The Ghan is one of the world's great rail journeys — a 2,979-kilometre epic that links two of Australia's most vibrant cities across the very heart of the continent. Over three days and two nights, the train traces a path from temperate Adelaide through the ancient red landscape of the Red Centre, past the frontier town of Alice Springs, through the tropical gorge country of Katherine, and finally into the lush northern city of Darwin. This is a journey where the destination is the train itself, and where the Australian outback unfolds outside your window in every shade of ochre, copper, and gold.
Operated by Journey Beyond Rail, The Ghan has been running in its current form since 1980, though the legendary journey dates to 1929. The route is named in honour of the Afghan cameleers who pioneered these remote desert trade routes in the nineteenth century. Today the train offers all-inclusive luxury — regionally inspired cuisine, fine Australian wines, curated off-train excursions at every stop, and comfortable private cabins ranging from Gold service to the flagship Australis Suite — making it the most rewarding way to experience the immensity and beauty of Australia's interior.
Departing Adelaide on Sundays and Wednesdays between March and November, The Ghan arrives in Darwin on the third evening. Whether you are drawn by the ancient desert landscape, the cultural richness of Central Australia, the dramatic sandstone gorges of Nitmiluk, or simply the romance of a great long-distance train, this journey delivers an experience that is impossible to replicate by any other means of travel.
- ✦2,979 km Adelaide to Darwin crossing Australia's iconic Red Centre
- ✦Sunrise over the outback at Marla near the NT border
- ✦Cultural off-train excursions in Alice Springs — Simpsons Gap, Desert Park, Standley Chasm
- ✦Nitmiluk Gorge rock art cruise through 70-metre sandstone cliffs with Jawoyn guides
- ✦All-inclusive dining with regionally inspired menus and Australian wines
- ✦Optional scenic flights over Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Nitmiluk Gorge
- ✦Arrival into tropical Darwin with Kakadu and the Timor Sea at your doorstep
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 — Adelaide to the Outback
The journey begins at Adelaide's Keswick Terminal, where passengers board in the early afternoon and are welcomed aboard with a champagne reception. As the train pulls north through the city's outer suburbs, the landscape transitions quickly from the lush, vine-covered hills of South Australia's wine country into the vast, dry pastoral plains of the mid-north. Dinner in the Queen Adelaide Restaurant is an early highlight — a regionally inspired menu paired with South Australian wines, served as the train pushes deeper into the darkening outback. The first night is a gentle introduction to the rhythms of life on the rails: unhurried, spacious, and defined by the extraordinary silence of the Australian interior rolling past your window.
Day 2 — Marla Sunrise, Alice Springs Excursions
Rise early for one of the journey's defining moments: a sunrise at Marla, a remote outpost near the South Australia–Northern Territory border and the gateway to the legendary Oodnadatta Track. The desert light at this hour is extraordinary — long shadows across spinifex, red sand catching the first gold of morning. Brunch is served as the train continues north into the Territory, and by mid-morning Alice Springs comes into view — ringed by the ancient MacDonnell Ranges, the West Macs rising in jagged purples and reds.
The train pauses in Alice Springs for several hours of off-train exploration. Included excursions (for Gold, Gold Premium, and Platinum guests) cover a range of experiences: the A Town Called Alice tour visits the Alice Springs School of the Air — the world's largest classroom by area — the Royal Flying Doctor Service museum, and the Alice Springs Reptile Centre; the Desert Park tour explores three distinct desert habitats with a live raptor display and nocturnal animal house; and the West Ventures walk takes guests through Simpsons Gap and the soaring 80-metre walls of Standley Chasm with Arrernte cultural guides. Optional upgrades include a guided e-bike ride along the historic Ghan railway line and, on select days, a scenic fixed-wing flight over Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon. As the afternoon light deepens into amber, the train reassembles its passengers and heads north into the Territory's open plains, Tennant Creek passing in the darkness. An optional outback dinner under the stars at the historic Alice Springs Telegraph Station is offered on select departures.
