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15 of the World’s Finest Luxury Train Journeys

Exceptional suites, regional dining, and a view worth the time.
October 08, 2026

Modern travel is designed to make getting somewhere quick and easy, but rail travel’s renaissance makes a compelling case for the opposite. Today’s luxury trains are being built for travelers willing to spend days crossing countries they could fly over in hours, while historic carriages are being restored with suites that would have seemed improbable a generation ago.

Here are 15 of the finest ways to experience it.

The Ghan, Australia

Between Adelaide and Darwin, The Ghan cuts through the heart of the continent, traveling across South Australia, the ochre expanses around Alice Springs, and the tropical north.

The train has long been one of Australia’s great rail experiences, with its combination of private accommodation, wine, and off-train expeditions. In 2026, it became more upmarket with the introduction of the Aurora and Australis Suites.

The Australis Suite is the train’s largest accommodation. There is a bedroom with a fixed bed, a living area, private bar stocked with premium beverages, and a bathroom with double vanity and shower. The Aurora Suite has a bedroom and lounge area of its own. Both categories include butler service and in-room dining. 

Outside, stretches of Australia go on and on as the horizon changes.

Click the link to know more: The Ghan

Golden Eagle Silk Road Express, China and Central Asia

Golden Eagle’s new train introduced to Golden Eagle’s touring program in 2026, “The Grand Silk Road.”

It’s a fully en-suite private touring train, with Superior Cabins and larger Han Dynasty Suites, restaurant cars, a bar lounge, and an observation car. The Han Dynasty Suite includes a bedroom, lounge area, and private bathroom.

The itinerary stretches over 22 days between Beijing and Tashkent, crossing China through Xi’an, Dunhuang, and Kashgar. Passengers then fly from Kashgar to Almaty, where the journey continues through Central Asia aboard Golden Eagle’s other train. Lake Issyk-Kul, Bukhara, and Samarkand are among the destinations along the way.

The Silk Road once represented months of arduous travel. Its landscapes and cities can now be explored with a restaurant car waiting at the end of the day.

Click the link to know more: Golden Eagle Silk Road Express

Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond Train, Europe

No train carries the same cultural baggage as the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. With restored 1920s and ’30s interiors, three restaurant cars and evenings that still call for dressing properly for dinner, the train recalls the golden age of European travel.

Its Grand Suites offer marble en-suite bathrooms, private dining, and 24-hour butler service. In 2025, Belmond went further: L’Observatoire, created by French artist JR, is a truly original railway carriage. An exclusive suite contains a bedroom, bathroom, lounge, library, and hidden tearoom, with intricate marquetry and personal objects. The suite comes with dedicated steward service and private dining.

Travel from Paris to Venice or Paris to Istanbul could definitely be accomplished more efficiently–but that’s beside the point.

Click the link to know more: Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Seven Stars in Kyushu, Japan

Japan has developed its own school of luxury rail, with ryokan hospitality and Japanese cuisine at the forefront.

Seven Stars in Kyushu carries just 10 guest compartments, all suites, accommodating only 10 pairs of travelers. Wood, textiles, and decorative pieces have been chosen with extraordinary care. The experience draws deliberately on the crafts and culinary traditions of Kyushu.

The Blue Moon lounge is the social center of the train and provides live piano music. Another carriage contains a tea room. Journeys extend through carefully planned stops around Kyushu. Food changes with season and itinerary, drawing on local chefs and produce.

Click the link to know more: Seven Stars in Kyushu

Train Suite Shiki-shima, Japan

JR East’s Train Suite Shiki-shima looks to the future while remaining rooted in Japanese craft.

The train travels through eastern and northern Japan, with sculptural observation cars at either end. Interiors incorporate regional materials and techniques. Its accommodation comprises 15 standard Suite rooms, along with a Deluxe Suite and the extraordinary Shiki-shima Suite.

