Located in the capital of Mozambique, this Beaux-Arts style train depot is often incorrectly attributed to Gustave Eiffel, but it was actually designed by José Ferreira da Costa. Construction was completed in 1916, several years after a simple steel platform opened in 1907. The building features a copper dome that extends its height 167 feet above the ground.

Belgium was the first European nation to open a public railway in 1835, and few train stations remain as architecturally stunning as Belgium’s Antwerpen-Centraal station. After a major renovation from 1895 to 1905, the station suffered extensive damage from German bombs during World War II. The hub was rebuilt and now boasts a signature burgundy color and glass roof.

Flinders Street station opened in Melbourne in 1854 — when it was known as the Melbourne Terminus — to serve as the end point of the country’s first train route. As the oldest extant train station in Australia, this stunning building is known for its beautiful yellow façade and green copper dome, helping it to stand out among the surrounding cityscape.

Milano Centrale may be located across the Atlantic in Milan, Italy, but its design seems quite familiar. That’s because the station was modeled after the Beaux-Arts style Union Station in Washington, D.C. Milano Centrale opened in 1931 and features 118,000 square feet of marble flooring plus many stone sculptures throughout its halls.

This frothy confection of sandstone and limestone was built in 1888 to honor the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria, then-colonial ruler of India, and at that time it was dubbed Victoria Terminus Station. The station features a grand interior clad in Italian marble, with a forest of stone pillars that support magnificent groin-vaulted ceilings and sky-high windowed domes. In 1996, it was renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

Cascada de la Macarena is located near Ushuaia, Argentina, a city known as “the end of the world” for its location at the extreme southernmost end of South America. The station attracts tourists who come to ride aboard the train and take in the scenic views of nearby Tierra del Fuego National Park. The railway station once transported prisoners and timber throughout the region.

Sitting at 16,627 feet above sea level in Tibet, Tanggula station opened in 2006 and beat the previous record holder for highest railway station, Ticlio station in Peru, by almost 1,000 feet. The station is a stop on the Qingzang railroad, which connects the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with the city of Xining.

Located within Madrid’s Atocha station is a lush, tropical jungle containing over 7,000 plants from over 260 species. The garden opened in 1992 to fill a once-abandoned portion of the station that’s since been repurposed for high-speed train links. The exhibit now contains trees from the Americas, Asia, and Africa, plus several coffee plants and endangered species.

Portugal is known for its azulejos, hand-painted ceramic tiles that decorate the interiors and exteriors of buildings all over the country. The tiled murals at São Bento, Porto’s train station, are an example of a style of azulejo application in which individual tiles are painted to make up part of a larger image. More than 20,000 blue-painted tiles narrate stories of military victories, royal events, and bucolic Portuguese life.

Toronto’s Union Station is considered one of the world’s most exquisite examples of the Beaux-Arts architectural style. The train station is protected under an agreement that mitigates the changes that can be done to the station, which serves around 2 million passengers daily and connects with the city subway system.

Its proximity to Hollywood and the film industry means that Los Angeles’ stunning Spanish colonial station has played roles in several movies, including “The Driver,” “Blade Runner,” and “Catch Me If You Can.” It also served as the venue for the 2021 Academy Awards ceremony. The generous scale of the station complex lends the 1939 station an assured elegance fit for a starring role.

Kuala Lumpur’s tropical white-and-beige station is a mashup of architectural styles. Arthur Benison Hubback used a little British colonial style, some Moorish and Mughal elements, and a hearty dollop of Asian whimsy to design this 1910 building. In 2001, a more modern hub was built nearby and all intercity trains were diverted there; today, only commuter trains arrive at and depart from the “old” station.

Dating back to 1830, Manchester’s Liverpool Road Railway Station is the world’s oldest surviving train station. It served as the first passenger railway terminus between Liverpool and Manchester. At the time, clocks were set according to sundials, one of which was first used at Liverpool Road Railway Station and can be viewed today in the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester.

The Jungfraujoch Railway Station — nicknamed the “Top of Europe” — sits a staggering 11,332 feet above sea level, making it the highest railway station in the continent. Carved into the natural rock face, the station is a short walk away from stunning views of the Aletsch Glacier and the massive crags of the Bernese Alps.

Located in São Paulo, this train depot known in English as Luz Station was inaugurated in 1901. Since 2006, it’s been home to the Museum of the Portuguese Language. The station suffered a major fire in 2015 that necessitated extensive repairs, but fortunately it reopened to the public again in 2021 and serves as a bustling train hub today.

Gare du Nord (“The Station of the North”) is one of six major train stations in Paris, and it serves almost 200 million travelers annually. Following a major expansion in 1964, there are currently 44 full-service platforms, with additional ones planned to accommodate growing ridership. In addition to serving international lines, Gare du Nord serves regional and national routes and bus routes.

In the “Harry Potter” book and film series, London’s King’s Cross is the departure point for the Hogwarts Express, which takes students to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Thanks to the series’ popularity, King’s Cross added a real-life Platform 3/4 modeled after the fictional one, featuring a trolley inside a brick wall. Potterheads can snap photos as if they’re off to Hogwarts themselves.

As the train station with the most platforms in the world, Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan is not only one of the world’s busiest transportation hubs, with an average of 750,000 daily commuters, but also one of the most beautiful. Opened in 1913, the towering Beaux-Arts space features a celestial aqua-and-gold mural depicting the heavens painted right onto its plaster ceiling.

Sirkeci Terminal is rich in both architectural beauty and history, as it once served as the terminus of the famed Orient Express route. The station was built in 1890 and features stained glass, gleaming chandeliers, and a façade designed in the Oriental-Gothic style. The train station now contains a museum dedicated to its storied history.

With over 3.6 million passengers passing through its gates daily, Japan's Shinjuku Station is the world's busiest. Almost a city in and of itself, Shinjuku is actually a cluster of five stations that connect central Tokyo and its western suburbs. You'll find 36 platforms, 200 exits, arcades, towering stores, and giant shopping malls, all connected with a vast underground tunnel network and aboveground hallways.