Named for the Afghan cameleers who once opened this route, the Ghan crosses an entire continent from Adelaide to Darwin through country few travellers ever see.
The journey covers nearly three thousand kilometres of the emptiest interior on the planet — scrub, then desert, then the sudden deep red of the Simpson Desert's dune country, then finally tropical green as you approach the Top End. Old rusted locomotives and abandoned sidings from the original narrow-gauge line still sit out in the desert near towns like Marree, remnants of the route's much harder early history before the modern standard-gauge line replaced it in 2004.
Off-train excursions are built into the ticket and are where the trip really opens up: a sunset walk through the West MacDonnell Ranges outside Alice Springs, a visit to Katherine Gorge further north, or simply time in the small town of Alice Springs itself, roughly the halfway point and the only real settlement the route passes through for hundreds of kilometres in either direction.
Onboard, the days settle into a rhythm of dining car meals, a lounge car with a well-stocked bar, and long unbroken hours watching country scroll past that changes almost imperceptibly hour to hour but transforms completely over the length of the journey. Cabins are small but proper beds, not couchettes, which matters over three days.
Book well ahead — the Ghan operates on a fixed seasonal schedule rather than daily departures, running more frequently between April and November. The heat further north can be extreme even in the shoulder months, so factor that into what you pack for the excursions.
