The first thing to come into one’s mind when mentioning great voyages is the sad yet at the same time grand Titanic. There is another legend that actually deserves a place in the spotlight—the Orient Express. For more than one hundred years, this was the epitome of timeless elegance, opulence, and unrivaled travel style.
The Orient Express was considerably more than a simple train—it was an experience. Founded in 1883 by the Belgian company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, better known as CIWL, The Orient Express connected all the great European cities and rebuilt the bridges across the cultural and geographical divide between Western and Eastern Europe with its route from Paris to Istanbul.
No ordinary train; it whisks the diplomats, royalties, and elite into a world of rarefied luxury. The real showpieces of design, carriages, were richly paneled in wood and upholstered in plush. The facilities on board gave five-star hotel treatment to the voyagers with sleeping coaches, fine dining restaurants, elegant salons, and a bar serving only the finest beverages.
A Journey through History
By the 1930s, the name Orient Express had assumed connotations of sumptuous travel. The Orient Express was more than transportation; it was a playhouse for the wealthy and famous. It was its romance that lured in writers, artists, and dreamers, to which Agatha Christie eternally set it with Murder on the Orient Express.
World War II stopped the train from running between 1939 and 1945, and the post-war landscape of Europe finally rearranged its routes. And though it took up business once again, new technology started to eclipse its glory with speedier and more efficient ways.
The original Orient Express route from Paris to Istanbul gradually shifted, initially to Bucharest, then to Budapest, and finally to Strasbourg. By 2009, the original Orient Express was gone from Europe’s railway map.
A New Era for an Icon in Time
But the story did not end there. In 2021, House Belmond brought the train back, this time with restorations of CIWL carriages. Maybe the Venice Simplon-Orient Express is not, in the strictest possible sense, the “original”; the exact spirit of refinement it carries within is there. Running three times a week between Venice and Paris, the train is a glance backward to that golden era of rail travel.
Today’s passengers get to experience the same kind of magic as that of a century ago, through exquisitely restored carriages and an emphasis on luxury to keep the lifeblood of the train alive.
Orient Express in Popular Culture
Just like the Titanic, the Orient Express has had a lingering effect on popular culture, inspiring enough books, movies, and games—most famously Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express—to fill a small library with the ideal setup for intrigue and drama.
The Legacy of Elegance
The Orient Express was more than a train—it was the symbol of an age when the journey was at least as important as the destination, an age in which craftsmanship, style, and leisure could be honorably combined.
Although the original Orient Express no longer runs, its spirit lives on—not just through the Venice Simplon-Orient Express but in all the stories and nostalgia it still provokes. Among dreamers of timeless elegance on rails, the Orient Express stands out as an enduring icon of luxury and history.
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Writer
Fazlul Karim
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE