Luxury train travel is experiencing a boom: with sold-out trips, soaring demand, and waitlists stretching into the thousands. Once a niche offering, the industry now draws affluent travelers looking for unique, slow-paced experiences. Here’s an inside look at what’s fueling this resurgence and what’s behind the eye-popping price tags – including Railbookers’ 59-day, $124,000 around-the-world itinerary. 


 Luxury Train Travel Is Booming — Here’s Why Travelers Are Paying Over $100K a Ticket

Luxury train travel is seeing a massive boom in popularity. 

Executive_Travel

Here’s an inside look at what’s fueling the luxury train travel boom and what’s behind the eye-popping price tags – including Railbookers’ 59-day, $124,000 around-the-world itinerary. 


Luxury Train Travel Is Booming — Here’s Why Travelers Are Paying Over $100K a Ticket

Luxury train travel is experiencing a boom: with sold-out trips, soaring demand, and waitlists stretching into the thousands. Here’s an inside look at what’s fueling this resurgence and what’s behind the eye-popping price tags. 

Luxury train travel is experiencing a boom: with sold-out trips, soaring demand, and waitlists stretching into the thousands. 

For $124,000 you could fly private or ride a luxury train around the globe. Once considered a nostalgic novelty, high-end rail travel is booming, and it speaks to a larger shift that's happening in the upper reaches of the travel market. Luxury rail is having its moment. Most of our travels are not rail aficionados either. They're just looking for that experience to say, Oh, let's try that by train. Over the last few years, demand for luxury train travel has. Skyrocketed with weightless stretching into the thousands. So as of now going into next year, we have just over 1500 people on the waitlist. But in the era of booming luxury travel, some high-end rail experiences with prices reportedly topping $100,000 a night can feel out of reach compared to other options. Here's what's fueling the growth of luxury train travel and why wealthy passengers are opting for private cabins with curated journeys around the globe. In the late 19th century, luxury trains like Europe's Orient Express defined high society travel. Kings, queens, and master spies all travel in the same opulent surroundings. Now that type of golden age experience is once again drawing wealthy travelers to the rails. So when it comes to luxury travel, the rail itself is the destination. Frank Marini is the CEO of Rail Bookers. The rail-focused tour operator works with various luxury train companies to craft custom end to end rail vacations around the world. We connect luxury rail with hotels, sightseeing, national trains all over the world to customize and personalize any trip for any guest. In the past few years, the company has seen skyrocketing demand. Last year was the best year in the company's history. This year is already the best year in the company's history. Unlike bus tours and flights that simply get you there, rail Booker says luxury train travel makes the journey itself the experience. The train sees places that you can't see by car, by boat. It's also in many cases, your dining experience, your hotel experience, even your social experience. The boom in luxury rail parallels a broader resurgence in train travel. Global passenger numbers have climbed steadily over the past 4 years. We've seen in the past year at least a 65% year over year growth in our luxury rail travel in general. Terry Minson is the president of Intelli Travel, a global host travel agency with over 100,000 members. Rail, luxury rail in particular, used to be a bit of an older, maybe demographic, and I think the demographic has even changed a lot. Seeing a lot of millennial and Gen Z is even wanting to to experience a luxury rail vacation with that bragging rights and it's the sustainability element of our too, which is really appealing to like the millennial and you know Gen Z demographics. In the US alone, Amtrak set an all-time ridership record in 2024, a 15% increase from the previous year. Rail travel prior to COVID was on a growth pattern for many years, and COVID happened, but post that it's extraordinary and it's rocketed, especially in the luxury rail segment, and part of it is how people are valuing life post-COVID. People are not waiting. In 2024, Rail Booker's luxury bookings jumped 55% year over year. The company credits this post-pandemic surge to a renewed appetite for immersive slow travel adventures. Unlike bullet trains that hit nearly 200 MPH, luxury trains intentionally travel at a slower pace. You could have anything from a Michelin style chef on the train. The accommodations are world class, world class entertainment. Luxury rail companies say their amenities are designed to match 5 star standards from