The Eilean Sionnach Light House is now luxury accommodation on a private island. Photo / Supplied
The Eilean Sionnach Light House is now luxury accommodation on a private island. Photo / Supplied
Europe gave the world two great gifts: the locomotive and internal combustion engine. Some concession for all the ideas they took.
There’s nothing you can’t find in Europe that you couldn’t get elsewhere first. Pasta, as Italian as Confucius. The Enlightenment coffee houses of Vienna and Amsterdam wouldn’t have got very far without Ethiopian caffeine or Far Eastern ideas. Since the 1900s most people have dressed head to toe in imported fabric.
But to paraphrase Vogue - it’s not a question of “who wore it first” but “who wore it better?”
What Europe does have is style. Panache by the bowlful.
A Saville Row suit may be indistinguishable stitch for stitch from a suit in Hong Kong, but they still have the gall to charge 10 times as much.
It’s this kind of chutzpah that brings travellers to Europe.
Dining carriages on snowlined trains. Bombastic cultural festivals. Public transport that works. Chateaux, grand hotels and palazzos that would give Wes Anderson and Walt Disney palpitations.
The continent is one of the most densely packed for travellers. With 44 countries, 24 languages and 201 protected cheese varieties packed into an area a little larger than Australia, getting around is easy. Choosing a suitable mode of transport requires more thought.
Here are the suavest ways to get about Europe next year.
La Dolce Vita: The Orient Express is having an Italian-inspired makeover next year. Photo / Accor, Orient Express, Dimore Studio, Unsplash
Fellini on Rails - Orient Express in Italy
Next year the Orient Express will be inviting passengers on La Dolce Vita services along the spine of Italy. This should get lovers of luxury more excited than Anita Ekberg in the Trevi fountain. With six new luxury sleeper trains running from the Lagos of the north to the southern territories and Sicily, we doubt there will be much sleeping at all.
Forget any Poirot-esque 1930s conceptions you might have of the train. This is a revamped service, inspired by the Italian new wave of the 60s.
Orient Express's 60s-inspired carriages are travelling through Italy. Photo / Accor, Orient Express, Dimore Studio, Unsplash
In 2024, the Italian line intends to extend routes to Paris and Istanbul. There is also a new Orient Express Hotel, the Hotel Minerva, set to open in Stazione Roma Termini, to allow for long layovers on a Roman Holiday. Also billed for 2024.
The Fridtjof Nansen approaches Grunnfjorden, Norway. Photo / Supplied, Hurtigruten
Nordic but nice - the MS Fridtjof Nansen
There’s nothing that makes luxury more appealing than the contrast of rugged polar landscapes. Frivolous conveniences like panoramic lounges and steam rooms exist in opposition to the beautifully sparse swathes of Europe towards the Arctic Circle. So, to be sailing north in a luxury liner is extra exquisite.
Like the Roald Amundsen of cruising, Hurtigruten was one of the pioneers of bringing tourists to the far north.
The sea-facing sauna on MS Fridtjof Nansen. Photo / Supplied, Hurtigruten
The cruise line makes the fine balance between feeding guests’ curiosity with underwater observation drones and their appetites at a choice of three onboard restaurants.
Named after the Norwegian naturalist, the MS Fridtjof Nansen offers an itinerary from Hamburg to Iceland. The Scandinavian definition of “style” is understated compared to the rest of Europe. This is no baroque Venetian vaporetto. It does offer palatial Expedition Suites and ocean-facing birchwood saunas.
While it might seem indulgent, you can enjoy the experience - relativelly guilt free. Built in 2021, the Nansen is newest of Hurtigruten’s hybrid electric ships.
Sailing west - as Norsemen are wont to do - the Nansen calls in at the Faroes, Skye and Iceland.
The Cycladean superyacht MY Summer Fun. Photo / GYA; Facebook
Greece by Superyacht
A superyacht for the week. Is that too extravagant an ask?
The Aegean is the natural harbour for fleets of white ships.
