to Do Before You Die. It runs from Russia rsquo;s moody capital, Moscow, to its seven days, crossing eight time zones and sweeping through vast pine forests and endless Siberian steppe en route. It sounds decidedly Doctor Zhivago, doesn rsquo;t it?
Yes, well, most of that was filmed in Spain; the Trans-Siberian might not live up to your soft-focus image of it. A romantic myth has grown up around this epic journey, but the reality is somewhat less rosy. Most of the sleeper compartments of the main train, the Rossiya, accommodate four, so you rsquo;re forced to share with strangers.
They rsquo;re usually Boris Yeltsin lookie-likies, Aussie backpackers. Cabins are so cramped that even an estate agent would blush to call them cosy, and the food is simply vile. There are just two loos per 36 people, and no showers.
well-earned holiday, I have just the ticket ndash; the Golden Eagle This new, 12.8m, all-suite service pulled out of Moscow rsquo;s elegantly imposing Kazansky station on its inaugural journey this morning, with its 132 passengers quaffing champagne from cut-glass flutes. But I climbed on board Ah yes, there rsquo;s always a catch, isn rsquo;t there?
In this case, it rsquo;s a considerable financial one. The Rossiya costs about 160pp one-way, but the Golden Eagle weighs in at 5,495pp in silver class and 6,795pp for gold (excluding flights). Though, to turn it into the voyage of a lifetime, it does extend At about a pound a mile, the Golden Eagle is roughly in line with competitors such as the Orient-Express and South Africa rsquo;s Blue Train.
How does it compare? Its cabins are certainly among the most spacious: ldquo;gold rdquo; cabins are 77 sq ft, ldquo;silver rdquo; a still relatively generous 60 sq ft. Facilities are ahead of the pack, too, with flatscreen TVs, DVD and CD players and WiFi bed.
(On Asia rsquo;s Eastern Oriental Express, for example, you rsquo;ll probably be sleeping in bunks.) The gold cabins even have underfloor heating. But the big plus is its ensuite bathrooms: they are fitted with power showers.
Compare that to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, which doesn rsquo;t even have ensuite lavatories, let alone showers ndash; which means that on its most famous trip to Istanbul, passengers have to disembark to overnight in hotels so they can wash properly. Several five-star trains do offer showers, but on most you shiver under a drip of tepid water. So, from a comfort level, the Golden Eagle scores highly.
But that rsquo;s not all passengers want from this sort of once-in-a-lifetime travel experience. They want to recapture the romance of another age, and here the Golden Eagle falls down badly. Cabins are conservatively decorated in magnolia and royal blue, with gold trimmings, serviceable fabrics and the odd lace doily.
It can rsquo;t hold a candle to the exquisite marquetry, elaborate brass fittings and glamour that trainspotters hanker after. The two dining cars are pretty: one veers to the Frenchified and feminine, with distressed wood panelling; the other is more stately, with swags and swirls. It rsquo;s a pity, then, that the food is so Soviet.
Lunch was Russkiy salat (watery tomato topped with a Several meals are taken off the train, although as the Federation hardly has a reputation for haute cuisine, I doubt they rsquo;ll be much better. There rsquo;s a decent selection of wine, though ndash; as you would expect given that Tim Littler, the driving force behind the train rsquo;s creation and president of GW Travel, is a former wine merchant. In 1989, he sold a 1787 Ch teau Margaux for 125,000 ndash; it still holds the world record for the most expensive bottle.
How? ldquo;It was originally offered at 75,000 but nobody wants to buy the second most expensive bottle, rdquo; he explained. The bar better captures a mood of nostalgia, with atmospheric nicotine-yellow walls, plenty of stained glass, vampish red velvet banquettes and a tinkling piano.
And it also upholds a fine Russian tradition: it doesn rsquo;t close until the last person staggers off. A potential problem is that it rsquo;s not very Littler, he assured me that while journalists are always concerned that trains rsquo; bar cars aren rsquo;t big enough, passengers rarely linger in them. Whatever the truth, none of the sofas or seats is so comfortable that you rsquo;ll mind getting off for tours.
These include Yekaterinburg, the site of the Romanov execution, Irkutsk, the so-called Paris of Siberia, and the amazing Lake Baikal, the world rsquo;s largest freshwater lake by volume, which covers an area bigger than Belgium. There will also be on-board lectures by the likes But you rsquo;ll mainly be looking at the landscape, which brings me to the train rsquo;s serious disappointment ndash; the lack of an observation area. I rsquo;d have liked a wonderful open-air veranda such as the Royal Scotsman rsquo;s, or the glass-domed Service is also a stumbling block.
Staff have nowhere near the slickness of, say, the could-be-on-casters butlers on Africa rsquo;s Rovos Rail. They rsquo;re not surly, but nor are they overly enthusiastic. sleeker, more modern interior and abandoning the attempt at authentic understandable limitations of sourcing fresh foods along the way.
That said, famous railway in some style, and that rsquo;s no bad thing. Susan d rsquo;Arcy was a guest of Noble Caledonia (020 7752 0000, ), which offers a 15-day, silver-class Golden Eagle tour from 6,695pp, including all meals with drinks, tours, flights from Heathrow to Moscow and Or try GW Travel (0161 928 9410, ) or Railbookers (0870 458 9080, ).
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