by Mayté Rodríguez Cedillo and Fernando Favela   Luxury Living  ·  BajaTraveler.com
photos Courtesy Belmond

Step Onto a Legend in Motion
The train pulls into Paris’s Gare de l’Est in a hush of navy-blue steel and gold lettering, and for a moment the twenty-first century simply steps aside. Wood-paneled corridors, brass fittings, the low murmur of a steward’s knock — this is the choreography Belmond has protected since it revived the Orient Express name more than four decades ago. Boarding the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express has always meant trading a schedule for a sensation: a Champagne coupe pressed into your hand before the doors close, the Art Deco marquetry of a restored 1920s cabin catching the last of the afternoon light, the countryside sliding past the window in an unhurried blur. By the time dinner is announced somewhere past Dijon, most passengers have already stopped checking their phones. That, more than any single amenity, is the experience Belmond is selling in 2026 — not speed, but the deliberate, old-world luxury of slowing down.

The Villeggiatura Era
This year marks a genuine inflection point for the train. Belmond has launched “Villeggiatura by Train,” a new series pairing the VSOE with stays at four of the group’s most celebrated Italian hotels — Villa San Michele above Florence, Splendido in Portofino, Caruso in Ravello, and Hotel Cipriani in Venice. Each four-day itinerary opens with a night aboard the train before continuing into a partner property, borrowing its name from villeggiatura, the Italian tradition of the leisurely summer retreat. The most closely watched addition is an entirely new route: Paris to the Amalfi Coast, departing for the first time in May 2026, with a stop at the ruins of Pompeii en route to two nights at Caruso, the eleventh-century former palazzo overlooking Ravello. It’s a meaningful expansion for a train whose classic identity has long centered on Paris and Venice, and it signals where Belmond — under LVMH ownership since 2018 — sees the future of rail travel heading: fewer stops, deeper immersion, and a tighter weave between the journey and the destination at the end
of it.

Dinner at 60 Miles an Hour
No detail of the VSOE experience has been more deliberately reworked than dining, now overseen by chef Jean Imbert across the train’s three historic restaurant cars. L’Oriental, lacquered in black and gold, channels the mystery of the original Eastern route; Étoile du Nord favors pale, refined wood; Côte d’Azur dazzles beneath René Lalique glass panels salvaged from the line’s Riviera-bound golden age. Across all three, Imbert’s menus lean into a distinctly European pantry — Périgord truffles, Venetian saffron, Hungarian duck, alpine cheeses — plated with a precision that belies the size of an onboard kitchen built for a different century. When dinner winds down, the evening migrates to Bar Car 3674, the social heart of the train, where a resident pianist plays late into the night and the ritual of Midnight Brunch — toasted sandwiches served well past midnight — has become as beloved among regulars as the scenery itself.

Booking the Legend
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express operates March through December, connecting Paris with more than fifteen European cities, from the classic overnight run to Venice to the five-night pilgrimage retracing the original Orient Express route to Istanbul. For 2026, Historic Cabins on the flagship Paris–Venice route start around £3,885 per person, with Suites and Grand Suites ranging roughly £5,500 to £8,400 and beyond. Demand for the best dates and cabin categories runs well ahead of departure, and shoulder-season sailings — May, June, September, and October — tend to book first. For travelers weighing whether 2026 is the year to finally board, the honest answer is that Belmond has made the case for you: this is the most ambitious version of the Orient Express legend in decades, and it is only getting harder to book.

✦ BAJATRAVELER® TAKEAWAY
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express has always sold nostalgia; in 2026, it’s selling momentum. Between the new Villeggiatura by Train itineraries, the first-ever route to the Amalfi Coast, and a dining program that finally matches the legend of the cabins, Belmond has given serious travelers a reason to book the Orient Express not as a bucket-list relic, but as the centerpiece of a modern European itinerary. If you’ve been waiting for the right year to board, this is it.

Plan Your Journey
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express operates March through December 2026, with Historic Cabins from £3,885 per person on the classic Paris–Venice route. Villeggiatura by Train four-day itineraries pair one night aboard with two nights at Villa San Michele, Splendido, Caruso, or Hotel Cipriani.
→ Visit belmond.com │ Call 1 800 237 1236 (Reservations)