It is not that often that traveling between one World Heritage site and another will mean you visit a third. However if you catch a train between Vienna and Graz, the Semmering railway does exactly that.

I left Vienna in glorious winter sunshine, but about an hour out the clouds started to look a little more ominous. When I entered the WHS section at Glognitz, there were the first few flakes of snow. As the train pulled onwards the snow became thicker, the scenery more remarkable, the bends more regular, the drop at the side of the track even larger and the feats of engineering more impressive.

We stopped briefly at Semmering station where I was able to get off for a jog along the platform to take a picture and have a quick chat with the conductor. He didn't view me with as much amusement as I thought he would, so perhaps there are a fair few people who appreciate that they are travelling over a World Heritage Site and like to take pictures of it, or maybe he was just humouring me. Either way it was nice to be able to get off and see how deep the snow had become, before shuffling back to my cabin to warm up and enjoy watching the snow gradually abating by the time we got down to the end of the WHS at Mürzzuschlag.

The bright clear skies had returned by the time we rolled into Graz, leaving a rather magical memory of my trip along the Semmeringbahn. The snow made it so unlike the rest of the trip that it was almost as if I had dreamt it.

Whilst it may not be the most spectacular mountain railway in the world, it was the first to cross the Alps and the fact that it is still in use today is a massive testament to its outstanding universal value.

[Site 5: Experience 6]

If you want to travel on a similar trip as me it is well worth booking your seat in advance. By doing this I managed to get my trip in first class! for half the price of the standard class fare I would have paid if I had just turned up on the day. The fact I was able to get a free breakfast in the lounge at the station in Vienna and had a whole first class cabin to myself just made the whole trip so much better.