National Geographic Traveller (UK)
Just the ticket
New luxury train journeys for 2021
Rocky Mountaineer
The Canadian company is going off the rails with a new route in the Southwest US. Setting off on a 10-week preview season from 15 August, the two-day Rockies to the Red Rocks will travel between Denver and Moab, Utah, with an overnight stay in Colorado’s Glenwood Springs. Beneath a glass-domed carriage, guests have reclining seats, meals featuring local Southwestern ingredients and views across the dramatic landscape. rockymountaineer.com
36+3
This first-class, jet-black electric train cuts a fine figure as it sweeps across Japan’s Kyushu island. It keeps up appearances inside, too, with classic Japanese style: shoji screen doors, tatami mat floors and Okawa Kumiko latticework. Five new day routes zip along the perimeter of Japan’s southernmost island, with options that include sweeping snapshots of the East China Sea and stopping in Saiki City for mountain-grown black tea and local chestnut jam. jrkyushu.co.jp/english
Venice Simplon-Orient-Express
‘Grand Tour’ is a title full of fanfare and justifiably so.
It’s the name for a series of European routes launching from May this year, paying homage to slow travel with purpose. Select from trips such as Venice to Amsterdam or Florence to Paris, with new boarding points including Rome, Florence, Geneva, Brussels and Amsterdam. Keen to splurge? The train’s oldest carriage, built in 1926, will have three sparkling new suites. belmond.com
Golden Eagle Luxury Trains
Toast the company’s 250th Trans-Siberian departure this summer at a dreamy banquet on Lake Baikal’s shores. The special journey will also include wine-tasting and bubbly on the Europe-Asia border. Meanwhile, 2022 will usher in four new tours, two operated by steam. These include a 22-day steam tour from Vladivostok to Moscow across boundless stretches of steppe and a foray into the Arctic Circle to witness its glowing night skies. goldeneagleluxurytrains.com STEPHANIE CAVAGNARO