Health Track·Organic Spa Magazine

Luxury train travel promises to add health and other wellness benefits to an already peak experience.

In a 2009 ad for Chanel perfume, French actress Audrey Tautou, wearing a silk nightgown and holding a bottle of classic perfume, wanders the corridors of Venice's Simplon-Orient-Express, flirting with a handsome fellow passenger who follows her through the train's terminal, Istanbul's ornate turn-of-the-century terminus.

Since the re-opening of the Orient Express in 1982, the romance and luxury on vintage trains have been a longing for travelers. Agatha Christie's dastardly behavior among champagne-sipping celebrities aside, Chanel's ad summed up the feeling perfectly: mystery, romance, flowing silk nightgown and expensive perfume.

Belmond (which changed its name from Hotel Orient-Express to Belmond in 2014) has the royal equivalent of vintage trains in its portfolio: the classic Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, Orient & Orient-Express (E&O), Belmond Andes Explorer, Belmond Royal Scotsman and the upcoming Belmond Britannia Explorer (due to debut in 2025).

What could add a sense of entitlement and luxury aboard the world's vintage and vintage style trains?

“Health has become an increasing focus for our passengers and is an important part of the Orient Express experience,” said Win Min, General Manager of Belmond Orient Express. “Dior Spa Orient & Orient Express invites our guests to relax and rejuvenate after a few days exploring the lush mountains and verdant jungles of Southeast Asia. The spa's luxurious treatments draw inspiration from the refined art of Asian beauty rituals, combining traditional Asian techniques with the richness and knowledge of Dior experts to create personalized wellness experiences for our guests.”

Belmond started the Dior Spa concept in a pop-up shop on the Venice Simplon-Orient Express. The company then launched dedicated spa services on the Orient Express (which has been redesigned and returned to service in 2024 after a four-year COVID-19 hiatus) and the Royal Scotsman, offering treatments outside the train windows in the picturesque Scottish Highlands.

E & O's treatments have two main Malaysia-centric itineraries: “Essence of Malaysia” and “Wild Malaysia” (which start and end in Singapore, avoiding the previous trek through Thailand), centered around Asian wellness traditions.

“Well-being has become a our priorities Guests are the key part experience Orient and Orient Express. ”

—Win Min, General Manager, Belmond Orient Express

Guests will enter a dedicated reception area that can be expanded into two treatment rooms, each designed to blend Dior's trademark style with inspiration from Malaysia, where the furniture is embellished with the iconic Toile de Jouy print, showcasing a tiger, as a tribute to Malaysia's sacred tiger.

The new wellness menu on board the train includes customized treatments designed by Dior wellness experts.

The signature treatment, D-Jungle, is a unique Asian-inspired face and body treatment that is a head-to-toe rhythmic deep muscle massage using stretching techniques and targeting specific energy points. Other treatments include the relaxing Zodiac Massage, designed to combine multiple massage techniques to relieve tension in the body. D Tissue Massage uses deep, slow, soothing movements to focus on relieving muscle pain.

Non-Dior spas on the Belmond range include the Picaflor Spa Carriage on the Belmond Andean Explorer in Peru, where treatments include local ingredients designed to combat high-altitude issues, and the upcoming Spa Carriage on the new Britannic Explorer, which will find a home in dedicated wellness suites and spa carriages in partnership with major British skincare and wellness brand Wildsmith. The newly opened line will also feature a botanical-themed bar, where travelers can sip a tonic while admiring the scenery of the Lake District and Welsh mountains.

While Belmond masters the health benefits of retro travel, other train experiences offer peak life experiences that enhance health.

In Santa Fe, George R.R. Martin (author of “Game of Thrones”), Bill Banofsky, Douglas Preston and artist Gary Oakley have joined forces to save vintage train cars from the Santa Fe Southern Railroad, which once transported luminaries like Theodore Roosevelt and Robert Oppenheimer.

“Traveling by train is about seeing nature, people, towns, churches, rivers, and actually life.”

–Agatha Christie, author of “Murder on the Orient Express”

The 141-year-old train line, now known as Skytrain (most recently seen in a scene with Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon in Christopher Nolan's “Oppenheimer”), brings new life to the old train atmosphere. Their new Stargazer experience allows guests to board a beautifully restored carriage and venture onto an open platform to explore New Mexico’s night sky with local astronomers. The train line also recently debuted the New Mexico Wine Train, which departs the vintage train station at sunset and ventures into the sagebrush wilderness as the sun sets and local New Mexico wine is poured. There are also local talents providing musical accompaniment. SkyTrain also features the Margarita Railway, Outlaw and Burlesque Express.

Spa-centric Santa Fe is a great place to spend the day recuperating (Four Seasons, Bishop Inn, 10,000 Waves), then venture along the rails for a pinnacle experience that enhances wellness through nature, food, entertainment, celebrities and flowing wine and tequila.

While Europe and the United States are home to some of the most famous luxury rail experiences, India is home to a Raj-era railway through Rajasthan that was a major inspiration for Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited.

Palace on Wheels departs from New Delhi and tours Rajasthan from Jaipur to Agra in 8 days. The train has its own spa carriage (which preceded Belmond's Dior carriage with little fanfare), offering Ayurvedic treatments to clients from the land where Ayurveda and yoga were invented.

Other trains that don't have spa treatments but offer retro travel fun, as well as stops that offer wellness experiences at local hotels, include Canada's Rocky Mountain Light (Lake Louise and Banff are both on the tracks) and Australia's Ghan, which bisects the continent from Adelaide to Darwin. The train was called “Ghan” because it passed through the inland desert, which was previously only possible by Afghan workers bringing two camels from home.

Journeys on this train include stops in the outback, and the adventurous can hop aboard one of the desert ships and experience the journey for themselves. The carriage has a vintage style and is designed for comfort. As Belmond continues its push for on-board wellness, it may only be a matter of time before these classic journeys offer their own dedicated wellness vans.

For those who prefer wellness-inspired virtual train travel, you can’t go wrong with wellness app Calm’s ASMR train, traveling through Ireland with conductor Cillian Murphy.

One of Calm's most popular sleep and relaxation meditations, “Training Through Ireland” will lower your heart rate with Murphy's gentle musings and the sounds of a vintage train traveling through the fairy-tale landscapes of Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way.

Agatha Christie, author of Murder on the Orient Express, once declared, “To travel by train is to see nature and people, towns and churches, rivers, and indeed to see life.” As trains like Belmond's Vintage Line and George R. Martin's Skytrain add more and more life-enhancing health and life-enhancing adventures to their tracks, Christie is delighted to see that her words remain so true.