The world’s most famous train is back to connecting Central and Eastern Europe: In a journey lasting a single night, the Venice Simplon Orient Express gives its passengers a one-of-a-kind sense of luxury and an experience they won’t forget
Orient Express in the Golden Age of Travel
It’s been 90 years since Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ was published, and 50 years since Sidney Lumet made a film based on it in 1974. The most famous passenger on the train, Belgian inspector Hercule Poirot, was played by Albert Finney.
In 2017, Kenneth Branagh took on adapting the Queen of Crime’s work for the big screen, starring in it alongside Johnny Depp. The Orient Express, the world’s most luxurious train, was also an intriguing backdrop in the 1963 film ‘From Russia with Love’: Sean Connery as James Bond in Istanbul boards the train, which also passed through Yugoslavia, with stops in Belgrade and Zagreb.
Nearly four decades later, the French actress Audrey Tatou travels to Istanbul on the Orient Express in an ad for Chanel No 5. She reaches the old railway station near the Pera Palace Hotel, where Agatha Christie also stayed when she wrote her most famous crime novel, with the story taking place in one of the train’s cars. She was allegedly inspired by an event when the sleeping car 3309 was marooned in a snowdrift for 10 days in 1929.
‘Trains are wonderful…. To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches and rivers, in fact, to see life,’ Christie said in her autobiography.
Reviving the Orient Express: The World’s Most Luxurious Train
And while modern times and technological progress have caused many things to change in the way we travel, travelling by train has kept its appeal. There’s still that sense of adventure and unique experience to rail travel, especially if you’re abroad the elegant Orient Express.
The iconic train is back in business, taking travellers like in it did in the golden age of travel, from Venice to London, from Paris to Istanbul, from Budapest and Vienna to Paris, and to several other European cities.
It was thoroughly restored by Belmond, called the Venice Simplon Orient Express, and it has nothing to do with the Italian version of La Dolce Vita Orient Express operating exclusively in Italy.
Experience Royal Treatment
Depending on the distance between cities, a single night at the luxury Twin Cabin starts at €3450 per person, while the Grand Suite costs €9800 and up per person. The price includes breakfast, three-course lunch, four-course dinner prepared by Chef Jean Imbert, champagne and a private steward who is meant to treat guests as royalty, transforming their sitting car into a comfortable sleeping car while they’re having dinner.
Should the guest opt for a less intimate breakfast at the restaurant instead of a breakfast in bed, the steward will tidy their bed and take care of additional coffee, tea, or champagne to make the journey as comfortable as possible while passing by fantastic landscapes.
From the winding mountain valleys of Austria to the wavy hills of Tuscany or the sparkling vineyards of Eastern France. Venice Simplon Orient Express leaves the station during the day and reaches its destination on the next day.
The staff often takes a delivery of fresh lobsters from Bretagne or lamb from Normandy while making stops along the way because, in line with the culinary philosophy, everything needs to be fresh and locally sourced.
Once a year, guests get a chance to experience the super-luxury, five-day journey from Paris to Istanbul, starting at £17,500 per person in a Twin Cabin, or £38,000 per person in a Suite.
From Its Birth to Its Revival: A Century of Glamour and Intrigue
The Orient Express has been the symbol of authentic luxury and decadence from its very first year. The inaugural journey was made in 1883 thanks to businessman Georges Nagelmackers. Inspired by U.S. railroads, he decided to build the world’s most luxurious train. The route connected the entire Central and Eastern Europe, with exciting stories and meetings taking place aboard.
Some of the famous passengers include writer Leo Tolstoy, actress Marlene Dietrich, Lawrence of Arabia, kings, spies…
The Orient Express magic ended in 1977, but American entrepreneur James Sherwood, owner of Venice’s Cipriani hotel at the time, embarked on a mission to bring the train back to life.
Starting with two original carriages bought at auction in Monte Carlo, he went on to track down lost carriages and the train was relaunched in 1982, taking passengers from Zurich to Istanbul. After being home to Michael Jackson on his European tour for several weeks, the train disappeared in 2009.
It was only in 2015 that it was found by Arthur Mettetal, a researcher specialising in industrial history, when the French National Train Service commissioned him to track Orient Express cars around the globe. To everyone’s surprise, the cars were found parked up at a station on the border between Poland and Belarus.
Although exposed to the wind, snow and rain for more than ten years, the interior was not damaged. The legendary French tulip shade lamps and glass panels with blackbirds and grapes at the dining car, designed by French artist René Lalique, were intact.
After two years of talks, the train’s owner agreed to sell it to the Belmond Group, which now owns the Cipriani hotel as well. After reaching an agreement in the summer of 2018, the carriages were transported by police convoy across Europe to France.
The carriages were renovated by Parisian architect Maxime d’Angeac, who partnered with France’s best craftsmen to reinterpret the old Orient Express decor and bring it back to glory as the world’s most luxurious train.
The famous 3309 and 3425 cars were turned into Grand Suites. There is a total of six, named after the cities the train passes through. The Venice Simplon Orient Express features 17 carriages built between 1926 and 1949, and the Belmond Group has recently presented L’Observatoire, an entire carriage for exclusive use that will be added to the trainset next year.
It was designed by the French artist JR (Jean-Rene), and judging by the announcement of a number of intricate, hand-made details, a new dimension of luxury on rails is coming to the world of travel.
Text Dubravka Tomeković Aralica
Photos and video Belmond