It's the destination. Six routes across four countries — the Orient-Express across Europe, the Royal Scotsman through the Highlands, the British Pullman out of London, the Eastern & Oriental through Malaysia, the Andean Explorer across the Peruvian altiplano, the Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu. Each one restored carriage by carriage, operated to a standard that does not bend.
Belmond's history begins on a train. In the late 1970s the original Venice Simplon-Orient-Express had been retired for decades — the carriages sold off, the route abandoned, the name on the way to becoming a footnote in the history of European rail. James Sherwood, an American businessman who had already bought the Hotel Cipriani, started buying back the carriages. Some had become hunting lodges in the Italian Alps. Some had been turned into bars in French villages. He restored them carriage by carriage to their 1920s and 1930s specifications and in May 1982 put the train back on the tracks Paris-to-Venice. The relaunch is the founding moment of what is now Belmond — the train came first; the rest of the collection grew up around it.
Forty-plus years later the same restoration ethos runs every train in the portfolio. The British Pullman is a 1920s daytime sister service out of London. The Royal Scotsman is the Highlands sleeper, six guest cars converted from 1960s rolling stock. The Eastern & Oriental Express was relaunched in 2024 after a pandemic-era pause. The Andean Explorer is South America's only luxury sleeper train. The Hiram Bingham is the daytime run between Cusco and Machu Picchu. Different countries, different gauges, different eras of rolling stock — one operating standard, one consistent eye.
The framing I would use in a discovery call is the one Belmond uses itself: a train ride should be the destination, not the connection between two destinations. The trains are designed around that premise. The dining-car service is the dining-car service of a 1920s restaurant. The cabins are cabins, not seats. The pace is the pace the carriages were built for. You arrive at the end of the route already changed.
What you're booking
The shape of a Belmond train trip.
Six trains
Across four countries
Since 1982
The VSOE relaunch is the company's seed
Carriage
By carriage restoration ethos
Signature
Consortium amenities auto-apply on my bookings
The six trains
Three in Europe, one in Asia, two in Peru. Each one is its own kind of trip; the collection covers the spectrum from a one-day Pullman lunch out of London to a multi-night transcontinental sleeper.
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express — Europe.
The icon. Restored 1920s and 1930s carriages running Paris–Venice as the signature route, with London, Rome, Florence, Vienna, Prague, Istanbul, Verona, Portofino, and a small handful of other cities woven into the seasonal schedule. The recent addition is the L'Observatoire suite — a single oversized suite designed by JR — and the new permanent series of Grand Suites at the head of each route. The first Belmond train I'd point most travelers toward: London-to-Venice via Paris, two nights aboard. Full Venice Simplon-Orient-Express deep dive →︎
British Pullman — a Belmond Train, England.
The daytime sister service to the VSOE, working out of London Victoria. Single-day excursions — lunch journeys into the Kent countryside, dinner trips, the Murder Mystery dinner, special seasonal routes. Each carriage is its own restored period interior; the dining-car service is the showpiece. The Pullman is the right answer for the London-based traveler who wants the Belmond train experience without committing to a multi-night route. Full British Pullman deep dive →︎
The Royal Scotsman — a Belmond Train, Scotland.
The Highlands sleeper. Two-to-seven-night routes through the Cairngorms, the West Highlands, the distilleries of Speyside, the lochs and the coast. Forty guests across six cabin cars, an observation car at the back, a kitchen that draws heavily on the country it's running through. The Royal Scotsman is the version of the British Isles that doesn't exist any other way; it is the trip that turns Scotland from a stop on a UK itinerary into the trip itself. Full Royal Scotsman deep dive →︎
The Eastern & Oriental Express — Malaysia and Singapore.
Relaunched in 2024 after a pandemic pause; the only luxury sleeper train in Southeast Asia. Routes from Singapore through Malaysia — the rainforests, the colonial-era hill stations, the cities of the peninsula. The reintroduction is the moment to book this train; the carriages have been refreshed and the route program is the most adventurous in the portfolio. Pairs naturally with a Belmond hotel stay in the region as it expands.
The Andean Explorer — a Belmond Train, Peru.
South America's only luxury sleeper train. Routes across the Peruvian altiplano — Cusco to Puno to Arequipa, the highest railway pass in the Americas at La Raya, Lake Titicaca by the shore, observation cars built so the Andes do most of the entertaining. Slots inside a Peru circuit between the Cusco hotels and the southern leg toward Arequipa; the kind of railroading most travelers have never seen.
The Hiram Bingham — the Machu Picchu day train.
The daytime service from Poroy (just outside Cusco) down to Aguas Calientes for Machu Picchu — the only luxury option on that line. Dome cars with picture windows, a brunch service on the way down, dinner with a live band on the way back. The train is the bookend that turns the Machu Picchu day from a logistical exercise into part of the trip. Sits inside the broader Peru circuit as the connector between the Sacred Valley and the citadel.
The hotel-and-train move
The most underused booking pattern in luxury travel is the Belmond hotel-and-train combination. Two or three nights at the Hotel Cipriani in Venice, then the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express to Paris or London the next morning. The transition plays as one continuous trip; the day on the train is the part most travelers come back from talking about first. Same eye on the platform, same eye in the carriage, same eye on the lagoon you just left.
The Peru circuit works the same way — Cusco between the Andean Explorer and the Hiram Bingham, every hotel and every train operated by the same company. You can run an entire country inside one collection. The combination is the move; the trains alone are excellent but the hotel-and-train pairing is the one I would build a milestone trip around.
Who Belmond trains are for — and who they aren't
The milestone-trip buyer who has done luxury hotels and wants something they haven't.
The Belmond train ride is the rare luxury moment most well-traveled clients have not had. The hotels-of-the-world circuit is a defined ladder; the trains-of-the-world circuit is a much shorter list — six routes, one operator, a category of experience the rest of luxury travel cannot easily reproduce.
The traveler who wants the country to come to them.
The Belmond train ethic is that the landscape is the entertainment. You are not transporting yourself between sightseeing days; you are at the sightseeing window, with a drink, and dinner is being set behind you. The Royal Scotsman and the Andean Explorer in particular are designed around this principle.
The honeymoon couple who wants a single signature moment.
One or two nights on the VSOE inside a longer European honeymoon is the photograph the trip is remembered by. The same logic applies to the Royal Scotsman inside a British Isles honeymoon, or the Hiram Bingham inside a Peru itinerary. The train is the moment; the rest of the trip carries the rhythm.
Who Belmond trains aren't for.
Travelers who think of the train as transport and resent paying luxury-class for what airlines do faster. Travelers who want a stateroom the size of a Belmond hotel suite (cabins are cabins, not rooms). Travelers who don't want a dress code at dinner. None of these are slights; they are fits. The Belmond train is one specific kind of yes.
Adjacent reading
Belmond — the pillar hub. The collection and what makes it Belmond across hotels, trains, and barges.
A 30-minute discovery call. We pick the train, the route, whether it pairs with a Belmond hotel on either end, and which cabin tier matches the trip. The trains book best when the surrounding itinerary is planned around them, not added to them.
