THE World’s most luxurious train comes complete with hot tubs and an onboard restaurant.
Dubbed as a “luxury hotel on wheels”, the E001 series Train Suite Shikishima in Japan is one of the world’s most exclusive and expensive trains.
Getty – ContributorJapan’s luxury sleeper train ‘Train Suite Shikishima’ outside Ueno station in Tokyo[/caption]
The ‘View Terrace’ in car 1 is located directly behind the train’s driversYouTube/@Solo Travel Journal
One of the luxurious suite rooms on boardYouTube/@Solo Travel Journal
The ten-coach train consists of six sleeping cars, a lounge car, a dining car, and observation cars at either end of the train.
Five of the sleeping cars each have three private suite rooms, while car 7 has two deluxe suites – a split-level “maisonette” type and a single-level “flat” type.
All deluxe rooms are complete with a shower and toilet, while two of them even have a bathtub.
The service provided is so high-end that passengers can be forgiven for forgetting they’re on a train and not a fancy hotel.
With its stunning suites, elegant décor and futuristic observatory cars to take in the passing scenery, it’s like a five star hotel on rails.
There’s a forest-themed lounge, complete with gold metal branches along the walls, a black piano, a modern glass fireplace and Herringbone parquet wood flooring.
Suites are clad in elegant wood panelling and geometric wall art, with the two plushest cabins featuring fancy bathrooms containing cypress wood baths and kimono-style robes.
Cars 1 to 4 and 8 to 10 of the hybrid electric/diesel deluxe sleeping-car excursion train have aluminium bodies, while cars 5 to 7 have stainless steel bodies.
One suite in car 4 even boasts universal access, meaning anybody can enjoy the experience – regardless of age, disability or other factors.
The entire train accommodates only 34 passengers, however.
But if you want to hop onboard, you’ll have to pay a pretty penny to do so.
That’s because tickets for Train Suite Shikishima cost between $2,860 (£2,255) to around $10,000 (£7,887).
As you can imagine, this experience is very much catered for the rich and wealthy.
Each journey starts and finishes at Ueno station, a major railway station in Tokyo’s Taito district.
From there, passengers are taken on two-day and four-day circular tours from spring to autumn and three-day tours during the winter.
The two-day itinerary consists of an overnight trip from Tokyo to the city of Chikuma, before a stop is made at Aizuwakamatsu ahead of a return to Japan’s capital.
If you opt for the three-day itinerary, you will spend two nights onboard in Matsushima and then Hirosaki.
The four-day itinerary sees passengers taken to a number of locations around the country, where overnight hotel accommodation is provided in the Noboribetsu leg of the journey.
The service was launched formally on May 1, 2017, and attracted widespread interest.
As a result, tickets for the inaugural journey were made available via a lottery in order to distribute them as evenly and fairly as possible.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia has revealed its latest ambitious plan for a luxury train cruise as it attempts to become the “centre of the world”.
Dubbed “Dream of the Dessert”, the new train will offer “luxury train cruise” journeys from the capital city of Riyadh to Qurayyat, which is situated close to the northern border with Jordan.
And a mind-bending “train of the future” will see passengers darting across countries at a staggering 700mph while contained in a vacuum-sealed tube.
The superfast shuttle, named the Hyperloop, is made up of high-speed pods that will shoot through a tube.
Passengers are treated to deluxe diningYouTube/@Solo Travel Journal
One of the top tier rooms even offers a heated fireplaceYouTube/@Solo Travel Journal
Narrow rooms are lined with glam interiorYouTube/@Solo Travel Journal
YouTube/@Solo Travel JournalThose staying on board can enjoy the best views from the comfort of their own rooms[/caption]
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