Forget yachting in the French Riviera and skiing in Switzerland — the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express grand suites sit atop the wealthy traveler’s bucket list.
The luxury travel company Belmond operates six trains. Perhaps its most famous is the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, comprised of revamped 100-year-old carriages.
It’s also among the most luxurious trains in Europe. The 108-guest moving hotel operates 44 routes in 17 cities, mostly in Europe. Prices start at about $8,850 for a cabin on its one-night journey from Venice, Italy, to Paris.
If you want to travel in the train’s top-tier accommodation, you’ll have to pay more than three times that price. A journey in a grand suite costs around £25,000, or about $30,800, Gary Franklin, Belmond’s senior vice president of trains and cruises, told Business Insider.
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express grand suites are the epitome of European luxury train travel.
Red carpets welcome all guests on their overnight journeys, complete with lavishly decorated vintage carriages, fine-dining restaurants, and jaw-dropping views of passing scenery.
However, only the grand suites offer guests luxurious amenities such as private showers and around-the-clock butler services.
It’s worth it to many — the accommodations are “definitely a rich and famous-type bucket list item,” Julie Durso, a Scott Dunn Private travel manager, told Business Insider in November.
Over the past few years, Belmond has seen a spike in demand for its trains. Franklin told BI that the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express has become especially popular, with bookings growing 10% from 2023 to 2024.
The train’s flashy grand suites have concurrently piqued the interest of wealthy travelers — according to Franklin, they’re often the first accommodations to be booked. And for good reason.
The train has 54 cabins, six of which are in the highest-end grand suites category.
The accommodations, first introduced in 2018, each have a unique design inspired by a city on the train’s routes.
For example, the Venice, Italy-themed suite fuses Italian Baroque and Renaissance designs. Venetian furniture, vintage glass light fixtures, and a marriage of silk and woven fabrics fill the room with a historic Italian ambiance. The headboard combines arches and sharp edges, a nod to the country’s Renaissance castles.
Similarly, the Budapest suite features Gothic and Ottoman architectural styles, with ornate marquetry and embroidered silk-patterned furniture. The tall, curved headboard recalls the cathedrals and mosques of the Ottoman Empire.
No matter the decor, all suites include a couch, closet, double bed, dining area, and en-suite bathroom.
Most of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express accommodations have shared restrooms without access to a shower.
But there’s no need to share in the grand suites — the private bathrooms all have a rainfall showerhead, a glass-blown sink, and heated marble flooring.
The living room then separates the bathroom from the bedroom.
The train has three restaurant cars. Guests staying in these high-end accommodations can instead dine in the privacy of their suite and unwind.
Staying in the luxurious moving hotel room also includes welcome caviar, 24-hour butler service, and bottomless Champagne.
It’s a good time to be in the luxury travel business.
Travelers are increasingly spending big for unique, high-end vacations.
To capitalize on this, Belmond added two grand suites to its Scottish train, the Royal Scotsman, in 2024.
The new accommodations were “exceptionally well-received,” Franklin said — so much so that the company is now building more to debut in 2025.
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