The Ghan

The route

The first Ghan reached Alice Springs in August 1929, and the last leg had been made by camel until then. The name is usually traced to the Afghan cameleers who carried goods through the centre, though the explanations vary. For half a century the train ran on a narrow-gauge line across the floodplains, and it was famous for running late.

There is an old joke about the original Ghan. A heavily pregnant woman asks the guard how long it will be to Alice Springs, because she is about to give birth. The guard asks why she got on the train in that condition. “I wasn’t pregnant when I got on,” she says.

The joke had some truth in it. In 1924 pastoralists complained of the train’s “notorious unreliability”. Floods washed out the track so often that the train carried spare sleepers and tools on a flatcar, so that the passengers and crew could mend the line themselves. In 1980 a new standard-gauge line opened about 160 km to the west, away from the floodplains, and the first passenger train ran through to Darwin in February 2004.

Today the northbound train leaves Adelaide and runs up past Port Augusta to the Flinders Ranges, then north through the desert to Marla and Alice Springs. From there it crosses the Northern Territory to Katherine and ends in Darwin. The operator gives the distance as 2,979 km; the Northern Territory’s tourism site gives 2,797 km.

What the rail journey is like

The accounts agree on the landscape. Riders describe a slow turn from the tropical green of the north to deep red desert and back to farmland in the south. Cat and Joe of Walk My World, in a review published in February 2023 after travelling as the operator’s guests, valued the way the country changes “little by little”. LEESAN, writing in The Star in June 2025, remembered the “boundless red earth” and the occasional kangaroo.

Life on board centres on the Outback Explorer Lounge, with its barista coffee and bar, and the Queen Adelaide Restaurant. The food is regional and generous: kangaroo, barramundi and crocodile dumplings come up again and again. Lisa Young, writing for Saga in January 2025, noted that passengers don’t usually dress up for dinner. Every account that mentions the staff praises them.

The cabins are the weak point. Jon Jensen, writing for CNN in December 2024, found the older Gold cabins slightly cramped and ageing. Young found her Gold twin “starting to show its age” and said it could be tight for two.

There is no wifi or television, and for long stretches no phone signal, which some riders welcome as a rest. Sleep divides them. Clare and Jessie Stephens, writing for Mamamia in a piece with commercial links, were “rocked to sleep”; LEESAN felt every vibration, and Walk My World were sometimes jolted awake.

The stops matter as much as the train. The evening at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station, with a barbecue, camels and the stars, is one of the events riders praise most, though it comes on the southbound journey. In Katherine, the cruise up Nitmiluk Gorge is the option several riders describe. Walk My World, the operator’s guests again, found the time spent off the train more than they wanted.

The stages

The stages follow the operator’s 2027 timetable for the Saturday departure from Adelaide. The operator says times and excursions may vary, and confirms final times before you travel. No source we found says which side of the train has the better view on any stage.

The Tuesday departure follows the same pattern but reaches Darwin at 7.50pm. Going south, the Ghan Expedition leaves Darwin on Wednesday or Saturday mornings; the operator’s own pages disagree on the months each runs, so check the dates when you book. It stops at Katherine on the first afternoon. It then spends a full day at Alice Springs, with dinner at the Telegraph Station, and a day at Coober Pedy, before arriving in Adelaide at 9am on the fourth day.

Stops worth breaking the journey for

The operator’s answers to common questions say guests leave the train at the regional stops only for its own excursions. We found nothing on stopping over and rejoining a later train, so ask when you book. These are the four stops the excursions are built around.

The Flinders Ranges

Northbound only. The train stops for a day among the gorges and old stone station ruins, with lunch in the railway town of Quorn.

Alice Springs

The halfway town in the Red Centre, at the foot of the MacDonnell Ranges. The southbound train gives it a full day and an evening at the Telegraph Station. Our guide to Alice Springs.

Katherine

The gateway to Nitmiluk Gorge in Jawoyn country. Both directions stop here, and the gorge cruise runs all year.

Coober Pedy

Southbound only. The opal-mining town where people live underground, reached by coach from the Manguri siding, with the Breakaways outside town.

Planning the journey

Where to sit

Every passenger has a cabin, so the question is which way it faces. The operator says about half the cabins face forward and that you can ask for one when you book, though it can’t promise it. We found no source that says which side of the train has the better view. The lounge has large windows, and riders describe it as the social centre of the train.

Gold, Gold Premium or Platinum?

There is no ordinary train on this route, and no budget option: the seated carriages went in 2015 and 2016. The choice is between levels of the same all-inclusive service.

The only first-hand comparison we found is by Brandon Loo of Point Hacks, who slept in Gold and Platinum on one journey. The operator provided his Gold twin and Platinum access. He judged Gold fully inclusive and enough, with Platinum worth it for the space and service on a once-in-a-lifetime trip. He found the Platinum menu about 95% the same as Gold’s.

Classes and what they include

Every level includes all meals, wine, beer and spirits, soft drinks and the excursions at each stop. Flights to Uluru or over Lake Eyre are extra, from A$1,249 to A$1,599 a person at 2026 prices. Gold guests get a shuttle to Darwin city hotels; Platinum includes transfers at both ends.

Booking, passes and fares

The 2027 season went on sale in November 2025. Fares rise by about a quarter in the middle of the year, and the southbound journey costs more. Press reports in late 2025 quoted a headline of A$3,390, lower than the operator’s page now shows, so check the price on the day.

The cheapest advance purchase fares need booking six months or more ahead, and riders describe booking nine to twelve months out. We found no rail pass that covers the Ghan.

One way or there and back?

One way, and fly home: flights between Darwin and Adelaide take about five hours. Choose the direction by what you want to see. Go north for the Flinders Ranges, the sunrise at Marla and an arrival in the tropics. Go south for the full day at Alice Springs, the Telegraph Station evening and Coober Pedy.

Travelling with a mobility need, and luggage

Each departure has a few Gold Access cabins, with a wider 0.85 m door and an accessible ensuite with a shower chair. You will need to complete the operator’s Fitness to Travel form.

The operator’s answers to common questions say a modified wheelchair is kept on board and your own can travel as checked luggage. Its terms and conditions, valid to the end of 2026, say mobility aids cannot be used on board and that guests must board unaided. We can’t reconcile the two, so ask the operator directly before you book. The operator says the Coober Pedy tours are not suitable for wheelchairs, and it rates Cutta Cutta Caves as high mobility.

Checked luggage goes in a separate van and you cannot reach it during the journey: two bags of up to 30 kg each in Gold, three of 30 kg in Platinum. Pack a small cabin bag for three nights.

If the journey breaks down

The Ghan is a long way from anywhere, and a little preparation goes a long way:

• Read the operator’s terms on floods, fires and weather. Under the terms valid to 31 December 2026, a journey stopped before it starts usually brings a credit note, and the itinerary can change during the trip if the track is affected. We could not find the 2027 terms, so check the current version when you book.
• Take travel insurance that covers the full fare. The operator’s terms to the end of 2026 say illness is not treated as an event beyond your control.
• Leave a day’s slack before an onward flight. In September 2024 a cattle truck hit the train north of Alice Springs; none of the 222 passengers was seriously hurt, but services were suspended.
• Expect no wifi and long stretches without a phone signal, and download what you need before you board.