I do recall about a year or so ago an article about a company trying to revive the old-school luxury of the Orient Express. I don't recall if it was the Paris-Istanbul line or not, but it was supposed to be quite opulent.
Contrast this to the trip I took last summer, by train, from Budapest to Bucharest then back all the way to Vienna. I wasn't trying to travel in any luxury and, to be quite honest, I don't see how anything beyond the train cars could be considered luxury on such a voyage. I mean, pretty much all the train stations are rather run-down and dirty. Even the stations in Vienna and Budapest weren't anything great, I don't even remember seeing any signs to indicate where any sort of luxury lounge could be found while waiting for a train to arrive.
The countryside through Hungary and Romania was pretty damn spectacular, but in my experience the train itself was purely functional.
Contrast this to the trip I took last summer, by train, from Budapest to Bucharest then back all the way to Vienna. I wasn't trying to travel in any luxury and, to be quite honest, I don't see how anything beyond the train cars could be considered luxury on such a voyage. I mean, pretty much all the train stations are rather run-down and dirty. Even the stations in Vienna and Budapest weren't anything great, I don't even remember seeing any signs to indicate where any sort of luxury lounge could be found while waiting for a train to arrive.
The countryside through Hungary and Romania was pretty damn spectacular, but in my experience the train itself was purely functional.
