Do it in Luxurious Style on the Blue Train in Depart Pretoria, Gauteng

We rush to meetings, far too often grab a meal on the run and very rarely take the time we need to relax. More than once in my life I have longed for a time when things were a little slower, a little less hectic and a lot simpler. So a trip on the Blue Train, which attempts to recreate the luxury of the old-world European upper class, is like taking time out of life.

The elegance and opulence of bygone-days start even before you set foot onto the Blue Train. Europe may have had the Orient Express but Africa has the Blue Train. An hour before departure you will be ushered into the pre-departure lounge where the butler offers you a cocktail and horse-de-oeuvres while the staff attends to your luggage and see that it is taken on board to your suite.

Luxury Train Travel on the The Blue Train

Once you board the train you will be ushered to your suite that is a lounge by day and a luxurious bedroom by night. You have a private bathroom with choice of bath or shower with gold fittings and marble tiles and basins. Each suite has a writing desk should you feel industrious, or you can simply forget the outside world of work and responsibilities and relax with music or a movie and depending on the weather you can turn on the under floor heating or full air-conditioning to increase your levels of comfort.

Then you can make your way to one of the elegantly appointed lounges or the club car and relax with drinks or coffee and enjoy watching some of the most beautiful countryside in the world outside the windows of the train. The train makes one stop at Matjiesfontein and if you wish to stretch your legs and go on the excursion, you may do so or while your time away on board.

Luxury Train Travel on the The Blue Train

Meals are a delight with delicacies prepared by chefs who cater to all culinary needs and tastes. Guests attend meals with the elegance of the past, with ladies wear in evening dress and gentleman going in collar and tie. If you still have the strength after the evening meal you wander to the club car to enjoy a cognac or cigar or play a game of backgammon.

The trip between Cape Town and Pretoria lasts about 30 hours, 30 hours of going back to a time of Relax, dine and enjoy this time while your butler attends to whatever needs you have, you have only one thing to do; enjoy every moment of a journey that will stay with you for the rest of your life, a fantasy come true as you follow in the footsteps of Kings and Statesmen who have journeyed on the Blue Train.