Rail and land
European sleeper trains
You dress for dinner as the station lights fall behind the train, and the dining car stays lamplit while the country outside goes dark. You sleep in the cabin. You wake beside a canal in Venice on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, on the road into Rome on La Dolce Vita Orient Express, under the hills above Sarajevo on the Golden Eagle Danube Express, or in a glen in the Scottish Highlands on the Royal Scotsman.
Venice Simplon-Orient-Express
This is Belmond. Many dates run from Paris toward Venice, and some continue toward Istanbul or Vienna. You sleep on the train. Dinner and breakfast are included. A longer route can include lunch.
You can book a historic twin, a suite, or a grand suite. The cabin is where you sleep. Dinner is in the dining car, and the dress for dinner is formal. The fare is requested for your dates.
La Dolce Vita Orient Express
This train stays in Italy. A one-night trip can run from Rome toward Venice, or the other way. A two-night trip can run from Palermo to Rome. The train follows the coast of Sicily, and you can get off and spend the afternoon in Taormina. Then the train is carried on a ferry across the Strait of Messina. You can watch that crossing from the deck. The train stops in Naples in the evening. You get off in Rome in the morning.
You sleep on the train. A deluxe cabin is about seven square meters, with its own bathroom. A suite is larger, about eleven square meters. Lunch and dinner are included. On some Sicily dates the menus are Heinz Beck’s. The fare is requested for your dates.
Golden Eagle Danube Express
The Golden Eagle Danube Express runs through Central Europe and the Balkans. One route leaves Venice for Istanbul, and you get off in Trieste, Sarajevo, Mostar, Belgrade, Sofia, and Plovdiv. You do not sleep on the train every night. On some nights you sleep in a hotel in one of those cities.
A Superior Deluxe cabin is about nine square meters, with a shower. Breakfast is at the table. Lunch and dinner come with wine. Dress on this train is informal. The fare is requested for your dates.
Royal Scotsman
The Royal Scotsman leaves Edinburgh for two, three, four, or seven nights in Scotland. You sleep on the train. Meals are included, and so are the off-train visits on that departure: a distillery, a castle, or a loch, depending on the date.
If you want time in Edinburgh itself, book a hotel night before you board, or after you get off.