With the growing popularity of slow travel, experiencing the world on luxury trains has become one of the most coveted forms of travel. While just one ride can elevate a dream vacation, train tour operator Railbookers just announced the 2024 departures of its 80-day trip around the world, which includes journeys on seven of the globe’s most luxurious rail experiences.
Simply called Around the World By Luxury Train, the epic vacation departs Vancouver on Aug. 28, 2024, riding the rails in 13 countries on four continents, before ending in November in Singapore. Along the way, there are 52 nights in upscale accommodations in more than 20 cities, but the true highlight is the 24 nights in private cabins on the rails, experiencing the best in global train travel — all in one easily bookable trip.
Helen Cathcart/Courtesy of Belmond
The itinerary includes GoldLeaf Service on Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver to Jasper; a twin cabin on Belmond Royal Scotsman’s Grand Western Scenic Wonders, a round trip from Edinburgh; a historic cabin on Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond Train, from Paris to Venice; a deluxe cabin on Maharajas Express’ The Indian Splendour Tour from Delhi to Mumbai; a deluxe cabin on Golden Eagle Danube Express from Istanbul to Budapest; a Pullman suite on the Rovos Rail from Pretoria to Cape Town; and wrapping up with another Pullman cabin on the Eastern & Oriental Express, A Belmond Train’s Essence of Malaysia.
“The demand for luxury rail from our customers continues to grow, and in response, we’ve created the ultimate bucket-list trip,” Frank Marini, Railbookers’ president and CEO, said in a statement obtained by Travel + Leisure. “As we’ve seen a trend to combine itineraries to include multiple luxury trains, we’ve tailor-made this itinerary along with smaller, customizable itineraries featuring these iconic trains as a highlight of our industry-leading luxury rail collection.”
Courtesy of Railbookers
Courtesy of Rovos Rail
In between the railways, the itinerary is just as iconic, with experiences like touring Rome at night in a vintage car, traveling to Victoria’s Butchart Gardens in Canada by seaplane, safari game drives in Kruger National Park, a Moulin Rouge dinner show in Paris, a hot air balloon ride in Turkey’s Cappadocia, and other unbelievable experiences in London, Florence, Edinburgh, Venice, Cape Town, Delhi, Mumbai, Malaysia, and more. Throughout the trip, airport, station, and hotel transfers are provided, but note that international flights are not included.
The entire 80-day trip with all seven train segments starts at $113,599 per person, based on double occupancy. Booking can also be made for segmented portions. The itineraries are just one of the more than 6,000 Railbookers itineraries offered around the world.
As Belmond’s Gary Franklin said in a statement: “This is the ultimate, once-in-a-lifetime trip.”
From source: https://www.travelandleisure.com/around-the-world-by-luxury-train-railbookers-8363005.