Day 3 — Katherine Gorge, then Darwin
The third day brings a change in the landscape — the harsh red desert gradually giving way to greener savanna as the train descends toward the tropical north. Katherine is the morning's stop, a frontier town on the banks of the Katherine River and the gateway to Nitmiluk National Park. Off-train experiences here are among the most dramatic of the journey: the signature Nitmiluk Rock Art Cruise takes guests by flat-bottomed boat deep into the gorge system, past sheer orange sandstone cliffs reaching 70 metres above the water, with expert guides explaining the ancient rock paintings and the living culture of the Jawoyn people, the traditional custodians. Alternative options include the Katherine Outback Experience — a working-station demonstration of horse-breaking and trained cattle dogs — and an underground tour of the Cutta Cutta Caves, where rare limestone karst formations house native wildlife. Helicopter flights over the gorge system are available as a premium upgrade.
After lunch aboard, the train runs north through the old gold-mining town of Pine Creek and past the wetlands and Adelaide River plains — once a key World War II military staging area — before rolling into Darwin's tropical heat by late afternoon. The journey concludes at Darwin Terminal in the early evening, the crew seeing passengers off into one of Australia's most liveable and culturally diverse cities, just in time for a sunset over the Timor Sea.
Destinations & Highlights
Adelaide, South Australia
The journey begins in Adelaide, South Australia's elegant capital, a city of broad boulevards, world-class food and wine culture, and a lively arts scene that belies its compact size. The city sits between the Mount Lofty Ranges and the Gulf St Vincent, and serves as the gateway to the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, and Clare Valley wine regions. Passengers boarding The Ghan at Keswick Terminal often spend a night or two in Adelaide beforehand, exploring the Central Market, the Adelaide Hills, or the fine restaurants of Rundle Street.
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Alice Springs is the beating heart of Australia's Red Centre — a remote frontier town of 25,000 people surrounded on all sides by one of the planet's oldest landscapes. The MacDonnell Ranges, formed some 350 million years ago, frame the town to the north and south, their ancient quartzite ridges glowing red and purple in the changing light. The town has deep significance for the Arrernte people, who have lived in this landscape for at least 40,000 years, and their culture is woven into everything from the place names to the art galleries of the town centre. Attractions include Simpsons Gap, where a narrow quartzite gorge shelters endangered black-footed rock wallabies; Standley Chasm, whose near-vertical walls turn a vivid orange at midday; the Alice Springs Desert Park, one of Australia's finest interpretive natural heritage sites; and the Royal Flying Doctor Service base, which has provided emergency medical care to the outback since 1939. Nearby, the historic Alice Springs Telegraph Station — completed in 1872 as part of the Overland Telegraph Line — offers a tangible connection to the epic engineering story of early colonial Australia.
Katherine and Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory
Katherine sits where the tropical north begins, a town of around 10,000 at the junction of the Stuart and Victoria Highways. The surrounding Nitmiluk National Park — spanning 292,000 hectares of savanna, gorge, and wetland — is one of the Northern Territory's most spectacular natural areas. The gorge system carved by the Katherine River through ancient sandstone contains thirteen distinct gorges, their walls decorated with thousands of years of Jawoyn rock art. The Jawoyn people, whose name means people from the stone country, have lived in this landscape for more than 25,000 years and co-manage the park with Parks and Wildlife NT. The Cutta Cutta Caves, 27 km south of Katherine, are a rare example of tropical karst limestone cave systems, home to the rare ghost bat and orange horseshoe bat.
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is Australia's northernmost capital: a compact, cosmopolitan city of about 150,000 people perched on a peninsula above the Timor Sea. The city was almost entirely destroyed by Japanese bombing raids in 1942 — more bombs fell on Darwin than on Pearl Harbor — and then again by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Day 1974, giving it a youthful, rebuilt energy quite unlike any other Australian capital. Today Darwin is renowned for its multicultural food scene (its Saturday night Mindil Beach Sunset Market is legendary), its proximity to Kakadu National Park, and its remarkable WWII heritage sites. The sunsets over the Timor Sea are among the finest in Australia, and the surrounding wetlands are home to extraordinary bird life, saltwater crocodiles, and the iconic landscapes of the Top End.