WeekendinFEATURE
WeekendinFEATURE
HOLIDAY
VISA REQUIRENMENTS
Singaporeans: No (up to 90 days within 6
months from date of initial entry)
British/Australian/Other Passports: No
VISA REQUIRENMENTS
Singaporeans: No (up to 90 days within 6
months from date of initial entry)
British/Australian/Other Passports: No
TRAVEL ROUTE
Singapore Changi Airport - Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Phone: Orient-Express UK reservations
(0845 077 2222)
Website: www.orient-express.com
Price Range: 2 Days/1 Night, from USD2760
per person
FLIGHT PROVIDERS
Singapore Airlines: Flight to Amsterdam
(Direct)
Emirates: Flight to Amsterdam (via Dubai)
Qatar Airways: Flight to Amsterdam
(via Doha)
No roads means no cars in Giethoorn
Step back in time on the Orient Express
Lower your carbon footprint in Giethoon
Travel to
Giethoorn
Giethoorn, also known as “the Venice of Holland”
or the “Venice of the North”, is a beautiful village
in the Netherlands. There are no cars or roads
there; tourists leave them out of the village and
have to travel by water or on foot over the lovely
wooden bridges.
their settlement Geytenhorn (geit = goat), ulimately becoming Giethoorn (dialect goat = geit
= giet).
Located in the Dutch province of Overijssel, Giethoorn village is surrounded by a vast natural
reservation entitled De Wieden, often included
in tourist brochures. Travellers who adventure
there are usually mesmerised by the familiar
atmosphere, bohemian canals, small wooden arch bridges, vivid flowers and colourful
200-year-old homes.
The village owes it characteristic appearance to
peatdigging. The peatdiggers dug up the peatsoil at the places that most suited them, mixed
it in a trough and spread it out on the land to
dry. The result could be cut as peat. This peatdigging led to the formation of large and small
lakes. To transport the peat, ditches and canals
were excavated. Many houses are as it is built on
little islands, reachable through a high bridge.
All this imparts to Giethoorn being a beauty unequalled anywhere else.
Giethoorn was founded by a group of fugitives.
They came around 1230 from regions bordering
the Mediteranean. These first inhabitants found
masses of horns of wild goats, which had probably died in 1170 during the flood. They called
Of course all this is best viewed with a guided
canal tour or trip by boat. In Giethoorn, the surroundings is a fantastic network of cycle paths
that are safe and very well marked, making it
an ideal sport activity. Suitable for children and
Weekendin 50
Luxurious interior of the Orient Express
A connecting bridge over waters
adults are the duo bikes.
In winter, Giethoorn is a very popular destination for ice skaters. When winters are cold
enough, thousands would visit Giethoorn just
to ice skate on a lovely sunny afternoon.
Giethoorn lies central in the Netherlands. The
distance by car for example from:
Amsterdam 95 km ± 1 hour and 15-min drive
Utrecht 90 km ± 1 hour drive
Arnhem 90 km ± 1 hour drive
Rotterdam, The Hague 110 km ± 1 hour and 30min drive.
Afternoon Tea
Venice to Paris on the
Board the Orient Express that departs from Venice mid morning for your overnight journey to
Paris, where you arrive just after breakfast the
following day.
The train inaugurated in 1883 by the Belgian entrepreneur Georges Nagelmackers has become
the most famous in the world. Its history and
the story of its many different routes fill whole
books, and even before its resuscitation by the
American entrepreneur James Sherwood in
1982 it had become a byword for all that was
most intriguing, romantic and mysterious about
long-distance international train travel.
The original Orient Express ran between Paris
and Istanbul, but new routes (and variations on
the name) were developed. In its pre-war years
at least, it was also associated with elegance and
luxury and culinary excellence.
Orient Express
Route
Appropriately enough for a train steeped in romance, its principal routes link three of Europe’s
most beguiling cities, London, Paris and Venice. The chocolate-and-cream British Pullman
train departs from London Victoria and glides
through Kent, the London-bound commuters
waiting on station platforms looking on enviously as brunch and Bellinis are served on the
way to the Channel. In France the royal-blue
train with brass insignia, lined by uniformed and
white-gloved attendants, is waiting to take you
through the most fought-over acres of France to
the capital, while a four-course dinner is served.
The dinner is made unforgettable by the sumptuous surroundings of the Lalique glass- and