The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
How the super-rich do luxury travel by rail
From a £46,000 suite to personal valets, private charters and buying your own train, Elissa Hunter reveals the dizzying options for the one per cent
The heavyweights of luxury rail travel – the Ghan, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, the Rocky Mountaineer and so on – need no introduction. Their names alone evoke images of lavish bedrooms, gourmet food and classic cocktails enjoyed against a backdrop of splendid scenery, scudding by through huge picture windows.
And lately, more of us than ever before are succumbing to the charms of big-ticket rail travel, according to Eleanor Flagler Hardy, co-owner and president of the Society of International Railway Travelers, who has seen a huge increase in passengers requesting super-deluxe suite options.
But if you think the trains above are the very peak of the luxury rail market, you are wrong. For the elite, there is an entire upper echelon of rail travel that makes their price tags look like spare change. From the most in-demand new journeys from world-renowned companies to buying your own private train, here are eight ways the super-rich are leaving the station.
Copper Trail Royal Suite, Rovos Rail Price: From £18,000 per person
With its glamourous journeys through southern Africa, Rovos is already known as one of the world’s top rail companies – but in 2022, it upped the ante by introducing its new Copper Trail route, a 1,900-mile (3,100km), 14-night extravaganza that passes through Zimbabwe, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.
The trip includes visits to an elephant sanctuary, a copper mine (hence the name) and Victoria Falls. The most expensive sleeping option, the Royal Suite, is a luxurious 172sq ft in area with wood panelling, an ensuite bathroom (with a bathtub, no less), and a lounge with enormous windows. rovos.com/journeys/copper-trail
La Dolce Vita, Orient Express Price: To be confirmed
The Orient Express La Dolce Vita train is due to launch in late 2024, but such is the fanfare preceding its arrival that various high-net-worth travellers have already forked out €500 (£430) purely for the privilege of pre-registering for the chance to book.
The train will offer six one- or twonight itineraries covering the north and south of Italy. Interiors are a homage to the Italy of the 1960s, when the likes of Federico Fellini and Sophia Loren made the cinema-going public ache to run off to Rome. While details are still scant, the route’s website promises a surprise ballet, a gaming area in the bar car, and Le Grand Soir, the train’s flagship evening event. Suffice to say, tickets won’t be cheap. orient-express.com/la-dolce-vita
Caspian Odyssey Imperial Suite, Golden Eagle Price: From £46,000 per person
The Golden Eagle service focuses on Central and Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, and all its journeys come with sizeable price tags. Its lengthiest – the 16-day Caspian Odyssey – takes the biscuit. The route begins in Armenia before travelling through Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (but you needn’t worry about running out of suitably glam outfits, as laundry service is included).
Forking out for the Imperial Suite means you will be welcomed on board with a bottle of Dom Perignon, as well as having your own private car and guide for excursions. With the border still closed between Azerbaijan and Georgia because of Covid restrictions, travellers are ferried from Yerevan to Baku by chauffeured car and private jet, then put up at five-star hotels. goldeneagleluxurytrains.com
Indian Panorama Presidential Suite, Maharajas’ Express Price: Approximately £20,000 per person
When the name of a train company means “king” in Sanskrit, you know that a certain level of luxury is on the cards. The Indian Panorama from Maharajas’ Express is a seven-day journey that starts and ends in Delhi, with stops in Jaipur and Agra, among others.
Clocking in at 448sq ft in area, the Presidential Suite has two bedrooms, a living room, and a personal valet to attend to your every whim. maharajas-express-india.com
Seven Stars Deluxe Suite, Kyushu Railway Company Price: From £9,000 per person
There are exclusive places, and then there is Seven Stars in Japan. You can’t simply book yourself a room on this train: all prospective passengers must submit a request during an open application period, with winners decided via a lottery. They then need to complete a questionnaire, after which they will receive a personalised itinerary, including details about the train’s dress code.
If you are lucky enough to make it onboard, you will stay in a wood-panelled suite with interiors melding East and West (including artisanal cups and pottery) and feast on gourmet Japanese cuisine, all while watching the breathtaking Kyushu countryside race by. cruisetrain-sevenstars.jp
Charter the Royal Canadian Pacific Price: £44,000 per day
With its 100-year-old restored carriages and space for just 36 passengers, this is what Simon Pielow, co-founder of the Luxury Train Club, calls “the holy grail of luxury train travel”. Mere mortals need to join a long, competitive waiting list in order to hop aboard one of its three luxury excursions, which range from three to five nights in length and cost from almost £7,000 per person.
But if waiting isn’t your style (for the super-rich, it rarely is) and you have £20,000 to spare – you could charter the whole train instead. But be warned, that will only get you dinner. Day trips cost from £36,400 – and if you want to stay overnight, you are looking at around £44,000 per day. royalcanadianpacific.com
Rent your own train… Price: From £35,000
Ah yes, the private charter. The superrich don’t like to share, so when it comes to rail travel, those in a certain tax bracket prefer to hire the entire train. Simon Pielow has arranged for private charters of various luxury trains, from the aforementioned (and hard-to-book) Seven Stars to the Royal Scotsman and British Pullman, the latter able to host around 200 of a billionaire’s nearest and dearest. trainchartering.com
…or buy one Price: Multiple millions
There is rich, and then there is “owns a train that gets used one week per year” rich. The cost of buying one depends on its condition and the amount of work that needs to be done on it – but a train is likely to set you back at least a few million pounds.
And, much like owning a private yacht or jet, that is only the start. Once your train is ready to go, staff are required (the British Butler Institute runs a fine Luxury Rail Steward and Stewardess School, if you are looking) and you will need somewhere to keep it when it is not being used. If you don’t have room at home, that will involve paying to keep it on a private rail line – or building your own.