CASTLES OF TRANSYLVANIA

This new tour starts as it means to go on: cocooned in the historic luxury of Istanbul’s Pera Palace Hotel, where Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express. From here, the Golden Eagle Danube Express makes a stately dash through European Turkey towards the ancient Bulgarian capital of Veliko Tarnovo, via the lofty Shipka Pass. Country number three is Romania for the beautiful town of Sighisoara – and Bran Castle, home of the infamous vampire-count. The Four Seasons

Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest is the ultimate stop on the seven-night tour, where there’s time to visit an Ottomanera bath before the flight home.

Golden Eagle (0161 928 9410; goldeneagleluxurytrains.com) offers Castles of Transylvania from £4,395 including four nights on the Golden Eagle Danube Express, all meals and drinks, plus five-star hotels stays. Departs June 2019. technology, the route whisks passengers from kimchi-making classes in the capital to fish markets on the Sea of Japan. The nine-day itinerary includes a rare trip to the Korean Peninsula’s demilitarised zone. Visitors might struggle to spot Kim Jong-un, but they can peek into the hermit kingdom using high-power binoculars. Combinable with GRJ’s Grand Tour of China.

Great Rail Journeys (01904 527180; greatrail.com) runs its new South Korea tour from March to October 2020, from £2,795pp.