The Eastern and Oriental Express returned to service in 2024 after a five-year hiatus, with a new route through the Malay Peninsula and a programmatic shift toward shorter, more curated itineraries. The relaunch was, in some ways, characteristic of the broader Asian luxury rail revival: an established operator returning with thoughtful changes rather than wholesale reinvention. Across the continent, similar moves have produced a denser network of private rail journeys than has existed in Asia at any point since the colonial era. Most of these journeys are slow, substantially expensive, and structured around the rail experience itself rather than as transport between destinations. The format suits a particular kind of traveller, and the question is which trains suit which trips.
This piece is a working guide to the private and semi-private luxury rail journeys currently operating in Asia, from the Maharajas’ Express across northern India to the Seven Stars in Kyushu in southern Japan, with the relevant scheduling, format and price information.
Why rail luxury makes sense in Asia
Asian rail luxury has several structural advantages over comparable offerings elsewhere. The continent contains some of the world’s most varied scenery within rail-accessible distances. The colonial-era infrastructure left behind reasonable mainline networks even in countries where rail use has declined. Local labour costs make the genuinely high staff-to-guest ratios that define luxury rail economically sustainable. And the cultural and culinary depth of the regions traversed gives the operators substantial material for shore excursions, tasting menus and onboard programming.
The economics are different from European rail luxury (the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, the Glacier Express, the Trans-Siberian operations) because the Asian operators typically run longer itineraries with smaller groups at higher per-night rates. A typical Asian luxury rail journey runs four to seven nights at rates of 5,000 to 18,000 USD per person, depending on operator and itinerary.
The Eastern and Oriental Express
The Eastern and Oriental Express, operated by Belmond (the LVMH-owned luxury hospitality group), runs the most internationally recognised luxury rail journey in Southeast Asia. The train was relaunched in 2024 after the COVID-era hiatus with a refreshed interior and a revised route focused on Malaysia.
The current core itinerary is a four-night journey starting and ending in Singapore, running north through the Malay Peninsula with overnight stops at Penang and the Cameron Highlands. The train consists of restored pullman cars in the original 1990s livery, redesigned with input from designer Wimberly Interiors. The dining programme is led by chef André Chiang, a Singaporean culinary figure with substantial international recognition.
Rates start around 4,500 USD per person for the four-night itinerary in standard cabins, with presidential suites running considerably higher. Bookings typically need to be made six to twelve months in advance for peak season departures.
India: the four major operations
India has the densest concentration of luxury rail operations in Asia, with four major trains running parallel itineraries across the northern subcontinent. Each has somewhat different positioning and price points.
The Maharajas’ Express
The Maharajas’ Express is the most internationally marketed Indian luxury train, operating since 2010 under IRCTC (the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation). The train runs five primary itineraries, ranging from three to seven nights, with the seven-night « Indian Splendour » route covering Delhi, Agra, Ranthambhore, Jaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Mumbai as the most comprehensive offering.
The train operates with two presidential suites and a range of cabin categories down to standard double cabins. Rates run from approximately 5,200 USD per person for the three-night itinerary up to 23,000 USD for the seven-night route in presidential suites.
The Palace on Wheels
The Palace on Wheels, operating since 1982, is the longest-running of the Indian luxury trains. The train is operated by the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation and focuses primarily on Rajasthan itineraries, with weekly departures from Delhi covering Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. The format is somewhat older and the rates somewhat lower than the Maharajas’ Express, but the route depth across Rajasthan is unmatched.
The Deccan Odyssey and Golden Chariot
The Deccan Odyssey covers Maharashtra and the western coast, while the Golden Chariot runs across southern India. Both are slightly less internationally marketed than the northern routes but offer similar luxury standards at slightly lower rates, and access regions of India that the Rajasthan-focused trains do not visit.
Japan: Seven Stars in Kyushu
The Seven Stars in Kyushu, operated by Kyushu Railway Company since 2013, is widely considered the most refined of the Asian luxury rail operations. The train runs only on the Kyushu network, the southernmost of Japan’s main islands, with itineraries of two and four nights. The two-night itinerary departs Hakata station, runs through Nagasaki and Aso, and returns. The four-night itinerary covers a more extensive loop including Yufuin, Beppu, Kagoshima and Miyazaki.
The train’s design, by Eiji Mitooka, is widely studied as one of the more accomplished works of contemporary luxury train interior design. The fourteen suites blend Japanese craft tradition with European train conventions in a register that other operators have since attempted to copy.