The two-level Shiki-shima Suite in Car 7 incorporates a Japanese-style room upstairs and bedroom below, while the Deluxe Suite has its own soaring interior. Both feature specially made Kiso cypress baths. While a private hinoki bath is one of the pleasures of staying in a fine Japanese ryokan, having one while traveling through the Japanese countryside is an even finer experience.

Click the link to know more: Train Suite Shiki-shima

Twilight Express Mizukaze, Japan

The Twilight Express Mizukaze is a ten-car train whose design mixes Art Deco references with materials and craftsmanship drawn from the regions along its routes.

Observation cars sit at both ends, complete with outdoor decks. In the middle are a lounge, an open-kitchen dining car, and a collection of guest rooms. The routes reveal western Japan from both sides of the country, including landscapes along the Sea of Japan and the Seto Inland Sea.

JR West made the entire carriage of Car 7 a single accommodation. The Suite has its own entrance, private balcony, living and dining area, bedroom, and bathroom with a bathtub. 

Click the link to know more: Twilight Express Mizukaze

Royal Scotsman, A Belmond Train, Scotland

The Royal Scotsman is intimate and carries its guests through a landscape of lochs, forests, mountains and isolated Highland stations.

The interiors reveal tartans, wool, polished wood, and an observation car that encourages long afternoons with the scenery. The 14-square-meter Grand Suites each have double beds, private dining tables and lounge areas, personal butler service, Champagne and other privileges.

One carriage houses the Dior Spa Royal Scotsman, containing two treatment rooms and offers treatments conceived specifically for the train, including the D-Highlands face treatment and D-Elements treatments.

The pace of the journey is peaceful: a morning walking through the Highlands, lunch back aboard, then a massage while moving toward the next glen. 

Click the link to know more: Royal Scotsman

Britannic Explorer, A Belmond Train, England and Wales

Launched in 2025, the Britannic Explorer became the first sleeper train to operate through England and Wales, with routes from London into Cornwall, Wales, and the Lake District. There are just 18 cabins—three Grand Suites and 15 Suites—with interiors by Albion Nord.

The food is overseen by Simon Rogan, whose cooking is closely associated with British farm-to-table, sustainable dining. There is a bar inspired by Victorian apothecaries, an onboard Wildsmith Wellbeing Suite, and excursions for art, hiking and swimming.

Click the link to know more: Britannic Explorer

Eastern & Oriental Express, A Belmond Train, Singapore and Malaysia

From Singapore, the Eastern & Oriental Express’ three-night journeys move through Malaysia, with palm trees, jungle, and small towns filling the windows. There are 32 sleeper cabins, an observation car with an open rear deck, and a piano bar. Dining is curated by André Chiang, with menus drawing on ingredients and culinary traditions connected to the region.

There is also a Dior Spa. Introduced in 2024, it occupies a dedicated carriage dressed in an interpretation of the Maison’s Toile de Jouy and offers treatments inspired by the tropical setting.

For travelers in this part of the world, it is an example of what contemporary rail has become–a moving resort with a very good view.

Click the link to know more: Eastern & Oriental Express

Maharajas’ Express, India

The Maharajas’ Express journeys through northern India, including Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Ranthambore. Days might involve the Taj Mahal, a palace or a game drive. Evenings return passengers to dining cars, lounges, and private cabins.

The Maharajas’ Express is all about grandeur. Its Presidential Suite covers 448 square feet and occupies an entire carriage. It contains two bedrooms and generous living space, with private bathrooms and a bathtub. Dedicated service is part of the experience, while private vehicles and guides are provided for excursions of the highest rail travel levels.

Click the link to know more: Maharajas’ Express

Rovos Rail – Pride of Africa, Southern Africa

Rovos Rail understands that one of the luxuries of train travel is being temporarily difficult to reach.

Its trains move through southern Africa on journeys in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and other destinations. The mood is old-school–wood-paneled interiors, formal dinners and an observation car with an open-air balcony at the rear. There are deliberately no televisions or radios aboard.

