In a world where everything happens in an instant, the Eastern & Oriental Express makes a quiet argument for slow travel. The slowest route between two points, it suggests, can be the most rewarding. Belmond’s green and cream sleeper train spends three nights looping out of Singapore and into peninsular Malaysia, and the pull lies less in the destinations than in the unhurried theatre of reaching them. Connectivity is scarce, the days are long and the rhythm is deliberately gentle, which turns out to be the entire point.
The experience starts before the train does. Belmond arranges private transfers at both ends, and a WhatsApp line opens the day before with collection times and reminders to complete the Singapore and Malaysian arrival cards ahead of travel. By the time guests reach the platform the crew have taken charge of the luggage, leaving only a passport to carry through a border crossing that takes minutes rather than hours.
A train that runs on ceremony
Boarding is an event in itself. Champagne is poured before the wheels turn, and it flows freely, alongside house wines, spirits and local beer, for the length of the trip. The carriages are a study in polished wood, marquetry and lamplight, built to evoke the golden age of rail rather than imitate it, and the effect lands the moment the doors close.
The pace of eating and drinking takes some adjusting to. Champagne on arrival gives way to afternoon tea of finger sandwiches and small cakes, then cocktails, then a multi-course dinner, with barely a gap in between. Coffee is poured from early morning, which matters to anyone who takes it seriously, and the standard rivals a proper café rather than the afterthought found at some hotels.
What catches people off guard is how social the Eastern & Oriental Express turns out to be. Strangers fall into conversation within the first hour, trading stories over cocktails in the bar, and by the final night many have struck up the easy friendships that come from sharing a small space and a slow clock with fellow travellers.
Most guests are marking something, a milestone birthday, an anniversary or a long-held ambition, and that shared sense of occasion gives the whole journey a charge. People plan these milestone celebrations a year out, and it shows in the mood on board. The dress code follows suit without turning rigid, smart by day and dressier for the gala on the final night, though a casual hoodie at dinner goes thankfully unremarked.
Cabins built for the rails
Pullman CabinAccommodation runs across three tiers within the 15 carriages of the Eastern & Oriental Express, which carry a maximum of 64 guests. The Pullman is the entry point, snug at around 6 square metres, with a sofa that a steward converts into upper and lower berths after dark. Two people can sleep in these luxury sleeper cabins, but additional space is offered at a premium.
The State cabin is the middle tier and the sweet spot for most. Dressed in deep peacock blues and dark timber, it has a sofa and a seat that fold into two single beds, a small desk at the window for morning coffee or afternoon tea and enough room to move around. It strikes the balance between the snugness of the Pullman and the expense of the suites above it.
A look inside the Presidential Cabin, of which there are only two, shows what the extra outlay buys. It claims half a carriage, with a wall of mirrors opposite the window that tricks the eye into more space, a proper walk-in bathroom and a small spirits bar for mixing a nightcap. Even here, though, the bed remains a twin.
Belmond also gets the small touches right. A robe and slippers appear on the first night, and each evening’s turndown service leaves a different gift, among them a tote bag made by a Malaysian social enterprise and water bottles timed to the next day’s excursion. Reading lights sit within easy reach of each bed, a detail that matters more than it sounds after a night in the bar.
The trade-offs are real and worth knowing before booking. Compact bathrooms are the norm, the shower amounts to a powerful box with a temperamental temperature dial and there is no double bed in any category, the Presidential Cabin included. Every cabin has an en-suite, a Dyson hairdryer and a steward on call around the clock, but a hotel room on rails this is not.
Dining on the Eastern & Oriental Express
Food is where the Eastern & Oriental Express makes its strongest case. Lunch, afternoon tea and dinner are served in the dining cars, the contemporary Adisorn and the traditional Malaya, from menus curated by chef André Chiang, whose former Singapore restaurant held two Michelin stars. Breakfast is the one meal taken either in the cabin or in the dining car, and arrives with a Bloody Mary trolley for the willing, part of the train’s fun dining rhythm.
The cooking leans East meets West and rarely misjudges it. The first night’s 16-hour braised beef cheek with classic pomme purée proved the standout of the trip, while a crispy tofu Mikado spring roll and a shrimp and clam miso bisque set an early high bar. Across the days came sea bass meunière, Chinese braised pork belly and a cod with miso good enough to warrant a second portion, all of it adding up to confident cooking.
The midday menus keep pace with the evenings. One standout lunch opened with a rich vegetable soup sharpened by sauerkraut, moved on to a soy-glazed beef meatball wrapped around a poached egg, and finished with a pistachio gelato pooled in good olive oil. A kimchi niçoise and an egg mousse served in its shell turned up elsewhere, each plated with the care of a restaurant kitchen, albeit probably a tenth of the size of one.
