Luxury Orient Express train to run new European routes from 2023
The Orient-Express La Dolce Vita from the outside.
With the Orient-Express La Dolce Vita, six extra-class trains will pass selected routes in Italy and connect Rome with Paris, Istanbul and Split internationally from 2023.
The tug-of-war for the most exciting, beautiful and luxurious rail journeys in Europe is on: In competition with the Belmond Group's Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, French hotel group Accor is launching La Dolce Vita Orient-Express, six luxury tourist trains, from 2023.
The Orient-Express La Dolce Vita is to make it possible to experience Italy's most beautiful places and landscapes along historic routes and symbolic destinations. Which ones these will be is still partly kept secret. But vague statements such as the Alps, architectural monuments, rural idylls and paradisiacal beach settings have already been confirmed. The train is to travel through Bella Italia on a total of 16,000 kilometres of track, 7000 kilometres of which are not electrified. This is where nostalgia and luxury meet.
Luxury on the Orient Express La Dolce Vita on the European Journey
Six converted and restored trains from the 1970s make up the fleet of the Orient-Express La Dolce Vita. The luxury trains are equipped to meet the highest demands and designed by the Milan design studio Dimorestudio in the look of the 1960s and 1970s. And the service on board is also supposed to offer a lot. Renowned chefs and sommeliers will offer travellers five-star service: They want to pamper the palate with exquisite wines and exclusive haute cuisine.
This is where guests will be served top gastronomy from 2023.
Orient-Express La Dolce Vita to also serve Paris, Istanbul and Split
Accommodation also promises to be quite luxurious - whether in one of the twelve de-luxe cabins or in a suite (18 suites and one prestige suite have been announced). And this offer is to be experienced beyond the borders of Italy. For from Rome , the Orient Express La Dolce Vita will also call at Paris, Istanbul and Split.
Travelling in the luxury class: The Orient-Express offers suites that leave nothing to be desired.
"These trains offer a new vision of luxury travel beyond our imagination," says Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO of Accor, about the luxury train project. From 2024, the environmentally friendly nostalgia trip in the design train will be extended by another highlight. Then, the first Orient-Express-Hotel Minerva is planned to open in Rome, which will expand the Orient-Express adventure as a stopover.
Rolling legend with a special charm
Whoever boards the train embarks on a luxury journey with the charm of times gone by - just as with the rival Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. The original has been running on Europe's train routes since 1883. After wars, revolutions and a cessation of service following extensive restoration work, the train resumed service in 1982.
After the restoration, the first journey of the "new" Orient Express took it from London via Paris to Venice. Since then, the blue-and-gold-painted train has once again offered numerous journeys on Europe's rail network.
New routes were added in 2021: the journeys took in Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium and, for the first time, the Netherlands. New departure points included Rome, Florence, Geneva, Brussels and Amsterdam.