Gaudy multimillion-dollar pleasure craft would seem out of place anywhere else. But, bobbing between Greek Islands, they are as part of the landscape as white sand, stucco houses and ancient marble.
To pay for a superyacht’s Sisyphean upkeep is not something anyone would envy. However, tour operators Kensington Yachts will allow you to indulge the fantasy for a nine-day sailing.
Views of Mesariá and the Cyclades in Greece. Photo / Getty Images
Accommodation is aboard the MY Summer Fun, a sleek 101-foot motor yacht with a dedicated crew of eight, including a private chef. With a jet-ski and a range of “aquatic toys”, the ship lives for its namesake, and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Though sailings can be tailored to the tastes of passengers, the itinerary departs from Athens and the Grande Bretagne hotel for Mykonos and the Cyclades. This is your chance to see Santorini like a superstar and the secluded coves of Milos. The ship commands a cool €50,000 for a weekly summer rate. In the words of Roman Abramovich, how can you put a price on a superyacht?
Kensington also offers a luxury take on the ferry route with 11 nights in the Cyclades.
The Jacobite crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct on the Scottish West Coast Railway. Photo / BK, Unsplash
Lighthouse in Skye and the Jacobite
The far end of the tracks to a glitzy superyacht might be the highland romance of the Jacobite Steam Train.
The Scottish West Highland Route runs from Ben Nevis and Fort William to Port Mallaig racing through a landscape straight out of the pages of Outlander and John Buchan. The 134km steam train route is one of the most iconic rail journeys in the world. It’s unapologetically old school.
It hurtles towards the west coast in Caledonian glamour across the Glenfinnan Viaduct - yes the one from “Harry Potter”.
The vintage first-class carriages are a little chintzy, but they have undeniable bookish cool.
Pack a good novel and enjoy the views from your private compartment with a glass of champagne.
The Eilean Sionnach Light House is now luxury accommodation on a private island. Photo / Supplied
Continuing the bookish theme, from Mallaig it’s a short skip to Skye and Eilean Sionnach.
The old lighthouse keeper’s cottage has been turned into high-end accommodation. Fittingly the lighthouse was built by the father of Robert Louis Stevenson - of Treasure Island fame. Apart from a friendly local boat skipper there’s no staff on this private island. Far enough away from the Skye summer crowds but almost close enough to touch the Cuillins, it’s a way to see Scotland’s most popular Island in style.
Sailing the Canal du Midi, near Carcassonne, France. Photo / Getty Images
Canal du Midi - a cruise with added charm
Europe loves its river cruises. From the operatic Rhineland to the Danube, cruise ships snake through the landscape like a Wagnerian serpent. Glorious but about as subtle as a dollop of whipped cream on strudel.
France has a different take on cruising to Mitteleuropa.
The Canal du Midi does small-scale river holidays with suavité. Carving through the Languedoc-Roussillon in the south of France, the old Canal Royal rolls through two Unesco Heritage areas.
A barge holiday in France doesn’t sound very glamorous, I hear you say. Mais non, mon brave! There’s some amazingly characterful accommodation floating on the canal with all the charm of a gentile provincial hotel. Five-star options such as the Hotel Fleur de Lis, with four-poster beds and a pool on the prow would be enough to make even Louis XIV blush.
La Salon aboard the Esperance in the Canal du Midi. Photo / Private Luxury Cruises
Beginning in Toulouse, the stronghold of French club rugby, the Canal stretches through parades of lime trees towards Narbonne and the Mediterranean.
The most imposing landmark is perhaps the fortified castle city of Carcassonne.
As the traditional trade route there is no shortage of good local food on the canal, cutting through the Languedoc wine region. It’s a perfect trip for gastronomes. Local delicacy, Les petit pates of Pezenas will be reassuringly familiar for New Zealanders. This is a mince pie, with style.
Far from a sleepy backwater, the Canal allows for a dreamy, bespoke take on the river cruise.
