Uniformed hotel staff greet guests arriving by Shinkansen train trackside for an escort up to the sumptuous, chandelier-encrusted perch.

BBC: Business trip: Tokyo

Steps from the hotel's entrance is a petite train station from which chugs a steam engine taking you to nearby sleepy towns, one with a 14th-century abbey.

FORBES: Magazine Article

If you have arrived by train and are staying in a hotel in West Glacier, hiring a car is no longer a necessity.

BBC: Glacier National Park by train

She did allow that she had only had to cross the street from her hotel and would change into combat boots for the train ride home.

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Between finding a hotel, flight, rental car, cruise, train or tour, savvy travellers use any number of tools, from online travel agencies like Expedia to meta-search websites like Kayak, to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together.

BBC: The future of travel search

Located on top of Kyoto Station, guests at the Hotel Granvia Kyoto can step out of bed and straight onto the bullet train.

BBC: Mini guide to Kyoto, Japan

Arrive by train however, and you are instantly downtown, often within 5-minutes of your hotel.

FORBES: Don't Fly - Why Trains Are the Best Way to Travel Overseas