The Best Luxury Train Journeys in Europe 2026

The original, and still the one every other train is measured against. Belmond runs restored 1920s and 1930s sleeping cars on the Alpine crossing between Paris and Venice, with city pairs reaching Vienna, Brussels, Florence and Portofino, and one legendary annual run through to Istanbul. Accommodation is published in four tiers — 32 Historic Cabins, 16 Suites, 6 Grand Suites, and L'Observatoire by JR, an entire carriage designed by the artist and added in 2025. Three restaurant cars and the Bar Car '3674', where the pianist plays until the small hours.

New for 2026 is a first-ever journey from Paris to the Amalfi Coast, terminating at Belmond's Caruso above Ravello, which is the neatest land-and-rail pairing the company has yet built.

Belmond's newest train entered service on 21 July 2025 as the first luxury sleeper in England and Wales, and it is the most contemporary thing on this list — no Art Deco pastiche, but a calm, modern British interior. Eighteen cabins in three published tiers: 3 Grand Suites, 11 Double Suites and 4 Twin Suites. Sven-Hanson Britt is Executive Head Chef and Simon Rogan hosts the train's named Taste of departures, which for a train is a serious pair of appointments, and there is a Wellbeing Suite by Wildsmith on board.

Five journeys run from London Victoria: three nights each to Cornwall, to Wales or to the Lake District, plus two six-night combinations for anyone with the time.

A country house that happens to move through the Highlands. Just 18 cabins — 4 Grand Suites, 5 Double Cabins and 9 Twin Cabins — which makes it the most intimate sleeper here, and the open observation car at the rear is the best seat on any European train when the West Coast line opens up. There is a Dior spa carriage, and the two dining cars are named Raven and Swift.

Journeys run two to four nights out of Edinburgh through the Highlands and the West Coast. Because the train is so small, single departures sell out as a unit rather than cabin by cabin.

The most significant new-build luxury train in Europe, and the reason the naming confusion above matters. The Orient Express brand belongs to Accor; the trains are built and run by the Italian operator Arsenale. It premiered at Roma Ostiense in April 2025 with interiors by Milan's Dimorestudio referencing 1960s Italian design, and a food programme signed by the three-Michelin-starred Heinz Beck.

Thirty-one cabins in three tiers — 12 Deluxe Cabins, 18 Suites and a single La Dolce Vita Suite — on eight round-trip itineraries from Rome reaching Venice, Tuscany, Piedmont, Matera and Sicily. From 22 October 2026 it adds its first international route, a five-day Rome to Istanbul run via Venice, Budapest and Transylvania.

This is the train for the Europe nobody else reaches. Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Transylvania — and a repeatable Paris-to-Istanbul overland crossing, where Belmond's Istanbul run is an annual one-off. Cabins come in two published classes, Superior Deluxe and Deluxe, all en suite, with restaurant cars and a bar lounge car.

The 2026 programme includes the Balkan Explorer from Venice to Istanbul over twelve days, refreshed this year to spend longer in Croatia and Bosnia with a first overnight in Belgrade. One piece of context worth having: the British company behind it was acquired in 2026 by Arsenale, the same Italian group operating La Dolce Vita — so two of the names on this list now answer to one parent.

The best-kept secret on this list, and the roomiest. Fourteen Deluxe Suites carrying a maximum of 28 guests — the highest space-per-guest ratio of any European luxury train — each suite with a separate bedroom, a lounge, and a bathroom with a hydromassage shower and a built-in steam sauna. That last detail exists on no other train here.

It runs the narrow-gauge line along Spain's Cantabrian coast, which is why it moves slowly and why the scenery never stops. The 2026 season opened in March and runs to late October, and Renfe now provisions the kitchen daily from local markets at each stop. Worth knowing before you book: the train stables in stations overnight, so you sleep stationary.

Renfe's southern train runs a rake of fourteen carriages and takes up to 64 guests in two published categories, Gran Clase and Suite Deluxe — making it the largest train on this list and the most sociable. For 2026 it runs a new route, the Ruta Ibérica del Sur, linking Seville and Madrid in both directions across Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha.

It is a step below the Gran Lujo in cabin size and a long way below the Belmond trains in fit and finish. It earns its place because the itinerary is excellent and because it makes a private train trip possible for a group that would not fill a Royal Scotsman.

The exception that earns its place. There are no cabins — this is a day out — but the carriages are the restored Pullman parlour cars, each individually named and panelled in marquetry, and lunch aboard one of them is among the best few hours available in England. Journeys run as long lunches, murder-mystery theatre and country-house excursions, all returning to London the same day.

For private parties there is Celia, the Private Carriage designed by Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, which seats twelve and is the most theatrical private dining room on rails anywhere.