Best Train Journeys in Australia: Crossing a Continent by Rail

Australia is enormous, and there’s no better way to actually feel that scale than watching it scroll past a train window for two or three days straight. I’ve done the Ghan from Darwin to Adelaide and still think about the moment the landscape shifted from tropical wetland to true red desert, all without me lifting a finger.

These aren’t commuter trains. They’re proper long-distance journeys, some with private cabins, dining cars and off-train excursions built into multi-day itineraries. A few are short, scenic rides that make a perfect half-day activity rather than a full commitment.

Here’s the full range, from the legendary transcontinental routes to the smaller heritage lines that are just as memorable in their own way.

🚂 TL;DR — the quick version

• 🏜️ The Ghan (Darwin–Adelaide): A three-day, 2,979km crossing through the Red Centre, named after the Afghan cameleers who once opened up this route.
• 🌊 Indian Pacific (Sydney–Perth): Four days coast to coast, including the Nullarbor Plain’s famously dead-straight 478km stretch of track.
• 🌴 Spirit of Queensland (Brisbane–Cairns): A more relaxed 24-hour trip up the tropical coast, with reclining “Railbed” seats.
• 🚞 Puffing Billy (Dandenong Ranges, VIC): A century-old steam train through fern gullies, popular for its open-window carriages.
• ⛰️ West Coast Wilderness Railway (Tasmania): A rack-and-pinion heritage line through rainforest between Strahan and Queenstown.
• 🌿 Kuranda Scenic Railway (Queensland): A 90-minute climb through rainforest gorges above Cairns, often paired with the Skyrail cableway.
• 💰 Book long-distance routes months ahead: Sleeper cabins on the Ghan and Indian Pacific sell out well in advance during peak season.

🏜️ The Ghan, Darwin to Adelaide

The Ghan is Australia’s most famous train journey, running almost 3,000 kilometres straight through the centre of the continent. Named after the Afghan cameleers whose camel trains once supplied this same remote route before the railway existed, it connects the tropical top end at Darwin to Adelaide on the southern coast in around three days.

What makes it more than just a long train ride is the way the landscape genuinely transforms outside your window — tropical wetland gives way to the MacDonnell Ranges around Alice Springs, then to the vast red emptiness of the Simpson Desert fringe, before finally softening into South Australian farmland near the finish. Most fares include off-train excursions at Katherine, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy, so you’re not just watching scenery, you’re getting out and walking through it too.

🛏️ Choosing your cabin class

1. Gold Single/Twin: A compact private cabin with a fold-down bed, ensuite, and all meals and excursions included in the fare.
2. Platinum: Larger cabins with more floor space and bigger windows, at the top of the pricing tier.
3. Red Sleeper: A budget option with a shared seating carriage and reclining seats rather than a private bed — a much cheaper way to do the same route.

👉 Book a Darwin to Alice Springs Rail Journey on GetYourGuide →

🌊 Indian Pacific, Sydney to Perth

If the Ghan crosses Australia north to south, the Indian Pacific crosses it east to west, covering over 4,300 kilometres between Sydney and Perth in roughly four days. It’s one of the longest passenger rail journeys in the world, and its centrepiece is the Nullarbor crossing: 478 kilometres of perfectly straight track, the longest in the world, cutting through genuinely featureless desert plain.

The trip includes stops at Broken Hill, Adelaide and Cook — a near-ghost settlement in the middle of the Nullarbor with a population that can be counted on one hand — along with off-train excursions built into most fare types. Watching the sun set over completely flat desert from the train’s lounge car, with nothing but track and horizon in every direction, is one of those experiences that photos genuinely don’t do justice.

🌴 Spirit of Queensland, Brisbane to Cairns

A more relaxed and considerably cheaper option than the Ghan or Indian Pacific, the Spirit of Queensland runs up the state’s tropical coastline from Brisbane to Cairns in around 24 hours. It’s popular with travellers doing an east coast trip who want to skip a long stretch of driving without committing to a full multi-day rail holiday.

Its signature feature is the “Railbed” seat: a business-class-style recliner that folds almost flat for an overnight sleep, at a fraction of the cost of a proper sleeper cabin. The route hugs the coast for much of the journey, passing through sugar cane country and past glimpses of the Coral Sea, particularly scenic in the late afternoon light north of Rockhampton.

👉 Book a Cairns Rail and Rainforest Package on GetYourGuide →

🚞 Puffing Billy, Dandenong Ranges, Victoria

Just outside Melbourne, Puffing Billy is one of the world’s best-preserved steam railways, running through the fern gullies and forest of the Dandenong Ranges since 1900. It’s a completely different kind of train journey from the transcontinental routes — a couple of hours rather than a couple of days, and squarely aimed at scenery rather than distance.

Its most famous quirk is the open-sided carriages, which let passengers sit with their legs hanging out the window as the train winds through the forest — a tradition that’s become something of a signature photo for visitors. The full return trip from Belgrave to Gembrook takes around four hours, though many visitors do a shorter leg to Lakeside and back.

⛰️ West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania

Between Strahan and Queenstown on Tasmania’s rugged west coast, this heritage line was originally built in the 1890s to haul copper ore out of the mountains, using a rare rack-and-pinion system to climb the steep terrain that defeated conventional rail. Restored as a tourist railway, it now carries passengers rather than ore through the same dense rainforest and river gorges.

