A ticket to the top of the world

On a luxurious train tour of Peru, Lake Titicaca and Machu Picchu are the headline acts. But, as Monisha Rajesh discovers, witnessing everyday life from the rails can be every bit as memorable.

- Monisha Rajesh

OVER THE WAIL of the train's brakes, a guitarist burst into song, his voice clear and mellow. The beat of a drum brought a group of Ecuadorian passengers to their feet, hips curving, shoulders spinning, belted ponchos flaring. Deftly twisting between two women in fedora hats, a waiter handed me a pisco sour. I turned to lean over the railing of the observation car, feeling the sun warm my cheeks as it strobed through passing eucalyptus trees. Behind us, the tracks shrank in the distance. A woman and child waved as they walked through the dust that billowed in our wake, bemused at the sight of this party train clacking through a village flanked by cornfields.

I was on board the Hiram Bingham, a Belmond Train, which winds northwest from the city of Cuzco, through the Sacred Valley and down toward Machu Picchu―a 47-mile journey that's impossible by road. Named after the explorer who rediscovered the lost Inca citadel in 1911, the train was now rocking through the greater Cuzco region, and the band was picking up pace.

Though I've written three books on railways around the world, my adventures had never brought me to South America. The continent lacks a contiguous network, making it difficult to plan ambitious journeys by rail. Now, unable to resist the highland wildlife, and the might of the Andes mountains, I'd decided to explore Peru in style. I began with a one-day round-trip on the Hiram Bingham, followed by two nights aboard the Andean Explorer, another Belmond Train, which would take me from Cuzco up to the lofty shores of Lake Titicaca, before finishing in Arequipa.