Summary

Travel as Europe’s nobility did, with a palace stay bookended by a return trip on the world’s most iconic train

Highlights

Spend two nights onboard the world’s most iconic train
Indulge with multi-course fine dining
Stay minutes from St Marks Square in a luxurious Venetian palace
Explore with an included walking tour
Enjoy included trips in private water taxis

In Brief

1 Night Venice Simplon-Orient-Express
2 Nights Venice
1 Night Venice-Simplon-Orient Express

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In pictures

Cote D'Azur Dining Car

Bar Car

Venice Water Taxi

Grand Canal

Baglioni Hotel Luna

Baglioni Hotel Luna dining room

Cote D'Azur Dining Car

Bar Car

Venice Water Taxi

Grand Canal

Baglioni Hotel Luna

Baglioni Hotel Luna dining room

About

Recommended for:
City-break | No-fly | Rail journey

Travelling both legs by train offers the chance to experience the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in all its glory. With two nights onboard, you’ll get to fully soak up the Alpine scenery, along with the multi-course full board, white-gloved service and piano-accompanied bar-car drinks. In between, you’ll enjoy a luxury palazzo stay in Venice, an included city walking tour and a pair of private water-taxi transfers – the finest way to arrive in Venice.

Day 1
Depart London on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Your holiday begins at London's St Pancras Station where you'll board the Eurostar for a Channel-Tunnel hop to Lille and transfer on to Calais, where a white-gloved steward will see you to the polished-wood fineries of your private cabin aboard the fabled Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. A four-course dinner awaits, perhaps capped with a piano-accompanied drink in the bar car before you retire to your cabin, transformed into Egyptian-cotton berths by your host.

Stay: Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (Deluxe)

Meals: L D

Day 2
Arrive in Venice

You’ll wake to views of the Swiss Alps and breakfast served in the intimacy of your cabin. After some time to enjoy the views, a three-course lunch is taken under the Lalique glasswork of the restaurant carriages, followed by an afternoon at leisure and a selection of pastries, again served in your cabin. Then, after rolling over the Venetian Lagoon to Santa Lucia station, a water taxi will whisk you along winding waterways to your canal-side palace’s private pier. Here, you’ll be treated to ceiling frescoes, Murano chandeliers and views of the Grand Canal.

Stay: Baglioni Hotel Luna, Venice (Deluxe)

Meals: B L

Day 3
Venice

While your hotel’s indulgent breakfast is the perfect introduction to Venice’s fine Italian dining, your included walking tour is the perfect introduction to its storied sights. In the company of an expert guide, you’ll wander between lesser-known basilicas and winding alleys before turning to the city’s famous highlights, concluding with a skip-the-queue entry to the Doge’s Palace. Its stern Gothic exterior hides artwork by Renaissance masters. Whether you want to spend the rest of the day on a gondola, exploring Venice’s outlying islands or enjoying a piazza-side glass of wine, this afternoon is left at leisure.

Stay: Baglioni Hotel Luna, Venice (Deluxe)

Meals: B

Day 4
Depart Venice on the Venice-Simplon-Orient Express

With a water taxi once more meeting you at your hotel’s pier, you’ll be brought back to the iconic gold-and-blue of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. Settling in to the dark-wood beauty of your private cabin, you’ll be treated to spectacular views of the Lagoon and Italy’s rural north as you enjoy a three-course lunch. Then, as you wind up into the Alps, a leisurely four-course dinner is served, with the likes of Brittany lobster and Mont Saint-Michel lamb expertly prepared onboard by French chefs. Of course, it’s all best suffixed by live music and drinks in the opulent bar car.

Stay: Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (Deluxe)

Meals: B L D

Day 5
Arrive in London

After a Continental breakfast, served in your cabin at a time that suits you, the train will sweep through rural France for a leg-stretching pause in Paris’s magnificent Gare de l’Est station. It was from here in 1883 that the Orient Express first departed, the station’s colonnaded façade as grand today as it was in the 19th century. Continue to the French coast, accompanied by a sumptuous brunch on board, before an included transfer from Calais to Lille sees you aboard the Eurostar for a Channel Tunnel hop back to London's St Pancras Station.

Meals: B L

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