Luxury Train Travel Through Europe: From Thalys Première to the Orient Express

€85 for Première to Paris. €3,500 for one night on the Orient Express. That's the spectrum of luxury train travel through Europe, and honestly, I had no idea for a long time just how broad that spectrum really is. Most Belgian travellers I know think of "the train" as the IC to Antwerp or Ghent, not champagne at sunset somewhere in the Alps.

Yet the market for premium train travel in Europe grows by roughly 8 to 12 percent each year, depending on which report you read. The explanation isn't that complicated: train travel is more comfortable, more sustainable than flying for short distances, and the experience en route is incomparable to what you see from seat 23B at 10,000 metres altitude.

The question for me was: what exactly do you get for your money? And can you book those luxury train experiences more smartly if you're already working with a points system? That's what I set out to find out.

Eurostar Première and Business Premier: the logical choice from Brussels

Let me start with the most accessible luxury train experience for Belgian travellers. From Brussels-South, Eurostar trains depart daily to London, Paris and Amsterdam. The former Thalys has been fully merged into Eurostar since 2023, but the service in the Première class on the continental routes has largely remained the same.

Eurostar Première on the Brussels-Paris route costs, depending on when you book, between €85 and €180 one way. For that amount you get a more spacious seat, a light meal, drinks included, and access to the Eurostar Lounge at Brussels-South. That lounge is, to be honest, not spectacular. Comfortable enough, a few newspapers, coffee and juice, but don't expect a champagne bar. It's functional.

Business Premier on the London route is a different story. There you'll quickly pay €200 to €350 one way, but you get a fully flexible ticket in return, a meal that's a good deal better than the Première equivalent, and lounge access in both Brussels and London. The seats are wider, and you can check in 30 minutes before departure instead of the usual 60 minutes for other classes. That really makes a difference on a busy Thursday morning.

The calculation I made for myself: if you already have the Eurostar Lounge via your Priority Pass (which comes with the Amex Platinum), then the advantage of Première is smaller than you'd think. You're mainly paying for the seat and the meal. Business Premier to London remains worth the premium for me, but that's mainly because of the flexibility. I've already missed my train twice due to traffic on the E40. With Business Premier you simply book the next one.

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express: is €3,500 per night worth the investment?

Now the other extreme. The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express by Belmond is perhaps the most famous luxury train journey in the world. The classic route runs from London or Paris to Venice, but there are also variants to Vienna, Prague, Geneva and Istanbul. A few times a year the train departs from Calais, meaning as a Belgian you're on the platform via a short Eurostar connection.

Prices for 2026 start at around €3,500 per person for a Twin Cabin (the entry-level class, so to speak) for one night. That includes all meals and drinks on board. The Grand Suite, with its own bathroom and living area, easily costs €8,000 to €12,000 per person per night. You read that correctly. Per person.

What do you get for that? Restored art-deco carriages from the 1920s and 1930s. A five-course dinner in style, with a dress code (yes, it's cocktail attire). Breakfast is served in your cabin. The service is impeccable. And the scenery gliding past, from the Swiss Alps to the Italian lakes, is indeed spectacular.

But let me be honest: for the price of two people in a Grand Suite, you could also book two weeks at a five-star resort through the Fine Hotels + Resorts programme. The Orient Express is not a "good deal". It's an experience, a bucket-list item. If you approach it that way, it can be worth every euro. If you apply a cost-efficiency analysis to it, you'll cry.

What is interesting for readers of this blog: paying for such a train journey with your Amex Platinum earns you 1 point per euro at the standard earning rate. On a booking of €7,000 that's 7,000 points. Not nothing, but not spectacular either. If you activate the Booster option (4 points per euro for €10/month), that becomes 28,000 points. That's already considerably more attractive, and you immediately have the Amex travel insurance covering the booking.

Lesser-known luxury train routes that are worth it

Between the Eurostar Première and the Orient Express lies an entire world of premium train journeys that receive less attention but sometimes offer a better value-for-money ratio. I've investigated a few of them.

For all these journeys the same principle applies: paying with your Amex Platinum earns you points on that booking, and the built-in travel insurance covers your booking automatically. No foreign exchange fees when you pay in pounds or Swiss francs, which for train travel outside the eurozone is a real advantage. For a route like the Caledonian Sleeper in GBP, that easily saves you 1.5 to 2% compared to a card that does charge foreign exchange fees.

Booking smarter: points, timing and the role of your credit card

The big question I always get from readers: can you book luxury train travel with Membership Rewards points? The short answer: yes, but the value varies.

Eurostar tickets can be booked via the Membership Rewards travel portal. The value you get per point fluctuates around 0.8 to 1.0 cents per point. That's honestly not the best valorisation of your points. If you transfer the same points to an airline partner and redeem them for a business class flight, you often get 1.5 to 2.5 cents per point. But if you have points that you're not going to use for flights anyway, then an Eurostar booking via the portal is absolutely a fine option.

Another route: transfer your Membership Rewards to Avios (British Airways/Iberia) or Flying Blue (Air France-KLM). Eurostar is a partner of both programmes. Eurostar Première Brussels-Paris costs via Avios around 6,000 to 8,000 Avios + taxes. Membership Rewards transfer to Avios at a 1:1 ratio, so 8,000 MR points become 8,000 Avios. That's a decent deal if the alternative is €150 in cash.

Regarding timing: book luxury train tickets as early as possible. Eurostar Première tickets are cheapest 3 to 4 months in advance. The Orient Express sometimes sells out routes 8 to 10 months in advance, especially the popular Venice routes in spring and late summer. The Nightjet Deluxe cabins are limited in number (sometimes only 4 per train), so early booking pays off there too.

And a practical tip: if you take the Eurostar from Brussels, the Fast Lane security at Brussels Airport gives you no advantage (you're departing from Brussels-South after all). But if you combine a train journey with a flight, for example Eurostar to London and then onward to a long-haul destination from Heathrow, then the Amex Platinum becomes a lot more relevant. Lounge access at London St Pancras via Priority Pass, lounge access at Heathrow, and your entire trip insured.

The honest cost comparison: luxury train versus flying from Belgium

Because I like to think in numbers, I've compared three routes side by side for Belgian travellers. Each time the comparison between luxury train and business class flying.

What strikes me: for destinations up to about 4 hours of travel time by train, the luxury train almost always beats flying, both in terms of comfort and total travel time. Beyond that threshold it becomes a trade-off of what matters to you: speed or experience.

And the points game plays a role. If you pay for the train with your Amex Platinum, you earn points on that booking. But if you were to transfer those same points to Brussels Airlines or another partner for a business class flight, you sometimes get more value per point with the flight. It depends on the specific booking. On TravelLux.be I try to make those calculations per route, so you can make the best choice for your situation.

Frequently asked questions about luxury train travel in Europe

Luxury train travel through Europe is, for me, one of the most underrated ways to travel. Not because it's cheap (it isn't always), but because the ratio of comfort, experience and travel time often works out better than flying. Especially for destinations like Paris, London, the Alps and Vienna.

And yes, it helps if you have a card that earns points on those bookings, insures you while travelling, and charges no extra fees when you pay in pounds or francs. Via the TravelLux.be referral link you receive the maximum welcome bonus of 150,000 Membership Rewards points on the American Express Platinum card. That's enough points for multiple Eurostar Première tickets, or a significant contribution towards that Orient Express dream.