Australia is one of the few places on earth with not one but two legendary long-distance luxury trains, and guests planning a trip almost always ask us the same question: The Ghan or the Indian Pacific? Through the journeys we arrange, we have found there is no wrong answer — only a different Australia depending on which direction you choose to see it. The Ghan runs north to south through the continent's dead centre, while the Indian Pacific runs coast to coast across its southern breadth. Both are operated to the same exacting Journey Beyond standard, and both belong on any serious rail traveller's list.
This guide lays out what each journey actually shows you, how the cabins and classes compare, and when to travel, so you can decide which train — or, ideally, which pair of trains — belongs on your Australian itinerary.
Two Trains, Two Very Different Australias
The Ghan takes its name from the 19th-century Afghan cameleers who once opened up the interior, and it still traces their route: a 2,979-kilometre line from Adelaide through Alice Springs to Darwin, cutting straight through the Red Centre. It is a journey about emptiness and scale — the ochre desert, the MacDonnell Ranges, and skies that guests consistently tell us they were not prepared for.
The Indian Pacific takes the opposite axis, running roughly 4,352 kilometres between Sydney and Perth. It is the more varied of the two routes in pure geography, crossing the Blue Mountains, the mining town of Broken Hill, the historic goldfields around Kalgoorlie, and the Nullarbor Plain — including one dead-straight stretch of track that runs uninterrupted for 478 kilometres, among the longest in the world.
What You Actually See Off the Train
Both journeys are built around off-train excursions rather than time simply spent in a cabin. On The Ghan, our guests most often highlight the Alice Springs options — from the Alice Springs Desert Park to camel and helicopter add-ons over the West MacDonnell Ranges — plus a stop in Katherine for a gorge cruise and, on the southbound run, a look at the opal town of Coober Pedy. The Indian Pacific counters with an underground tour of the Kalgoorlie Super Pit gold mine, a heritage walk through Broken Hill, and a rare stop at Cook, a near-ghost town on the Nullarbor with a population that can be counted on one hand.
If you want the iconic outback silhouette — red sand, spinifex, a single line of track vanishing to the horizon — The Ghan delivers it more consistently across the journey. If you want geographic range in a single trip, coastal ranges to goldfields to true desert, the Indian Pacific covers more ground.
Cabins and Classes
The two trains share the same fleet philosophy and nearly identical cabin architecture, so the choice between them rarely comes down to comfort. Both offer Platinum and Gold class cabins in single, double, and twin configurations, and both fares are all-inclusive of meals, selected beverages, and off-train excursions.
- Gold Class is a comfortable twin or single cabin with a compact en-suite, and beds that fold down from bench seating each evening — the way most first-time guests experience either train.
- Platinum Class roughly doubles the floor space, adds a proper double bed configuration, a larger en-suite, bigger picture windows, a more generous luggage allowance, and access to a private Platinum Club dining and lounge car with an elevated wine list.
We generally steer first-time transcontinental travellers toward Platinum if the budget allows, simply because three or four nights is enough time for cabin size to matter. For couples celebrating an anniversary or travellers extending a longer Australian circuit, it is the difference that is felt most by the second evening onboard.
When to Travel
Timing matters more on The Ghan than on the Indian Pacific, because the Red Centre swings to genuine desert extremes. The cooler months from April through September are the classic window — mild days, cold clear nights, and excursions that are far more comfortable on foot. The Top End around Darwin also has a dry season that lines up with this same period, which is why most of our Ghan bookings cluster there. The Indian Pacific is a gentler year-round proposition, since its route sits mostly at temperate latitudes, though spring and autumn remain the most pleasant for the Nullarbor crossing and the Blue Mountains scenery near Sydney.
Departures on both trains run on a fixed seasonal schedule rather than daily service, so availability in peak months can close out well ahead of travel. For current departure dates and fares, the Ghan journal and Indian Pacific journal are the best places to check what is currently on sale, or you can reach our team directly through contact.
Can You Do Both?
A number of our guests link the two trains into a single Australian rail crossing: Indian Pacific from Sydney to Adelaide or onward to Perth, paired with The Ghan running north from Adelaide to Darwin. Because both services touch Adelaide, it is a natural junction point, and combining them turns two remarkable but separate journeys into a genuine coast-to-coast-to-top-end crossing of the entire continent — something very few travellers, Australian or otherwise, ever complete in one trip.
For travellers weighing up the wider field of options, it is also worth browsing our full list of luxury trains and destinations, since several other classic routes — from Africa's Pride of Africa to Peru's Andean Explorer — share the same spirit of unhurried, landscape-driven travel that makes both Australian trains so memorable.
Our Recommendation
If we had to choose one train for a first Australian rail journey, we would ask what you are chasing. For the purest, most cinematic outback experience, book The Ghan. For the broadest sweep of Australian landscape and history in a single itinerary, book the Indian Pacific. For travellers who can spare the extra week, doing both remains, in our experience, the single best way to actually understand the size of this country.
