A Belmond Train · Sleeper
Royal Scotsman
The Highlands, from a private drawing room — Round trips from Edinburgh
The Royal Scotsman first took to the rails in 1985, and four decades on it remains the most intimate of the great sleepers: eighteen cabins, forty-odd guests, and every journey a round trip from Edinburgh Waverley. Guests are piped aboard. By the second evening the train has stopped feeling like transport and started feeling like a house party that happens to be moving through Perthshire.
Belmond publishes eighteen sleeper cabins in three tiers — four Grand Suites at 14 m², five Double Cabins and nine Twin Cabins at 7.9 m², all en suite. The two named Grand Suites, Heron and Magpie, were added in May 2024 with interiors by the Paris designer Tristan Auer: Celtic knot marquetry in the panelling, emerald tweed in one and blue tartan in the other, and work by Scottish makers including the weaver Araminta Campbell, the leatherworker Iseabal Henry and the Galloway potter Joshua Williams.
Journeys run from two to seven nights, which is a wider spread than any other train here. The short ones are food-led — A Taste of Scotland runs with Tom Kitchin or Lorna McNee — while the long ones cross the country properly, taking in the Cairngorms, Culloden and the West Coast. On board there are two dining cars, Raven and Swift, a Dior spa carriage, and the open-air observation car at the rear, which is the best seat on any train in Europe when the line opens out toward Kyle of Lochalsh.
The journeys
A Taste of Scotland
2 nights
The food-led short journey, run with chefs Tom Kitchin and Lorna McNee on separate dates. The easiest way into the train.
The Highlands
2, 3 or 4 nights
The core route, offered at three lengths. The longer versions reach Plockton, Kyle of Lochalsh, Boat of Garten and Dundee.
Scotland: The West Coast
3 nights
West from Edinburgh toward the coast and the sea lochs.
Scotch Malt Whisky Tour
4 nights
Distillery-led, and the journey to take if the whisky is the reason for the trip.
Heritage Homes & Gardens
4 nights
Great houses and gardens, at the pace the train sets rather than a coach tour's.
Clans, Castles & Isles
5 nights
The cultural long-form route, taking in the Cairngorms, Culloden Battlefield and the Royal Yacht Britannia on its sister itineraries.
Grand Tour of Scotland
7 nights
The full crossing, and the longest journey Belmond runs anywhere on rails.
On board: the cabins
Grand Suite
14 m²
Four in total, two of them named — Heron in emerald tweed, Magpie in blue tartan — with Celtic knot marquetry by Tristan Auer. Butler service, a complimentary spa treatment per guest and private arrival and departure transfers are included.
Double Cabin
7.9 m²
Five of them, with a double bed and an en-suite bathroom. Compact by hotel standards, which is the nature of a train.
Twin Cabin
7.9 m²
Nine of them, twin beds and an en-suite bathroom with shower — the most numerous category and the first to go on a popular date.
The carriages
Raven and Swift
The two dining cars, where dinner is a fixed sitting and the whole train eats together.
The Observation Car
Open at the rear, with a bar. The single best place on the train, and the reason nobody stays in their cabin.
The Dior Spa carriage
A spa on a train, which sounds absurd until the second day. Grand Suite guests receive a complimentary treatment each.
Booking this train
Eighteen cabins means a single departure can sell out as a unit rather than cabin by cabin, so dates matter more here than on any other Belmond train — we work about a year ahead for the Grand Suites and the summer departures. Every journey is a round trip from Edinburgh Waverley, which makes the trip easy to bookend with a night in the city at either end. Belmond publishes no operating months, so we confirm the season with the operator before holding anything. Journeys run two to seven nights; if it is a first time, the two-night Taste of Scotland is the honest recommendation over the seven-night Grand Tour.
Questions, answered
How many cabins does the Royal Scotsman have?
Eighteen. Belmond publishes four Grand Suites at 14 m², five Double Cabins and nine Twin Cabins at 7.9 m², all with en-suite bathrooms. That is around forty guests in total, which makes it the most intimate of Belmond's sleepers and the reason single departures sell out as a whole.
Where do the journeys start and finish?
Every journey is a round trip from Edinburgh Waverley, so you arrive and depart from the same station. Guests are welcomed aboard by bagpipes. It makes the train unusually easy to plan around — a night in Edinburgh either side works well, and we arrange both.
How long are the journeys?
From two to seven nights, the widest range of any luxury train in Europe. The two-night Taste of Scotland journeys are chef-led and the best introduction; The Highlands runs at two, three or four nights; and the Grand Tour of Scotland is the full seven.
What is included in a Grand Suite?
Belmond publishes personal butler service, free-flowing champagne, Glenmorangie Signet whisky, one complimentary spa treatment per guest, gifts, and private arrival and departure car transfers. There are only four Grand Suites, and the two named ones — Heron and Magpie — are the first cabins to sell on any date.
Enquire
Hold a cabin on the Royal Scotsman
Tell us your dates and we will confirm live availability, hold the strongest cabin category, and plan the hotels at either end around the journey.
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