The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express: Time That Travels in Style

There’s a particular hush that falls the moment you step aboard. It isn’t real silence of course - the train hums with clinks of crystal glassware, distant piano keys, and the whisper of velvet furnishings - but a kind of reverent pause. It’s like the train itself inhales, then gently exhales and spills a whole century of secrets. This is the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, and nothing else on Earth moves quite like it.

From the lacquered walls to the monogrammed linens, every minute element invites you into a cinematic world, one where luxury is a given, but it’s a living, breathing tradition in itself. This isn't a throwback. It's not a replica. It's the original locomotive – restored, reimagined, and resolutely in motion.

A Story in Motion

To travel on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is almost like jumping right into the pages of a storybook, the kind that is penned in ink and swathed in glamour. The route varies - Paris to Venice, Vienna to Istanbul - but the narrative always remains the same: this is as much theatre as it is travel.

The carriages, painstakingly restored 1920s and 1930s originals, still carry the fingerprints of their golden-age designers. Step into the Côte d’Azur car and you’ll find Lalique glass panels positively twinkling in natural light, while the Istanbul car gleams with polished marquetry and Deco flourishes. Each suite is a page from history, and the Grand Suites in particular pay homage to iconic European cities like Paris and Vienna.

And yet, even despite their age, the decades they hark back to, there’s nothing dusty or dated here. The train’s custodians - including hospitality company Belmond and a league of master artisans -  haven’t just preserved the past. They’ve worked with it.

A Rolling Gallery

Art isn't simply hung on the walls of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. It is the walls. It’s the smooth walnut panelling, the bespoke upholstery, the hand-cut crystal glassware that catches candlelight just so. And recently, this artistic legacy has stepped into the modern-day realm through contemporary collaborations.

One of the most exciting is with French artist JR, famed for his large-scale public installations. In 2024, JR transformed a 1929 carriage into a mobile art installation for the Venice Biennale. The exterior became a trompe-l'œil of surreal depth, while the interior, created in partnership with wood artist Philippe Allemand, was an immersive ode to celestial exploration, complete with hand-crafted observatory motifs. The result? A beautiful dialogue between past and present, architecture and imagination, that took the train from a luxury vehicle to an art gallery on rails.

That spirit lives on in L’Observatoire, a permanent suite inspired by the project, which is set to debut in the coming months in 2025. When guests first step into this creative sanctuary, a one-of-a-kind cocoon designed to spark awe, they’ll find it a little more than a place to rest.

Dressed for the Journey

On this train, elegance is instinctive. There’s no Wi-Fi and no television. Your entertainment comes in the form of a tuxedoed pianist in the bar car, a martini freshly shaken into chic glassware that predates most smartphones, and conversation that flows as freely as the bubbles flow.

Passengers don their finest tuxedos, silk gowns, and velvet smoking jackets not out of obligation, but in honour of the atmosphere. Because what greater occasion is there to get dressed up then when you’re travelling on a vessel as inherently ‘fancy’ as the Orient Express.

Dining itself is a performance in the most wonderful and decadent sense. The train’s menus, curated by Executive Chef Jean Imbert, shift with the seasons and the scenery. This results in dishes like truffle-scented risottos inspired by Italy, côte de boeuf that echoes a Parisian brasserie. Even the breakfast tray - delivered straight to your cabin and draped in crisp linens - feels like a bit of a ceremony. And what better way to start the morning?

The Route of the Imagination

The magic of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express of course lies in what it is, but also in everything that it has and continues to inspire. The train occupies a singular space in the cultural imagination, immortalised in pages and on screens for over a century. We can guarantee that the first thing that flashed into your mind when reading the very name ‘Orient Express’ was something to do with murders… 

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, published in 1934, turned the train into a stage for mystery, luxury, and intrigue. Countless adaptations have followed, from Sidney Lumet’s star-studded 1974 film to Kenneth Branagh’s 2017 cinematic spectacle. More recently, Wes Anderson’s love for vintage travel and symmetrical storytelling was visibly inspired by the romance of this golden-era icon.

But you’ll also find that the allure goes beyond fiction. Royals, spies, composers, and cultural icons have walked these narrow corridors – a space that has witnessed wartime secrets, forbidden romances, and world-changing conversations. No two journeys are ever quite the same, and yet the sense of possibility remains constant, drawing travellers back again and again.

Modern Voyages with Vintage Soul

Today’s Venice Simplon-Orient-Express doesn't shy away from the future. While it honours its Art Deco roots, it also embraces evolution. New routes are regularly introduced, including itineraries to Prague, Florence, and even Istanbul – a bold nod to the train’s original 19th-century path.

Newly launched Grand Suites and Cabin Suites cater to modern luxury travellers with marble en-suites, 24-hour butler service, and private dining on demand. But as with anything Orient Express, these enhancements haven’t diluted the soul of the train. They’ve only deepened its magic.

Each voyage begins with a ritual: guests boarding in Paris might stay the night before at the ornate Gare de l’Est, or sip cocktails in the shadow of Sacré-Cœur. From there, the scenery becomes a dreamscape: snow-dusted Alps, lavender-smeared Provence, the mirrored waters of the Venetian Lagoon.

The Art of Slow

In a world defined by speed, by a rush towards the destination, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express invites us and reminds us to slow down and savour. Every detail has been designed to heighten travellers’ awareness: the scent of beeswax on polished wood, the weight of a porcelain teacup, the silhouette of distant mountains melting into dusk. Because this isn’t travel for efficiency, it’s travel for emotion, it’s travel that enhances and extends the tales of your travels. You don’t board this train to get somewhere fast. You board to feel something. Nostalgia, wonder, stillness, connection – the entire spectrum of emotions that should come with travel. 

Planning the Journey of a Lifetime

Journeys on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express are available from March through November, with seasonal highlights ranging from springtime blooms in Verona to golden autumnal scenes in Vienna. For the ultimate celebration, the Paris–Istanbul itinerary, offered just once a year, spans six nights and five countries — a modern adventure like no other.

Our favourite way to experience this iconic locomotive is by tagging it onto a luxury cruise. The itinerary of this is entirely your choosing, but we’ll just need to ensure it starts or ends in a destination that the Orient Express chugs into. 

To ride the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express is like surrendering to pure and undulating glamour, to storytelling in its finest form, to a rhythm the modern world very nearly forgot. And at its core, it serves as an invitation – to live a little slower, dream a little bigger, and rediscover the joy of the journey itself. On this train, the destination is secondary. And the magic is always in motion.

Words by Emy Syddall