The Seven Stars operates on a lottery system; demand consistently exceeds supply, and travellers without local representation often find it difficult to secure bookings. Rates run from approximately 1,700 USD per person per night for standard suites up to substantially more for larger configurations.
Train Suite Shiki-shima
The Train Suite Shiki-shima, operated by JR East and launched in 2017, runs on the eastern Japanese network with itineraries primarily in Tohoku and Hokkaido. The train was designed by Ken Okuyama (whose other work includes the Ferrari Enzo and the new Maserati GranTurismo). The Shiki-shima offers a more architecturally radical design than the Seven Stars, with a glass-walled lounge car at each end of the train.
Rates and booking conditions are similar to the Seven Stars; both trains operate on lottery systems with substantial advance booking.
Vietnam: the Vietage
The Vietage, launched in 2019 by the hotel group Anantara, operates a single-day rail experience between Da Nang and Quy Nhon along the central Vietnamese coast. The train consists of two carriages with twelve seats and a small dining and lounge area. The format is shorter than the multi-night operations of the larger trains, but the route covers some of Vietnam’s most spectacular coastal scenery.
Rates for the day journey run approximately 700 to 900 USD per person depending on direction and season. The Vietage is often booked as part of a longer Vietnam itinerary that includes Anantara properties at the route’s endpoints.
Thailand and Malaysia
Beyond the Eastern and Oriental Express, several smaller operators run luxury rail experiences in Thailand and Malaysia. The State Railway of Thailand has operated the Northern Star and Southern Star tourist services with substantially upgraded carriages on heritage routes. Malaysia’s Keretapi Tanah Melayu runs occasional luxury charter services. None of these match the Eastern and Oriental in scale or sustained operation, but they offer somewhat lower-priced alternatives for travellers willing to accept a less polished experience.
China: emerging luxury operations
China’s high-speed rail network, the largest in the world, has not historically supported luxury operations, but several private-charter services have begun in recent years. The Shangri-La Express, a private operator running occasional luxury charters between Kunming and Lhasa, is the most established. Booking is somewhat more complicated than in other regions due to permit requirements for travel into Tibet.
Choosing the right train
Several practical considerations help match the train to the traveller. Travellers prioritising scenic content typically prefer the Japanese operations or the Vietnamese coastal route. Travellers prioritising cultural and historical content typically prefer the Indian or Malaysian operations. Travellers wanting the deepest level of train-as-destination experience often choose the Seven Stars, which offers the most refined onboard experience and the most thoughtful integration with shore programming.
The duration of stay matters as well. The Vietage is essentially a single-day experience and pairs well with a longer hotel-based trip. The Seven Stars two-night and Eastern and Oriental four-night itineraries can be the central element of a Southeast Asia trip without dominating it. The seven-night Indian operations are substantial commitments that typically anchor the trip rather than supplementing it.
What luxury rail does well
The honest case for luxury rail, as distinct from luxury hotels or resort travel, is that the format provides movement through landscape at a pace that other transport modes do not match. The traveller is neither walking (too slow for substantial geographic coverage) nor flying (too fast for landscape engagement) nor driving (which requires attention to driving rather than to scenery). The train allows extended observation of changing landscape with the level of comfort that allows the observation to be sustained.
The format suits travellers who value continuity of place over the punctuated arrivals of hotel-based travel. The geographic experience is gradual rather than discrete: the rice paddies become tea plantations become forest become coast over hours, rather than being separate destinations.
Onboard programming and dining: how the Asian operators differ
One of the most distinctive features of Asian luxury rail is the depth of onboard programming, which generally exceeds what European luxury rail offers. The Maharajas’ Express runs evening cultural programmes with regional musicians and dancers from each Indian state the train passes through, with several artists boarding for specific evening performances and disembarking the next morning. The Seven Stars operates with a smaller programme but includes guided tea ceremonies, Japanese cultural workshops and evening tastings of Kyushu sake from the small breweries the train serves.
The Eastern and Oriental Express has historically run a distinctive evening programme that includes a piano bar performance, multi-course dinners and curated wine pairings. The 2024 relaunch added a dedicated cocktail programme led by a Singapore-based bar consultant, and the chef André Chiang’s culinary direction has produced one of the most distinctive luxury rail dining programmes currently operating in Asia. The dinner format on the Eastern and Oriental typically runs seven to nine courses with paired wines, served across the dining cars over approximately two and a half hours.
