Journeys
Rail
Trains in which the landscape plays the lead and the carriage merely sets the stage.
Rail is the oldest form of slow travel. You unpack once, and everything outside the window still changes by the hour.
We rarely recommend it as a whole journey and almost always as its middle: two to four nights, held between houses before and after.
London, Paris, the Alps, Venice
Venice Simplon-Orient-Express
Europe read at the pace of the 1920s.
Duration: One night on board
Scottish Highlands, from Edinburgh
The Royal Scotsman
A small country house that happens to travel by rail.
Duration: Two to four nights
Rajasthan, Agra, Varanasi
The Maharajas' Express
India at a measured distance, without losing closeness.
Duration: Four to seven nights
Cusco, Lake Titicaca, Arequipa
Belmond Andean Explorer
South America's highest rail journey, taken slowly.
Duration: One or two nights
Pretoria, Victoria Falls, Cape Town, Dar es Salaam
Rovos Rail
Southern Africa at full breadth, from a train that hurries no one.
Duration: Three nights Pretoria–Cape Town; nine nights to Dar es Salaam. An ideal overture or finale to a safari.
Malaysia, Singapore, rainforest and rice fields
Eastern & Oriental Express
Southeast Asia in its long dusk.
Duration: Two to three nights
How many nights on board make sense?
One or two. A single night is an event, three become routine — the cabins are beautiful but small, and the appeal lies in the alternation between travelling and arriving. The best shape is a combination: one night on the train, then three in a house at the destination. And keep luggage small; the rest travels ahead.
Noted by Pure Voyage
An Invitation
Once a month: hotels, new openings and travel ideas
One hotel that convinced us, with our advice on suite and season. The openings that actually matter. And a destination at its best right now. No offers, no advertising.