Australia & The Ghan

Train and Hotel Accommodations

Majestic Roof Garden Hotel, Adelaide
The 4-Star Majestic Roof Garden Hotel is located in the center of Adelaide, providing easy access to many of the city's main attractions. The hotel boasts a lobby restaurant and bar overlooking the streets of Adelaide, which is open daily for breakfast and dinner. Leisure facilities include a fitness center offering views over the whole city. All hotel rooms come equipped with mini bar, air conditioning, complimentary Wi-Fi internet access, safe, television, iron and ironing board, and tea and coffee making facilities.

Desert Gardens Hotel, Ayers Rock Resort
The 4-Star Desert Gardens Hotel enjoys a central location in Ayers Rock Resort, close to all the resort's facilities as well as the lookouts, where you can enjoy watching the sunset on Uluru and the surrounding desert. The hotel is set amidst gardens of ghost gums and native flowering shrubs and features a restaurant serving Australian cuisine, a bar and an outdoor pool. All rooms are air conditioned and equipped with a telephone, television, radio, mini-bar, refrigerator, tea and coffee making facilities and a hairdryer. All rooms have either a private veranda or courtyard.

Pullman Cairns International, Cairns
Found in the heart of Cairns City, the city of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the Pullman Cairns International Hotel is an excellent choice from which to explore more of Australia and this metropolitan city. The hotel features a superb range of amenities including a swimming pool, a Jacuzzi, a gymnasium and a sauna. There is also a bar and a restaurant. Each room has a hairdryer, a minibar and a television.

Crown Promenade, Melbourne
The 4-star Crown Promenade is situated in the heart of Melbourne's lively Southbank district. A range of restaurants, bars and cafés serve food and drinks in the attached Entertainment Complex, and the hotel also has its own restaurant and bar on site. 24-hour room service is available. Rooms at the Crown Promenade assure air conditioning with independent temperate control, a large flat-panel digital television, mini-bar, tea and coffee making facilities, hair dryer, safe and high-speed wireless internet access. Relaxing is easy at the hotel's Deck leisure center, which features a 25 metre indoor pool, a sauna, steam and massage rooms, a gym and an activities studio.

Amora Hotel Jamison, Sydney
The 5-Star Amora Hotel Jamison is located in the center of the city near just a short walk away from the Sydney Opera House, Harbor Bridge and many more of Sydney's great attractions. The hotel boasts two restaurants and two bars for you to choose from, offering a wide range of food for you to enjoy. Leisure facilities at the Amora Hotel Jamison include a heated swimming pool, fully equipped gym, sauna, steam room and the Amora spa (payable locally). The contemporary hotel rooms come equipped with air conditioning, mini bar, hairdryer, safe, toaster, telephone, iron and ironing board and television.

Katoomba Scenic Railroad
Once a 19th century novelty that pre-dated rollercoasters, the Katoomba Scenic Railroad is the world's steepest incline track. The railroad gradually lowers through the ancient rainforest surroundings.

Kuranda Scenic Railroad
The Kuranda Scenic Railroad has journeyed through the World Heritage Rainforest of tropical North Queensland for 125 years. Weaving through a series of switchbacks and tunnels above the Barron River Gorge to Kuranda, the KSRprovides magnificent views of this outstanding national park.

NSW Trainlink XPT
The frequent NSW TrainLink XPT service operates in and between several Australian cities, including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Casino.

Similar in design to the UK's InterCity 125, the XPT follows the route of the Hume Highway through the state of Victoria, passing through Benalla and the cathedral city of Wangaratta before entering the state of New South Wales and the Riverina region. The broad, flat plains of the Riverina comprise some of the most agriculturally productive land in Australia due to the favourable climate and a plentiful water supply.

The XPT service continues through the cities of Albury and Wagga Wagga and then heads west to Cootamundra and the Southern Tablelands. Leaving Goulburn, the train enters the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, a mountainous wine-producing region that sits on the Great Dividing Range. Finally, after passing through the suburbs of Campbelltown and Strathfield in the Australian capital, the service pulls into Sydney's Central Railroad Station.

We reserve First Class carriages for daytime journeys on the NSW TrainLink XPT. First Class accommodation features extra legroom, a deluxe reclining seat, and a footrest. Most seats rotate to form a 'conversation group' of four. A buffet car selling a selection of hot and cold meals, snacks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are available on board the train.

Puffing Billy steam train
With its reputation as Australia's favourite steam train the century-old Puffing Billy is a treasure for rail enthusiasts. A low-cost narrow gauge line constructed in Victoria during the early 1900s, the classic steam engine opened up rural areas and has been championed by the Puffing Billy Preservation Society since the sixties. We journey on Billy from Belgrave through the Dandenong Ranges, crossing rustic timber bridges and passing scenic Emerald Lake Park and Wright State Forest on the way to the historic town of Gembrook.

The Ghan
Australia's Afghan Express, now affectionately referred to as The Ghan, offers Great Rail Journeys' guests an epic travel experience through this remarkable country.

Named in tribute to the Afghan camel drivers who helped to make Australia's arid and uncharted Red Center accessible at the end of the nineteenth century, The Ghan's maiden journey in August 1929 traveled the 1,559 kilometres from Adelaide, South Australia to Alice Springs.

Since that first journey it was always intended that The Ghan's journey would continue from Alice Springs to Darwin on the coast of Australia's Northern Territory, and this became a reality in 2004 following the opening of a 1,420-kilometre rail link between the two cities.

Today, the entire 2,979-kilometre trip from Adelaide to Darwin, or vice-versa, can be made in three days. Traveling in luxurious comfort aboard a train fully-equipped with modern amenities, our guests aboard The Ghan enjoy a journey that takes in some of Australia's most diverse and spectacular scenery.

The Overland Train
The recently refurbished Overland serves the route between Adelaide and Melbourne. During this daylight journey we travel in Red Premium Service, which offers passengers comfortable reclining seats and complimentary orange juice or water on boarding the train. Red Premium Service passengers have access to the licensed Red Service Café Carriage which serves a selection of snacks, meals and drinks. There is also an at-seat trolley service with snacks and drinks available for purchase, as well as a limited selection of a la carte dishes.