Literary themed rail trips strictly by the book

Independent bespoke break specialists have sourced high five epic expeditions that speak volumes to bookworms with sense of adventure.

Research reveals over half surveyed travellers are inspired to visit literary attractions.

Tomes have long inspired us to hop aboard globe-trotting trains while trips are always enlivened by trusty paperback to scroll through as landscapes roll by.

Five fave train journeys with literary bent come courtesy of Tailor Made Rail (www.tailormaderail.com / 020 33227741), experts in crafting page-turning itineraries to fire holidaymakers' imaginations, journeying hot on wanderlust heels of beloved authors.

Agatha Christie’s Orient Express: London to Venice

The Venice-Simplon Orient Express will naturally be forever synonymous with Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express, in which Hercule Poirot is called upon to solve a murder on the train heading west from Istanbul.

Christie herself was a frequent and enthusiastic international rail traveller, journeying solo all the way to Baghdad on the Orient Express to visit her second husband Max on his archaeological missions around the Middle East. She was known to travel with her typewriter and described it as “undoubtedly my favourite train.”

You’d be hard pressed to recreate the full extent of her intrepid voyages now for obvious reasons, but you can still ride on her coattails and sample the lavish splendour of the VSOE journey to Venice and back, with a detour via the charming Franco-centric Swiss city of Lausanne.

From £3,099pp, this 5-day luxury rail holiday includes an overnight journey in a twin cabin aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, transfer on arrival from the station to your hotel, 2 nights in Venice and then a return journey to London by train with a night in Lausanne en route.

https://www.tailormaderail.com/itinerary/classic-orient-express-london-to-venice/

The ‘Dracula Express’ to Transylvania and the Black Sea

This journey glides like a stake right through the heart of Transylvania, taking in Romanian capital Bucharest and the countless castles dotted around the cities of Sibiu and Sinaia, with special excursions to visit Peles Castle and, best of all, Brasov’s Bran Castle.

The castle’s dramatic setting, perched high above a river valley, fuelled the imagination of Irish writer Bram Stoker, who, despite never having actually set foot in Romania, was nonetheless suitably inspired to conjure up his infamous vampire and sorcerer Count Dracula on illustrations of this awe-inspiring castle alone.

From £899pp, this 12-day rail holiday includes flights in and out of Romania, 11 nights’ handpicked, four-star city centre hotel accommodation with breakfast, first class rail travel throughout Romania with seat reservations and time in the bustling Black Sea port town of Constanta, famous for its Art Nouveau casino.

https://www.tailormaderail.com/itinerary/transylvania-to-the-black-sea-a-continental-railway-journey/

Paddington’s Andean Explorer & Machu Picchu

Follow in the inimitable pawprints of everyone’s best loved bear from “deepest, darkest Peru” by taking the Belmond Andean Explorer in search of world-famous Machu Picchu.

Peru’s only luxury train travels from Arequipa to Cusco along one of the highest and most beautiful rail routes in the world, with a stay in Peru’s capital Lima, plus an unforgettable day trip to Machu Picchu.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/leap-chance-extra-day-ice-and-easy-trip-2001784

From £3,299pp, this 12-day holiday includes London flights in and out of Peru, 8 nights four-star hotel accommodation, 2 nights on board the lavish Belmond Andean Explorer from Arequipa to Cusco in a twin bed cabin with full table d’hôte dining. Regretfully, marmalade sandwiches may not be included!

https://www.tailormaderail.com/itinerary/andean-explorer-machu-picchu/

Tolstoy’s Moscow and St Petersburg

The complex narrative of Leo Tolstoy’s seminal novel Anna Karenina is heavily underpinned by trains, (spoiler alert!) with the titular heroine even ending her life by throwing herself under one, at the book’s dramatic climax. But don’t worry, this rail ride journey across Russia promises to be considerably more life affirming!

The novel is largely set amid the milieu of Saint Petersburg high society, and guests get a taste of this, spending three days in the great imperial city, along with equal time in Moscow.

From £1,149pp, this 10-day holiday includes flights in and out of Russia, 8 nights four-star hotel accommodation, and an overnight journey from Warsaw to Moscow in a double cabin.

https://www.tailormaderail.com/itinerary/moscow-and-st-petersburg/

Anne Frank’s Amsterdam

Later this spring, Eurostar will be running their first direct return service from London to Amsterdam, delivering travellers from St Pancras to the Dutch capital – or the reverse - in a mere four hours. Thus, providing the perfect pretext to hit up the canals, parks, museums and Guild houses of Amsterdam, while also making time for the contrasting hip, design-conscious industrial port city of Rotterdam.

The first site on any enlightened traveller’s list in Amsterdam should be a pilgrimage to the Anne Frank House, a sobering museum dedicated to the tragically short life and monumental work of Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank.

From £569pp, this 5-day holiday includes rail travel with Eurostar, 4 nights four-star hotel accommodation and comprehensive directions to hotels.

https://www.tailormaderail.com/itinerary/amsterdam-and-rotterdam/