area. At $405 for adults and $255 for children, the passes include 10 trips in coach class on any regular daily excursion, including the full eight-hour journey from Antonito in Colorado to Chama in New Mexico, usually costing $135 for one adult coach class ticket.