The full journey takes around four hours one way, with stops that let passengers walk through rainforest and visit old mining relics along the King River. It’s one of the few places in Australia where you can genuinely see the scars of 19th-century mining slowly being reclaimed by rainforest, side by side.

🌿 Kuranda Scenic Railway, Queensland

Climbing out of Cairns into the rainforest village of Kuranda, this 90-minute railway journey was carved through mountainous terrain by hand in the 1880s, a genuinely remarkable feat of engineering for its time. The route passes through 15 hand-dug tunnels and past the dramatic Barron Falls, best viewed from the train during the wet season when the falls are at full flow.

Most visitors combine it with the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, riding the train up and the cable car back down (or vice versa), which gives two completely different perspectives on the same stretch of World Heritage rainforest in a single day trip from Cairns.

💡 Tips for booking a long-distance rail journey

Multi-day journeys like the Ghan and Indian Pacific work differently from a normal train ticket, and a bit of planning avoids disappointment.

1. Book sleeper cabins months in advance. Peak season (April to September) fills up fast, particularly for twin cabins during school holidays.
2. Check what’s actually included. Gold and Platinum fares bundle meals and excursions into the price, while Red Sleeper fares are a bare-bones seat only.
3. Pack light. Cabin storage is genuinely compact — think airline carry-on rather than a full suitcase.
4. Consider one direction only. Many travellers fly one way and take the train the other, rather than doing a return rail journey that eats up a week of the trip.
5. Bring your own snacks for shorter routes. Heritage lines like Puffing Billy and Kuranda don’t always have onboard dining, unlike the long-distance sleeper trains.

👉 Book a Perth to Nullarbor Rail Experience on GetYourGuide →

Flying between Australian cities is almost always faster and often cheaper. But speed was never really the point of these journeys — it’s the slow, deliberate way they let the country’s scale sink in, one changing landscape at a time.

🚃 A few more worth knowing about

🍇 The Overland, Melbourne to Adelaide

A quieter, more affordable alternative to the headline routes, the Overland runs once a week between Melbourne and Adelaide, passing through the Grampians foothills and South Australia’s wine regions. It’s a day trip rather than an overnight journey, and a good option for travellers who want a taste of long-distance Australian rail without the multi-day commitment or price tag of the Ghan.

🦘 Savannahlander, Far North Queensland

A genuinely obscure but rewarding option for travellers who want to see inland Queensland rather than the coast. This slow, railmotor-style service runs from Cairns out to the savannah country around Forsayth over several days, stopping at small outback towns most visitors never otherwise reach. It’s a world away from the polished dining cars of the Ghan — closer to a rolling outback tour than a luxury train.

🏞️ Zig Zag Railway, New South Wales

In the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, this heritage line follows a remarkable piece of 19th-century engineering: a zig-zagging track built to haul trains up and over a mountain range too steep for a direct route. Restored sections now run as a tourist experience, offering sweeping views over the Lithgow Valley from a train that literally reverses direction partway up the mountain.

📸 Getting the most out of the scenery

Long-distance trains move at a pace that makes photography surprisingly easy, but a few habits make a real difference to the results.

• 🪟 Book a window seat on the shaded side. Staff can usually tell you which side of the train faces away from direct sun for most of the journey, reducing glare on your photos.
• 🌅 Set an alarm for sunrise. The most dramatic light on desert crossings like the Ghan and Indian Pacific tends to hit in the first hour after dawn, often while most passengers are still asleep.
• 🧳 Keep a camera within reach, not packed away. Wildlife, dramatic light and interesting landscape features tend to appear with only a few seconds’ notice.
• 🛑 Use off-train excursion stops. Some of the best photo opportunities come from the guided walks at Katherine, Alice Springs or Cook, not from the train window itself.

🗓️ Best time of year to travel

Seasonal timing genuinely changes what you’ll see on these routes, particularly the ones crossing the outback. The Ghan and Indian Pacific are most comfortable between April and September, when Central Australia’s daytime temperatures sit in a manageable range rather than the 40°C-plus heat of summer. The Kuranda Scenic Railway is arguably at its best during the wet season, from December to March, when Barron Falls is running at full force rather than reduced to a trickle. Puffing Billy and the West Coast Wilderness Railway are pleasant nearly year-round, though Tasmania’s west coast can be genuinely wet and cold in winter, so packing a proper rain layer is worth it regardless of the season.

One last piece of advice, whichever route you choose: resist the urge to treat the journey as dead time to catch up on emails or sleep through entirely. The whole point of these trains is the view outside, and unlike a flight, you’re not going to get it back on the return leg unless you book the same route twice.

🎒 Packing for a multi-day rail trip

Space is tight in a sleeper cabin, so it pays to pack differently than you would for a normal holiday. A soft duffel bag works far better than a hard-shell suitcase, since it can be squeezed into narrow cabin storage far more easily. Layers matter too — cabins and dining cars are climate controlled, but off-train excursions can swing from desert heat to chilly early mornings within the same day. A reusable water bottle, a good book, and a portable phone charger round out the essentials, since power outlets on some older carriages are limited to shared points in the corridor rather than one in every cabin.

However you plan it, give yourself at least one journey longer than a couple of hours. Short heritage rides are a lovely afternoon out, but it’s the multi-day crossings that really change how you understand the size of this country.