Italy has a lot of feathers in its cap: the leaning tower or Pisa, the Colosseum, St Marks Cathedral; pizza. France, likewise, has more tourist attractions than you can throw a Michelin star (or historical tour guide) at.
They may now both have another accolade to add to their resumes, however – ultra-refined long distance rail travel. Now: before you throw your pirated copy of Spectre at our heads and inform us trains were an antiquated form of getting around, think again.
A lot has changed since a few years ago.
We’ve seen a pandemic, and the Greta Thunberg Effect is in full swing, with many travellers now opting for closer-to-home holidays that commit less carbon to their footprint.
As CNN Travel reports, “Various new trains and routes are currently in the pipeline, including Italy’s ‘Dolce Vita train,’ set to run 10 routes through the country’s most well-known landscapes, and Midnight Trains, an upcoming network of overnight services from Paris to 12 different European destinations.”
On that note, French designer Thierry Gaugain wants to take things a step further. He “plans to take the rail travel experience to a completely new level with his latest concept, a private luxury train made to measure for one lucky, and very wealthy, owner,” (CNN Travel).
The superyacht of the savannah, if you will…