private bathrooms with heated floors to personalized service from onboard butlers. So luxury really. Sometimes brings you back to a period of time whether it's getting dressed up in a tuxedo for one night. It's the piano player at the bar playing till the last person leaves at 4 in the morning. They want every aspect to be perfect. Another draw of luxury rail travel is off the beaten path experiences from journeys in the Italian countryside and rural Japan to itineraries in the Peruvian Andes, but they don't come cheap. Rail Booker's 2025 around the world rail journey costs $124,000. The 59 day trip spans more than 20 cities across 12 countries aboard seven different high-end trains. You'd see around the world by cruise. You'd see around the world by private jet, and we kind of brainstormed to say, Well, what about could you do it by rail, and then what about luxury rail? And we put it out there and the demand has been extraordinary, mostly because people didn't know you could actually do it. Throughout the four continent trek, customers can go on a safari in India, cruise the Ganges River, and receive a private tour of the Louvre Museum. As of June 2025, rail Booker said the experience had a waitlist of over 1500 travelers. These customers are definitely well traveled customers. These are not first time travelers. They're looking for unique experiences. Some of the most expensive rail offerings come from Belmont, a luxury hospitality and leisure company. We have a portfolio currently and soon to be 7 trains around the world. Probably the most famous is the Venice Simpler Orient Express. Which has been running since 1982. Belmont's Grand suits are among its most sought after options. A two night journey aboard the Royal Scotsman train starts at around €13,000 per person. When we introduced the Grand Suites, it was pre-pandemic on the Veniceson Orange Express. After our first year, we realized that they were effectively all sold out for the year. They're generally the first to sell. They're the ones that are in demand. We often have waitlists for those on particular journeys, but the luxury rail market's growth extends beyond the ultra wealthy demographics. For two nights on Canada's Rocky Mountaineer train, a standard cabin starts at about $600 US dollars. A big thing that we've seen was what I like to call little luxury. So is this whole group of people who want that little bit of luxury but not the whole luxury. So it may be that two day, one night on the Orient Express. Well, that's their anniversary. That's the bucket list, but then they may continue on to other parts of Italy. So we're seeing much more customization across the board. Still, the luxury travel market is crowded with cruise lines, private jets, and 5 star resorts all vying for a similar demographic of wealthy travelers. I think the impression of rail in particular is that you know you're riding on a rackety old train and you know it's not comfortable and it's really just a means of transportation and it's really changed a lot. I think that the challenge that rail is having is just continuously looking to change that mindset and build better brand awareness. Luxury cruises occupy a similar corner of the market. Premium brands like Regent 7Cs offer global voyages. That start at around $86,000. If you can afford and you want that luxury experience, that Belmont, that $12,000 you know, suite, um, by all means you, you can find it on rail just as much as you can find it on cruise, just as much as you can find it on land as well. And while airlines and cruise lines tend to offer budget friendly tiers to attract a broader audience, luxury rail is embracing a more exclusive approach. Some companies like Belmont are enticing wealthy travelers with pricey upgrades. Because our grand suites were so popular, we really thought that there was a need for, uh, you know, perhaps another level of accommodation. On Belmont's Venice Simp and Orient Express, a night in the observatoire suite reportedly starts at around $100,000. The more than 330 square foot suite is the train's largest accommodation spanning an entire carriage. You have your own private butler, you know, you can have your meals in that compartment or you can go along and have the meals in the restaurant. Actually, the space is yours. Belmont is also expanding its luxury train footprint. It's our new sleeping train which is called the Britannic Explorer. Offering 3 night itineraries to some spectacular scenery throughout England and Wales, I think we're at the beginning of the reboom. I look at different categories that I've seen across the years. Let's say glamping, right? You see things coming in and out, and they come in for a period of time and then people forget what happened to them. But rail travel, I think this is just the beginning.