Travel advice: What's a good train trip to take from St Petersburg?

FOLLOWING A CRUISE ENDING IN ST PETERSBURG, CAN YOU SUGGEST A TRAIN JOURNEY? WE'D LIKE TO SPEND A WEEK IN LJUBLJANA THEN A FEW DAYS IN A NEARBY CITY WITH DIRECT FLIGHTS TO MELBOURNE. A. MOZINA, WARRNAMBOOL VIC

Almost without exception, the European rail trips that rate highly for scenic splendour are relatively short. You could travel all the way from St Petersburg to Ljubljana by train (raileurope.com.au/) if you wanted, but it would take almost two full days, with multiple changes and not too much delight in the way of scenery.

One train trip that would fit in with your plans is Austria's Semmering Bahn Scenic Train. This train starts from Wiener Neustadt just south of Vienna and travels through some of Austria's prettiest scenery, and that's a high bar. It's short, just over 40 kilometres, but sensational. From the end of the Semmering line at Bruck an der Mur you could continue to Ljubljana by train. From there, Milan or Vienna have direct flights to Melbourne, and I'd go for Vienna.

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