Dining quality across the Asian luxury operators varies more than the rates would suggest. The Seven Stars in Kyushu and the Train Suite Shiki-shima in Japan operate at consistently high culinary standards because the regions they traverse have particularly strong food cultures and the railways have invested heavily in chef partnerships. The Eastern and Oriental’s relaunched programme is similarly strong. The Indian operators serve good but more conventional luxury hotel-style cuisine; the Vietage’s culinary programme is competent but constrained by the single-day format.
The Belmond network: comparative considerations
Belmond, owned by LVMH since 2019, operates several of the world’s most established luxury rail operations including the Eastern and Oriental in Asia, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in Europe, the British Pullman in the UK, and the Andean Explorer in Peru. For travellers considering luxury rail across multiple regions, Belmond’s repeat-traveller programmes and combined itineraries offer some logistical advantages.
The Belmond Royal Scotsman, while not in Asia, represents the company’s reference operation and is worth comparing in style and standard. Travellers who have experienced one Belmond train have a useful baseline for the others. The Eastern and Oriental in particular has been described by repeat Belmond travellers as the most adventurous of the company’s operations, given the cultural distance between the European-derived format and the Southeast Asian context.
Misconceptions about Asian luxury rail
Several common misconceptions distort how Asian luxury rail is discussed. The first is that the format is primarily about transport. It is not. Asian luxury rail journeys typically run shorter geographic distances than the rates would suggest, with substantial time spent at stations or stationary at scenic locations. The Seven Stars, for example, often parks at scenic spots for several hours during sunrise or sunset, and the Indian operators schedule overnight stops to allow passengers to sleep without train movement disturbing rest. The format is closer to a moving hotel than to genuine intercity transport.
The second misconception is that Asian luxury rail is a substantially less expensive alternative to European luxury rail. The price points overlap considerably. Per-night rates on the Eastern and Oriental Express, the Seven Stars and the Maharajas’ Express in suite accommodations all rival the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in their highest categories. The savings, where they exist, are mostly in the broader trip cost (regional flights, accommodation between rail journeys) rather than in the rail rates themselves.
The third is that Asian luxury rail is poorly suited to Western travellers unfamiliar with the regions traversed. The opposite is closer to the truth. The operators have specifically designed their programming to accommodate first-time visitors to the regions, with substantial cultural framing, English-language guides, Western-adapted dining options alongside regional cuisine, and standard luxury-travel infrastructure throughout. The cultural barrier to entry is, if anything, lower than for independent travel in the same regions.
The fourth misconception is that all the Asian luxury operators offer broadly similar experiences. They do not. The differences between the Indian, Japanese, Southeast Asian and Vietnamese operations are substantial in design philosophy, programming depth, dining standards, and traveller demographics. The Indian operators tend to attract larger international travel groups, the Japanese operators draw substantial domestic Japanese clientele alongside international travellers, and the Eastern and Oriental in particular attracts a notable European luxury repeat-traveller cohort.
Booking strategy: when to commit
The booking landscape for Asian luxury rail has tightened substantially since the post-pandemic recovery. The most popular departures (October to March on the Indian operators, autumn and spring on the Japanese trains, October to February on the Eastern and Oriental) typically sell out 9 to 14 months in advance. Specific room categories — particularly presidential suites and the larger cabin types — sell out earlier still.
For travellers planning their first Asian luxury rail trip, the practical advice is to commit early on the specific train and itinerary, even if other trip elements are still flexible. Most operators will hold dates with deposit only and allow the surrounding logistics (flights, hotel pre- and post-journey, regional excursions) to be planned later. The reverse approach — building the rest of the trip first and adding rail dates later — frequently runs into availability problems with the rail segment.
Specialist travel agents with established relationships with the operators can sometimes secure availability that direct booking cannot. The agencies most active in Asian luxury rail include Abercrombie & Kent for the Indian and Southeast Asian routes, Inside Japan and Japan Holidays for the Japanese trains, and Audley Travel for combined itineraries across the region.
Further reading
For broader context on luxury rail history, the Wikipedia entry on luxury trains provides historical background. The UNESCO heritage citations for several of the rail-accessible Asian sites are worth consulting before travel. The New York Times Travel long-form luxury rail coverage includes recent reviews and operational updates for most of the trains discussed above. Our archive on rail journeys is at croisières & itinéraires, with broader destination material at destinations d’exception, and a separate thread on slow travel covering rail and small-ship cruise experiences in more depth.
This article is for informational purposes; rail operations change schedules, routes and rates frequently, so verify current information directly with the operators or through specialist agents before booking.