Not every plate lands. A coconut blancmange with Nyonya chendol arrived as a busy tangle of lemongrass, jelly and shaved ice that split the table, and a seafood laksa fried rice runs hot for anyone wary of chilli. The wine selection is a daily pleasure, with a new red and white wheeled out on a trolley at each service and Champagne never too far away.
The final-night gala is the kitchen’s set piece, a six-course menu that runs longer than the rest and is finished tableside by the executive chef, who emerges to greet each table. It is the one evening most guests dress for, and the room takes on the feel of a celebration, helped along by a singer in the Piano Bar. The gala dinner is also when the kitchen’s reach feels most impressive.
A willingness to bend is the detail that truly stayed with us. We requested a cocktail that needed basil, and a bartender gladly headed for the galley to find some. When we mentioned on the last night that the first night’s beef cheek had been the best thing we ate all trip, the kitchen recreated it and poured the same wine to match – a kind of attentive service that comes from a galley the size of a cupboard.
Where the journey really happens
The open-air Observation Car at the rear is the heart of the Eastern & Oriental Express. With no glass to seal out the heat, it is the place to feel the warm air and watch the jungle close in behind the train, and the bar alongside it becomes the natural meeting point from morning to night. A barista works the back of the train, turning that early coffee on the observation deck into a ritual.
Evenings gravitate to the Piano Bar Car, where a resident pianist and the occasional singer keep things running well past midnight. Requests are welcome, Malaysian classics sit beside the odd pop number and the room grows livelier as the trip goes on, the kind of live music that keeps people up. We shared one lunch with the train manager, who filled us in on the history of the train and the wider Belmond fleet.
There is a Dior Spa on board, along with a Dior boutique car that doubles as a quiet corner for board games and an afternoon colouring table. The boutique stocks the house’s candles and beauty pieces, and the car makes a calm counterpoint to the social pull of the bar a few doors down.
One of the trip’s small thrills comes near midnight on the final night. As the train slips past Kuala Lumpur, the crew tip guests off to gather at the rear, where the lights of the country’s tallest tower can be caught with seconds to spare before they go dark. Moments like this, unscripted and easily missed, are what linger.
Into the jungle and on to Penang
Days break up the on-board indulgence with off-board excursions. The train pauses at Merapoh, gateway to Taman Negara, one of the world’s oldest tropical rainforests at roughly 130 million years. Guests pick from four outings, among them a tiger conservation trek tied to a long-running protection effort, an e-bike ride to ancient caves, a wellness session of yoga and forest bathing or a nature photography walk.
The arrival sets the tone, with local performers greeting the train at the platform before guests transfer to open-sided 4x4s for the run into the park. The jungle drive is half the experience, passengers ducking the odd low branch as the canopy thickens and the light drops, the sun barely reaching the forest floor through trees this tall and this old.
The photography route climbs through the treetops on a network of high walkways, with a naturalist picking out fungi and centuries-old giant trees while gibbons call from somewhere out of sight. Sightings are never guaranteed on the canopy walkway, and that is the honest reality here. One road, dense forest and a true living ecosystem mean wildlife appears only by luck, so anyone hoping for a safari experience are likely to leave a little disappointed.
Penang is the third day’s stop, reached by a short ferry across to the island. George Town, Penang, a UNESCO-protected blend of Chinese and colonial heritage, lays on a cookery class, a guided old-town tour or a self-directed trishaw ride with a driver and a map. A loop past the street art and a coffee at the colonial Eastern & Oriental Hotel, on the waterfront since 1885 and unrelated to the train (despite the name), makes for an easy morning exploring.
Who the Eastern & Oriental Express is for
Sleep is the one thing the Eastern & Oriental Express cannot promise. The older track on the way to Taman Negara and the quicker overnight run back to Singapore make for a rocking, rattling night, and between the late bar sessions and the free-flowing wine, nobody steps off rested. As with most sleeper train journeys, this is not a trip designed for recharging in the usual sense.
What it offers instead is harder to find. The thin connectivity forces a proper disconnect, the food holds its own at every sitting and the mostly Malaysian crew turn service into something more personal. For couples and travellers who care more about the journey than the bed, and who treat the trip itself as the occasion, the Eastern & Oriental Express ranks among the most rewarding luxury travel experiences in Asia, and one we were sorry to step off.
Quick summary – Belmond Eastern & Oriental Express
⭐ Style: Vintage Belmond sleeper train
📍 Route: Singapore to Taman Negara and Penang, round trip
🛏️ Cabins: Pullman, State and Presidential, three nights
🍽️ Dining: Menus curated by chef André Chiang across two restaurant cars
🌿 Excursions: Taman Negara rainforest and George Town, Penang
✨ Ideal for: Couples and travellers who value the journey over the destination
