Luxury Train Travel Is Entering Another Golden Age

This has been a “record-breaking” year for rail bookings

One day in early September, Andrew Channell had his coffee watching the sunrise as he cruised through the Peruvian Andes at about 14,000 feet above sea level. He was aboard the exclusive Andean Explorer, which carries a maximum of 70 guests in 32 cabins. It was a trip that confirmed many of the reasons he believes travel by train is having a moment: “With rail, the journey is the journey,” Channell tells me. “It’s not just about recreating some historic epic. It’s about slowing down and enjoying every moment.”

A lot of people seem to be getting on board, too. Railbookers, where Channell is senior vice president of product, describes 2024 as “record-breaking” for sales, which are up 30% year over year. Luxury journeys, in particular, have seen a 43% increase compared to 2023. “That massive increase isn’t just in one place, either. It’s not driven by any one destination or any one campaign,” he observes. “It’s driven by demand for these types of experiences all over the place.”

In the post-pandemic era, Railbookers attribute the uptick to a desire for connecting with destinations in ways only trains can do. “That sense of specialness, exclusivity, rarity, and [of something] once-in-a-lifetime—that’s what’s driving it,” Channell says. This generation of sleeper trains take the typical displeasure of getting from one place to another—and, clearly, flying is often the more stressful part of any trip—and makes it pleasurable. “It comes down to enjoying the entirety of your journey from end to end.”

That growth extends beyond the typically affluent demographics to a group dubbed by Matt Foy, Railbookers’ senior director of rail and transportation, as “the little-bit-of-luxury traveler.” These travelers are tacking luxury rail segments onto an otherwise moderately priced vacation, he explains: “Post-pandemic, the demand for ‘the little bit of luxury’ has increased and is on an ever-upward curve.”

The demand isn’t new, but these kinds of journeys are on more and more people’s bucket lists. This certainly includes iconic journeys such as South Africa’s Rovos Rail, Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer, and India’s Maharajas’ Express. Increasingly, the focus is also on newer lines that take travelers to destinations previously unvisited by luxury trains, from South America and rural Japan to new roundtrip itineraries slowly weaving around Italy.