Cheapflights.com Calls "All Aboard!"

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Mar 31, 2015) -  Train stations are bustling places filled with people dashing to platforms, scanning arrival boards and juggling to carry coffee and everything else. The scene is the same all over the world. And, in many places, these harried riders are rushing through some of the most scenic architecture in their cities. The travel experts at Cheapflights.com, the online leader in finding and publishing travel deals, are here to remind us that there are some stations where it's worthwhile to slow down and focus on our surroundings. Their list of Top 10 Eye-Catching Train Stations spotlights stations where the architecture and design make them destinations in and of themselves.

Of course this list features New York City's Grand Central Station. However, below we highlight five other stations around the globe that are definitely worth a visit -- even if you don't have a train to catch.

• Madrid Atocha Railway Station, Madrid, Spain - Madrid's largest train station is also home to a beautiful tropical garden, which makes waiting for your train much less of a chore. The station's concourse is lined with enough lush greenery to make you feel like you've stumbled upon a mini rainforest rather than a railway station.
  
  
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai, India - The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus not only sees three million passengers every day, it's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Formerly known as Victoria Terminus Station, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was designed by the British architect F.W. Stevens and took more than 10 years to build. The real beauty of the building is in its melding of cultures -- British architects worked with Indian craftsmen to include Indian architectural traditions to the design.
  
  
• Kanazawa Station, Kanazawa, Japan - This railway station in Kanazawa received a major facelift in 2005 when the entrance was transformed into a feat of ultra-modern architecture. The station's entrance features a giant glass dome called "Motenashi (Welcome) Dome," which looks like a huge ethereal umbrella. In addition to the dome there's also a wooden gate designed to symbolize a traditional Japanese instrument called tsuzumi (hand drums). There was some controversy surrounding the modern upgrade, but locals and tourists have since embraced the change.
  
  
• São Bento Railway Station, Porto, Portugal - The train station in Porto is a stand out thanks to amazing tile work. The walls are covered with upwards of 20,000 azulejo tin-glazed ceramic tiles that create a breathtaking floor-to-ceiling display. The tile work was done by artist Jorge Colaço and took 11 years, from 1905 to 1916, to complete. The tile depicts scenes of everyday life in Porto as well as its history.
  
  
• Gare du Nord, Paris, France - Europe's busiest railway station is also one of the most beautiful. The centrally located station done in neoclassical style serves around 180 million passengers every year. The station's façade, adorned with 23 statures, captures your attention immediately. The statues represent the destinations originally served by the station when it first opened. Nine larger statues represent eight international destinations with one also representing Paris, while 14 smaller statues represent the 14 French cities and towns the station originally serviced. The interior is just a beautiful as the exterior with the amazing amount of natural light shining through thanks to soaring windows.
  
  

Get your tickets to catch the next five memorable train stations to round out our list: Grand Central Terminal, New York, New York, United States; Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Milano Centrale, Milan, Italy; St. Pancras International, London, England; and Antwerp Central Station, Antwerp, Belgium. To read the steaming details on these and Cheapflights.com's complete Top 10 Eye-Catching Train Stations visit www.cheapflights.com/news/top-10-eye-catching-train-stations.

About Cheapflights.com, part of the Momondo Group

Momondo Group is an online travel media and technology company that is driven by the belief that an open world is a better world. The group now serves travel search and inspiration to over 17.5 million visitors a month -- plus 7 million travel newsletter subscribers -- via its Cheapflights (www.cheapflights.com) and momondo (www.momondo.com) brands.

Skygate began the sourcing of complex air-travel data in 1992, while Cheapflights pioneered the online comparison of flight deals for users in 1996 and momondo launched meta-search in the Nordic countries in 2006.

The Group has offices in London, Copenhagen and Boston with a consumer base across more than 30 core international markets but users all over the world.

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