Christmas Lunch

The British Pullman Christmas Lunch is one of Britain's most coveted festive experiences — a circular day journey departing London Victoria aboard a fleet of lovingly restored 1920s and 1930s Art Deco Pullman carriages, gliding through the wintry countryside of Southern England while a five-course Christmas feast is served at your white-linen table. There are no overnight nights: this is a single, luminous day — roughly five hours — in which the journey is the destination.

Operated by Belmond, the British Pullman is the sister train to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express and shares its DNA of gilded interiors, silver-service hospitality and impeccable cuisine. At Christmas, the individually named carriages — each with its own Art Deco marquetry, heritage upholstery and original fittings — are dressed in festive finery, transforming them into intimate dining salons moving through a frost-lit English landscape. Strolling musicians weave between tables, a champagne reception sets the mood from the moment you board, and a sommelier-selected wine accompanies every course.

This is an ideal celebration for couples, groups of friends, corporate parties and families seeking a truly special December memory — one that requires nothing more than smart dress, a sense of occasion and an appetite for the extraordinary.

London Victoria — The Grand Departure Point

London Victoria is one of Britain's busiest and most historic mainline termini, and for over a century it has been the home of glamorous Pullman departures. The original Golden Arrow Pullman service to Paris departed from this very station, and the British Pullman maintains that tradition of departing in style. Boarding here — amid the bustle of central London — before stepping into the hushed, art-decorated world of a 1920s Pullman car is itself part of the theatre of the journey.

The Kent and Southern English Countryside

The British Pullman's Christmas Lunch route sweeps through the landscapes of Southern England, principally the county of Kent — known as the Garden of England. In December, Kent's hop gardens, oast houses, ancient woodland and pastoral valleys take on a particular quietude and beauty. The train passes through a terrain that has been farmed, painted and written about for centuries: gentle chalk downlands, historic market towns glimpsed through carriage windows, and the broad skies of the Weald. This is not a journey to a specific destination; the countryside itself — framed in the bevelled glass of an Art Deco window — is the landscape attraction.

The British Pullman Carriages — Rolling Heritage

The carriages of the British Pullman are in many respects the destination. Built between 1925 and 1952, each carriage is individually named and carries its own biography. Audrey, a 1932 Art Deco kitchen car, once served on the Brighton Belle and carried Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother. Ibis, built for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, features exquisite marquetry of Greek girls dancing and once ran on the Simplon Orient Express between Milan and Venice. Zena, dating to 1928, displays fleur-de-lys moquette in soft greens and golds and served Great Western Railway ocean liner services. Cygnus, the youngest of the fleet, was reimagined in 2021 by film director Wes Anderson, who retained the Australian walnut panelling while adding pastel-pink ceilings and emerald upholstery. Together these carriages constitute a rolling museum of the golden age of British and European rail travel.