In Istanbul, A Former Sultan's Palace Is Now Among The World's Poshest Hotels

Everyone wants to save money on vacation, but steep discounts are rare for most — unless you are a high-profile celebrity, influencer, or, it seems, the mayor of New York City.

Since the dawn of time, the romance of railways has seduced poets, spellbound novelists, and dealt directors the perfect hand for capturing fleeting friendships, illicit affairs, and all manner of crimes and capers. A ticket is not just a permit to ride, it’s permission to trespass on the intimacies of other people’s lives. Trains bring us up close and personal—both inside and outside the carriage. On board, passengers chat politics in Finnish dining cars, clamber into couchettes above strangers on the Trans-Siberian, and share samosas on India’s many raucous mail trains. Outside, the world flashes by, a slideshow of rivers growing into oceans, deserts rising into mountains and cities sprawling then receding into darkness as the train thunders on through the night.

Do you have a travel itch, a love of sailing, and an extra $11 million to spare? If so, Ulyssia Residences has a ship for you.

There are two types of train trip: The long, slow, and often luxurious train journey that takes you through beautiful scenery that you book specifically to spend time on the rails; and the speedy, no-nonsense, cheap train ride you take to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. In the first category, you’ll find grand trips like Australia’s The Ghan, South Africa’s Blue Train, and Britain’s Caledonian Sleeper. In the second, there are trips from London to Brussels in just two hours, from Rome to Venice in four hours, and from Miami to Orlando in three hours. And if you’re a train traveler who belongs to the second category and likes getting places fast without flying, there are plenty of trains in this world that do just that at speeds previously unimaginable on land, including the fastest train in the world and its closest competitors.

Istanbul is undeniably the most well-know part of Türkiye, but it’s far from being the only one worth visiting. If you’re keen to explore the country further but want to keep your carbon footprint down, you can opt to travel by train. The rail network in Türkiye is relatively extensive, with high-speed trains linking Istanbul to Ankara, Konya, and Sivas, local trains, long-distance routes, sleeper trains, and even touristic trains covering large swathes of the country. The Mesopotamia Express, a sleeper train that travels 653 miles across Anatolia is Türkiye’s latest touristic, long-distance sleeper rail offering.

In the mountains of Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, lies Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) with a history that stretches back over 1,300 years. Founded in 705 AD, the hotel is recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest hotel in the world.

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Ankara, the Turkish capital, has been wilting under days of intense heat. Our taxi driver lets us out at the station with a gift of a cool apple. The forecourt is a mess of commuters competing for taxis and minivans. Through its automatic doors, though, is a gleaming air-conditioned cathedral to Turkey’s high-speed rail. The relief is short-lived—a uniformed attendant at the information window soon informs us our train, the Doğu Ekspresi (translation: Eastern Express) actually departs from the old station next door.

Sep 23, 2024 • 6 min read

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This as-told-to essay is based on an in-person interview with Goda Ponomariovaitė, a 22-year-old Lithuanian student living in Vilnius.

If you'd asked me just a year ago what I thought of cruises, my answer would have been a resounding "meh."