The Royal Suites occupy half a carriage and measure approximately 16 square meters, with a private lounge area and en-suite bathroom incorporating a Victorian-style bathtub and separate shower.

Rovos is memorable for the hours spent at the back of the train. Standing on an open balcony while the tracks vanish into the African landscape is something no private jet can provide.

Click the link to know more: Rovos Rail

Andean Explorer, A Belmond Train, Peru

Andean Explorer runs between Cusco, Puno and Arequipa, traversing the Peruvian highlands and passing Lake Titicaca. Belmond describes it as South America’s first luxury sleeper train; its 35 cabins are accompanied by two dining cars, a piano bar and an open-air observation carriage.

There is also the Picaflor Spa Car, where treatments draw on Andean ingredients, and supplemental oxygen is available for passengers adjusting to the altitude.

The observation veranda is its greatest luxury. Mountains, grasslands and enormous skies are the spectacle, amazing when viewed with a drink in hand, nowhere else to be.

Click the link to know more: Andean Explorer

Golden Eagle Danube Express, Europe

Depending on the itinerary, journeys on The Danube Express can run through Central Europe, the Balkans, the Alps and Turkey. The train’s Superior Deluxe cabins are limited to 12 per departure, with king-size beds, large picture windows, and en-suite bathrooms. 

The real attraction, though, is its geographical reach. The Aurelian Odyssey, for example, takes 14 days to travel from Paris through Vienna, Belgrade, Sofia, and Istanbul before continuing into Turkey toward Cappadocia.

Europe, usually consumed as a sequence of flights, becomes an open space where the cities’ horizons can be traced with your finger.

Click the link to know more: Golden Eagle Danube Express

El Transcantábrico Gran Lujo, Spain

El Transcantábrico Gran Lujo runs along Spain’s northern coast between Santiago de Compostela and San Sebastián on its principal eight-day, seven-night journey, passing through Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country. For 2026, the train carries just 14 Gran Lujo suites, making it one of the more intimate experiences on this list.

Its lounge cars include original Pullman carriages dating from 1923. The suites, by contrast, are contemporary, with sleeping and sitting areas, and bathrooms with hydromassage showers and steam-sauna functions. The train remains stationary overnight.

Food is central to the journey. Some meals are served aboard and others in restaurants along the route, making the journey a tour through one of Spain’s richest gastronomic regions.

Click the link to know more: El Transcantábrico Gran Lujo

La Dolce Vita Orient Express, Italy

The new Italian train takes its cues from the country’s postwar golden age, particularly the design, fashion, and cultural exuberance of the 1960s. Its itineraries explore destinations ranging from Tuscany to Matera and Sicily.

There are 31 cabins: 12 Deluxe Cabins, 18 Suites and a single 27-square-meter La Dolce Vita Suite, with Italian design, food, and conviviality–all translated into a kind of moving hotel. 

Its arrival is a sign that rail travel is expanding. 

Click the link to know more: La Dolce Vita Orient Express

FAQs

Luxury touring trains combine private accommodation, attentive service, dining, and scenic routes, often with guided excursions. The journey itself is central to the experience, rather than simply a way to reach a destination.

The feature includes Seven Stars in Kyushu, Train Suite Shiki-shima, and Twilight Express Mizukaze. They explore Kyushu, eastern and northern Japan, and western Japan, respectively, with interiors, cuisine, and excursions connected to their regions.

The Eastern & Oriental Express, A Belmond Train, operates journeys departing Singapore through Malaysia. Its onboard facilities include sleeper cabins, a piano bar, an observation car with an open rear deck, and a Dior spa.

The Golden Eagle Silk Road Express is a private touring train with en-suite accommodation operating in China. Golden Eagle’s 22-day Grand Silk Road itinerary combines this train with its Central Asian train and a flight between Kashgar and Almaty.

Confirm the departure date, route, cabin category, and package inclusions. Check whether the itinerary includes hotel stays or flights, which excursions and drinks are covered, and whether the train travels or remains stationary overnight.

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