One More Thing: Luxury Irish train holidays at loco prices

Plans announced this week by Belmond Ltd to launch luxury train holidays in Ireland from August 2016, from €3,160 per person for a two-night clickety-clack to Belfast, were almost a throwback to the no-holds-barred spending of the Celtic Tiger years.

A six-night jaunt around Ireland will set you back about €7,000.

As Ireland’s a small country with limited rail infrastructure, Belmond’s solution is to have its posh sleeper trains park up overnight in a siding. Saves on the diesel as well.

As the company behind the famous Orient Express franchise, Belmond knows a thing of two about luxury travel. It is spending $10 million refitting a number of Irish Rail carriages to provide "elegant" private cabins for the wealthy Americans who will be its key target market.

Do-it-yourself

Luxurious it might well be but it will be interesting to see if Belmond’s saucy prices attract enough customers in this age of do-it-yourself travel.

A return journey from Dublin to Belfast on standard rail will cost €99 for a first-class ticket. Two nights with breakfast at the five-star Merchant, Belfast’s swankiest hotel, will set you back €701 for a “deluxe deco room”.

Visits to the Titanic museum, Giant’s Causeway and the Old Bushmills Distillery, which all feature on the itinerary of Belmond’s choo-choo, will cost about €45.

Throw in €100 worth of taxis and local buses, and €120 for meals, and it comes out at only €1,065. That’s a full €2,100 cheaper than Belmond’s luxury train if you’re prepared to paddle your own canoe, so to speak.

Belmond promises an "unforgettable journey" for customers of its Grand Hibernian service. At these prices, you'd want fictional supersleuth Hercule Poirot himself cooking your breakfast.