Luxury Train Rides Around the World

Australia, South Africa, Italy, India & Vietnam • Five trains, curated for their interiors

There is a particular kind of quiet that only exists on a train. The landscape moves, yet you do not. Hours lose their edges, meals become events, and a compartment of a few square metres starts to feel like a well-proportioned room. That is why luxury train rides matter so much right now. In an age of fast connections and faster itineraries, slow travel offers something genuinely scarce: time with nothing to do but look.

On the best trains, the interior is the destination. Timber, upholstery, brass and glass are chosen with the same care as in any good hotel, then set in motion. The five below are curated for exactly that. Four are sleeper trains where you wake up somewhere new. One is a day train you will want to stay awake for.

The Ghan – Australia

The Route & Duration

The Ghan runs almost 3,000 kilometres through the centre of Australia, from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the tropical north. The classic journey takes three days and two nights, with excursions off the train along the way. It is a sleeper train in the truest sense: you fall asleep among saltbush plains and wake to the red earth of the Northern Territory.

The Interior

Since April 2026 the train carries two new categories, the Aurora and Australis Suites, designed by Woods Bagot. The Australis is three times the size of a Platinum cabin, the Aurora twice, and both have a separate bedroom with a queen bed. The design language is Art Deco filtered through the outback: decorative timber, stone and marble, iron filigree and coved ceilings that echo traditional cornices. Sheepskin and saddle leather nod to Australia's wool and leather merchants, down to horsebit curtain tiebacks and pleated leather trims. The Australis leans into red ochre and warm timber, while the Aurora takes its cue from the night sky in soft emerald and deep velvet. It is the rare luxury train interior that feels residential rather than nautical.

Best for

Minimalists who want desert light and a room that answers it.

The Blue Train – South Africa

The Route & Duration

The Blue Train covers roughly 1,600 kilometres between Pretoria and Cape Town in about 31 hours, crossing savannah, the semi-desert Karoo and the winelands before the mountains close in around the Cape. Its roots go back to the Union Express of 1923, and it remains a sleeper train in the old sense, with a butler for every few suites and a stop in the diamond town of Kimberley.

The Interior

This is 1920s glamour, played straight. Suites are panelled in burled wood with fine marquetry, fully carpeted and soundproofed. Bathrooms come in marble with gold fittings, and some suites have a full-size bath. The detail design lovers remember is the glass: the picture windows are tinted gold, which softens the African sun into something warm and filmic. In the club car, dark wood panelling and leather seating recall a private members' club, lit by small lamps on the walls.

Best for

Purists who love dark timber, brass and a long afternoon tea.

La Dolce Vita Orient Express – Italy

The Route & Duration

Launched in April 2025, La Dolce Vita Orient Express is a sleeper train conceived as a rail cruise through Italy. Most itineraries begin and end in Rome, with journeys reaching Venice, Palermo in Sicily and the ancient city of Matera. They range from a single night to the four-night Grand Tour, and the pace is deliberately unhurried, built around the idea of the train as the hotel itself.

The Interior

Milan's Dimorestudio took Italian design of the 1960s and 70s as its reference, with nods to Gio Ponti, Gae Aulenti and Osvaldo Borsani. The restored carriages are layered in lacquered wood, walnut, patinated brass, velvet, smoked glass and mirror, with a deliberate play between gloss and matte. The palette is drawn from the Italian landscape in terracotta and ochre. In the bar car, undulating velvet seating sits within a diamond pattern that references the costume of Harlequin, while the dining car pairs gleaming metal walls with rounded banquettes in warm orange leather. Across 12 deluxe cabins, 18 suites and one signature suite, it is the most cinematic interior on this list.

Best for

Maximalists who think in Fellini stills and walnut veneer.

Maharajas' Express – India

The Route & Duration

The Indian Splendour itinerary runs from Delhi to Mumbai over seven nights and eight days, stopping at Agra, Ranthambore, Jaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Balasinor. Each day brings a new fort, palace or national park, and each night the maroon carriages carry you on to the next. Of the five, this is the longest sleeper train journey and the one that most resembles a moving residence.

The Interior

Since its launch in 2010, the Maharajas' Express has been designed around the private carriages of Indian royalty, with décor taken from the forts and palaces of Rajasthan. Expect rich drapery, tapestries and golden detailing throughout. The two dining cars are its set pieces. Rang Mahal, the Palace of Colours, is dressed in pink and cream beneath a hand-painted floral ceiling. Mayur Mahal, the Peacock Palace, glows in green, blue and gold under a ceiling of small mirrored tiles. The most extravagant space on board is the Presidential Suite, which occupies an entire carriage with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a sitting room.

Best for

Those who believe more is more, and that pattern is a language of its own.

The Vietage by Anantara – Vietnam

The Route & Duration

The Vietage is the exception here. It is not a sleeper train but a single private carriage on Vietnam's national railway, running from Da Nang to Quy Nhon in about six hours. You board in the morning and arrive in the afternoon, which makes this the one journey to stay awake for, with the coastal plains and green countryside of central Vietnam passing in full daylight.

The Interior

With only 12 seats arranged in six booths, the carriage feels more like a private salon than a train. The design is a modern take on Indochine glamour, with large windows that frame the landscape like a gallery wall and a small bar at its heart. At the end of the carriage sits a dedicated spa corner for head and shoulder treatments on the move, a boutique spa concept in miniature. A three-course lunch blends Vietnamese and French flavours, served at the same table where you watch the countryside go by.

Best for

Day travellers who want an intimate, spa-like interlude rather than a night away.

Images courtesy of the respective train operators.