Aboard the real Orient Express train from Europe to the East
It has always irked me that trains billed as the Orient Express, like the Venice-Simplon-Orient-Express, only go as far as Istanbul. Why evoke the romance of the Orient only to end the journey at the edge of Europe? It’s a disappointment, but more gallingly for anyone passionate about long-distance train travel, it’s also a missed opportunity.
The train tracks are there, and there’s so much more to see if you keep heading east! Tim Littler, founder of Golden Eagle Luxury Trains, understands the appeal of intercontinental train travel more than most. For 35 years, he has pioneered what by anyone’s definition are trips of a lifetime: an entirely steam-hauled journey along the 13,000km length of the Trans-Siberian Railway, requiring 72 locomotives; epic train adventures between Moscow and Beijing; and, in 2014, the first luxury train tours to Iran, starting or finishing in Budapest, and with the entire train crossing Lake Van by ferry.
Read more: The Alps, 1920s style: aboard the Venice Simplon-Orient Express on its inaugural trip to ski resorts
Aboard the ‘real’ Orient Express with Golden Eagle
Geopolitics makes such ambitious expeditions a diplomatic and logistical trial, and so since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Tim and his team have focused their Eurasian tours in Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Golden Eagle train now transports discerning passengers across the heart of the Silk Road, providing luxurious accommodation to accompany exceptional sightseeing and cultural experiences.
It’s a strange twist of fate: it was the iron rails of the Trans-Caspian Railway, built by the Russian Empire in the late 19th century, which put pay to the caravans of camels and horses trudging along millennia-old routes across the desert and steppe. But thanks to this modern train, a new generation of travellers is discovering the heritage and romance of these intercontinental trading routes, and the people, products, and ideas which spread along them.
I boarded the Treasures of Uzbekistan tour in Tashkent, Central Asia’s largest metropolis. It’s a city with 2,200 years of history, but you wouldn’t know it from the skyline: a catastrophic earthquake in 1966 was the catalyst to put Soviet planning ideology into practice. Fans of Brutalist architecture will love Tashkent Modernism, but this drama of concrete is softened by large leafy parks, colourful mosaics, canals, and an ever-growing number of post-independence buildings projecting the confidence of New Uzbekistan.
Unlike classical Uzbekistan itineraries, which stick to the country’s UNESCO cities, the Golden Eagle heads east into the fertile Fergana Valley. There’s evidence of Megalithic civilisations here, and it’s also the birthplace of Emperor Babur, founder of India’s Mughal Dynasty. Fergana’s fruits — strawberries and cherries, apricots and grapes, pomegranates and melons — weigh down market stalls and breakfast tables thousands of kilometres away. And it’s not just people they feed: silkworms brought originally from China munch their way through tonnes of mulberry leaves. The fine silk spun from their cocoons gave the Silk Road its name, and is the reason for the thriving textiles industry in Fergana’s city of Margilan.
Uzbekistan is comparable in size to Spain or California, and getting between major tourist sites consequently takes some time. This is when the Golden Eagle comes into its own, as after a full day’s sightseeing, you just relax, dine, and go to bed on board, waking up somewhere new. The Bar Lounge Car is the train’s main social space, with a wine and spirits list to rival any London club. A pianist performs nightly on the baby grand piano, and on longer journeys this car also transforms into a lecture theatre. The bar stays open until the last passenger is ready to retire for the night, and even the furthest cabins are only a few minutes’ amble away.
You can’t see the works of this artist anywhere else in the world – they’re only here
The Silk Road city of Samarkand gets top billing on any Uzbekistan itinerary, but in my mind nowhere in the country can beat Bukhara. Founded 2,500 years ago, the UNESCO-listed Old City is still a cohesive whole, an oasis of architectural splendour. Those with an interest in the Great Game will recall that the unfortunate British officers Arthur Conolly and Charles Stoddart were holed up in the prison of the fortress before they met their grisly end, but most of what you’ll see are magnificent tiled mosques and madrassas, mausolea and minarets, plus fabulous bath houses and bazaars. Bukhara was one of the world’s most important cities during the Islamic Golden Age, a place of religious and scientific scholarship and the arts. To stand in the courtyard of the Abdulaziz Khan Madrassa, or to glimpse through the lattice screens into the Mir-i Arab Madrassa, is akin to visiting Oxbridge colleges, albeit with far more colour.
While Islamic cultural heritage does understandably dominate the trip, the ‘real’ Orient Express aka the Golden Eagle also makes a stop in Nukus in the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. This is the location of the Savitsky Museum, one of the world’s preeminent galleries of Soviet avant garde art. This is unexpected, but no coincidence: founder Igor Savitsky was able to amass and display his collection here precisely because Nukus was so remote from the conventional capitals of culture where it would have been censured by Soviet authorities. It is humbling to stand before paintings by an artist like V Lysenko and realise you can’t see his artwork anywhere else in the world: tragically, Lysenko was purged, and only a handful of his paintings at the Savitsky Museum have survived.
Time has a fluid quality onboard the train. It is punctuated by sightseeing, meals, and other such activities, but what is important is the downtime to stop and reflect. So many hundreds of monuments and experiences are packed into the journey that it would be easy to become overwhelmed. That’s when you know to sit by the window, the desert scenery rolling by, and to allow the rhythmic sound of the train on the tracks to set the pace of your thoughts.
Book the ‘real’ Orient Express yourself
The Treasures of Uzbekistan tour runs from 17 Sep – Sep 27 and prices start from around £14,000 per person for the 11-day trip. Golden Eagle Luxury Trains has multiple scheduled departures in Central Asia in 2025, including Republics of the Silk Road, Caspian Odyssey, Jewels of the Silk Road, and Treasures of Uzbekistan. Go to goldeneagleluxurytrains.com