A Timeless Journey: Venice To Paris On The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

At the culmination of 24 magical hours on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, I am left with memories of fern-green velvet, gleaming marquetry and vintage Dom Perignon. Of gold-trimmed, peaked caps, soft lights and caviar, cocktails and sure-fingered melodies from the glossy piano in Bar Car ‘3674’. A mille-feuille of pleasures aboard century-old carriages of navy blue, which shook, rattled and rolled through a winter landscape from the watery beauty of Venice at one end, to the white-frosted grandeur of Paris at the other.  

Rooted in the 19th century, when the original Orient Express launched in 1883, with historic carriages restored and renovated from the 20th, it seems extraordinary that the Venice Simplon-Orient Express is as talked about in the 21st century, as it was back then. Endlessly sought after, it tops many people’s bucket list, ticks the trend for slow travel, takes the moral high ground with its low carbon footprint and fits the bill for the experiential travel that today’s luxury traveller seeks.

All Aboard The Venice Simplon-Orient Express

On top of that, there is a definite magic to it, that eludes description. Part of it is undoubtedly the mostly Italian staff who, as only the Italians can, unashamedly flaunt their charm, but always remain on the right side of friendly.  ‘You have to be a personality to work on this train’, Manager Massimo Paganello (who has been with it for decades and evidently loves it like his own child), told me, ‘It is not for everyone’.  But it was for Jacobo, our endearingly diffident cabin steward, who, like many, sported a petite handlebar moustache (a nod to Poirot?) and wore his uniform with pride. ‘A year ago, I was working in a cosmetics factory in Venice’, he told my daughter and me as he brought in our tiered tea tray with savoury and sweet tartlets and cakes to tide us over until dinner. ‘But joining the VSOE has totally changed my life for the better’. He stood still for a moment, reflecting, behind a beam that outshone his moustache. 

Then there was Marco in the dining car who almost danced between the tables, plates up and his down his arms, he moved so fast. Two sittings, twice a day and a tiny kitchen which sends out dishes like Bresse chicken with chanterelles at lunch, lobster thermidor at dinner and breakfasts of scrambled eggs with black truffle. I did feel like dancing, when I read the menu – it was the first time I have seen a Breakfast Wellness Menu which started with ‘A glass of Veuve Clicquot Brut’.

The Bucket List

But that is the point, really. You are in a different world. Of course there are longer trips; from Paris to Budapest, to Bucharest to Istanbul, or from Paris to Vienna or Prague (and this Spring, Belmond launch villeggiatura by train, a very desirable new route from Venice to the Amalfi coast with a stop for a guided tour to Pompeii), where perhaps it is different, but for those 24 hours it felt like we were in a parallel reality. That we had stepped through the wardrobe into a gilded existence where the world shimmered with happiness and harmony, edged but not fuelled, by champagne.  

For many of the passengers this was a trip of their lifetime. Planned and saved for. For others a rite of passage. There were young couples who got engaged, old couples celebrating anniversaries and friends and families on birthday bashes.

‘Everyone comes aboard with respect for the train’, Massimo told me, and its history deserves it. From Sleeping Car 3309 which got stuck in a snowdrift for 10 days in 1929 (which must have been the inspiration for Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, published in 1934) to Sleeping Car 3425 in which King Carol of Romania escaped his homeland with his mistress in 1940. To walk these corridors is to feel the history, as much part of the train as the Lalique panels in dining car 4141, or the exquisite marquetry in the L’Oriental Restaurant Car.

After a dinner which started with Petrossian Caviar and blinis, accompanied by vintage Dom Perignon and finished with a tray of exquisitely ripe French cheeses, many cocktails (try their signature Venice to Paris with Aperol and champagne) and songs sung in the Bar Car, we wound our way back to our suite.

Jacopo had been in and converted our sofas to beds, a perfect turn down, illuminated by the soft light of the bedside lamps. On the bed lay a card, where under ‘Sweet Dreams’, Jacopo had written: Now the magic of the train is inside your heart and I hope it will stay there forever.

Where To Stay In Paris & Venice

While Paulo Coelho might have famously said ‘Life is the train, not the station’, travellers on the VSOE still need to stay somewhere on arrival and before departure. Ensuring there isn’t a huge disparity between experiences, I would recommend the St. Regis in Venice and the Mandarin Oriental Lutetia in Paris to book-end the trip.

The St. Regis is an easy – and insanely beautiful – ride down the Grand Canal to the train station in the morning, setting the bar high. Dating back to the 17th century, it was restored and relaunched in 2022, brimming with a sense of place. Get in the night before to enjoy dinner at Gio’s restaurant where Chef Giuseppe Ricci delivers exquisite dishes from blue lobster with mezzi paccheri in a spicy balsamic sauce to laguna sea bass with chicory and sour anchovy sauce. Take a nightcap afterwards on the terrace of their Arts Bar to watch the moon travel across the dome of Santa Maria della Salute in what has to be one of the world’s most beautiful locations.

Here in a collaboration with Berengo Studios, 12 cocktails (I stopped at three but was impressed by the balance of what I tried, with Canal Art, which included Casamigos Mezcal and home-made artichoke cordial in its mix, my favourite), all inspired by artists, are served in bespoke glassware, highlighting Venice’s glassmaking traditions. As you head upstairs (and just for fun, you should see if you can book into the suite which Emily in Paris, while in Venice stayed in – it is a gorgeous one) have a look at the iridescent crystal chandelier hanging in the Grand Salon. It is Ai Weiwei’s take on the traditional Venetians ones; look closely and you might be surprised.

Alighting at the door of the Lutetia Hotel after arriving in Paris on the VSOE, allows you to remain in an Art Nouveau bubble. Recently incorporated into the Mandarin Oriental group, the Lutetia in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, is the only palace hotel on Paris’s Left Bank, immediately recognisable by its undulating façade. A major renovation from 2014 to 2018 by Jean-Michel Wilmotte restored the hotel’s iconic décor, the sweet spot where Art Nouveau meets Art Deco. Frescoes, stained glass, mosaics and sculptures were restored by dedicated artisans, Statuario marble, bronze, Murano glass and eucalyptus wood were crafted to be part of Lutetia’s new chapter, alongside Art Deco-inspired furniture designed by the Wilmotte agency and custom made for the hotel by Poltrona Frau, among others. Stop at the Bar Joséphine for a drink, its walls covered with floor to ceiling frescoes, indulge in authentic, and sensational, brasserie food – think snails, frog’s legs, steak tartare (with a dollop of caviar) sole Meunière and a melt-in-the-mouth chocolate mousse at Brasserie Lutetia – and collapse into the most luxurious of beds, which come – of course – with monogrammed pillows.

BOOK:

To book a journey on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond train, visit belmond.com

Historic cabins on the Venice to Paris journey start at £3,530 pp | St. Regis Venice, st-regis-venice doubles from £780 approx | Mandarin Oriental Lutetia, mandarinoriental.com doubles from £1,225.