Trains

New 5-day tourist passes are good for unlimited train and bus rides (buses are limited to routes within train-stop cities). The Japan Rail Central tourist pass, costing ¥13,500 (near $112), covers rail travel between Kansai Airport (in Osaka) and the city of Nagoya, including Fukui, Kanazawa and Takayama. A Japan Rail West pass, at ¥10,500, covers rail travel between Nagoya and Kii-Katsuura, including Toba and Owase. Purchase online and see route maps at http://touristpass.jp/en.

10-day, 9-night first-class rail trip, June 8-17, Aug. 20-29, Sept. 7-16 & Sept. 19-28, 2016. “Easy walks,” one to 2 miles a day. Highlights: In Lucerne, cable car to top of 7,000-foot Mt. Pilatus, descend on cogwheel train/paddle-steamboat along Wilhelm Tell Express route to Lake Lucerne/cross Alps on Bernina Express/in Engadine Valley, St. Moritz/Glacier Express to Zermatt/in Gruyères, see cheese-making/in Interlaken, chocolate tasting/ride three trains to top of Jungfraujoch in Bernese Alps. $4,595 ppdo. Single supp., $399.

The Gare du Nord in Paris is a beautiful rail station. Having arrived there early by taxi from our hotel on May 8, 2015, my daughter Linda and I enjoyed watching the proceedings from the long balcony on the second floor, including the departure of the Eurostar.

Our boarding process was a breeze. Finding the numbered car indicated on our tickets, it was with excitement that we embarked the 12:19 p.m. high-speed Thalys (www.thalys.com/be/en) train to Amsterdam.

On a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris on Aug. 21, a man armed with an AK-47, a pistol and a box cutter attacked passengers. A Franco-British man suffered a bullet wound, an American tourist suffered multiple stab wounds and a British tourist received minor injuries.

The attacker was identified as a Moroccan man who intelligence agencies already knew was supportive of the so-called Islamic State. Three American tourists and one British tourist restrained him on the train until authorities arrested him at the station in Arras, France.

In mid-April 2015, two of us took the early train out of Nice, France, several hours to Monterosso, Italy, where we bought a local ticket to another Cinque Terre town, Vernazza, one of the most beautiful villages I’ve ever seen.

We had no difficulty getting a room, booking on the spot at Trattoria Gianni Franzi (Via San Giovanni Battista, 41, 47, 49, 19018 Vernazza SP, Cinque Terre, Italy; phone +39 0187 821003, www.giannifranzi.it), on the square by the water. For a double room 112 steps above the main street, we paid $130.

15-day, 14-night rail trip through IRAN and Eastern Europe. Highlights: In Tehran, Iran, Gulestan Palace/in Mashhad, Imam Reza Shrine/ruins of Persepolis/on Akdamar Island in Lake Van, TURKEY, 10th-century Church of the Holy Cross/in Cappadocia, Goreme National Park/in Istanbul, Topkapı Palace, Bosphorus cruise/in BULGARIA, Kazanlak, Veliko Tarnovo/in Kecskemét, HUNGARY, Art Nouveau architecture, horse show. Land (based on cabin class), $15,995-$24,995 ppdo or $23,995-$42,495 single.

Isn’t it great when your travel expectations are not only met but greatly exceeded? This happened to my husband, Don, and me on our 1,000-mile train journey from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in October 2014.