Extensions
A moving hotel with a dining car and a window seat on the whole country, from the Highveld grasslands across the empty Karoo to the mountains of the Cape.
A luxury train in South Africa turns the journey between the Highveld and the Cape into part of the holiday. Instead of the roughly two-hour flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town, you board in Pretoria and cover about 1,600 km by rail, sleeping in a private en-suite compartment while the Karoo slides past the window. Two long-established luxury services run this route. One makes the trip in about 27 hours with a single night aboard; the other takes a slower pace over two or three nights, with off-train excursions along the way.
Both run to fixed departure calendars rather than daily, and suites are limited, so the train usually becomes the anchor we design the rest of your trip around. It pairs naturally with a safari and the Cape: fly into the bush from Johannesburg, travel south by rail, then finish in Cape Town. On our South Africa honeymoon journey it is offered as an alternative routing, and on the Cape Town, Kruger and Victoria Falls safari as a slower way north.
Luxury Train Journeys in South Africa
Tell us early that you’re interested: departures run on fixed dates, so we check suite availability first and build the safari and Cape stays around the train.
A private transfer takes you to the station in Pretoria, or in Cape Town if you travel north, where you check in and your bags are taken to your suite.
On board, meals are served in the dining car and drinks in the lounge or observation car, while onboard staff look after your compartment.
Slower services pause for short off-train excursions to historic towns along the line; the faster service runs more or less straight through.
On arrival, your driver meets you at the station for the transfer to your hotel or onward flight.
Luxury Train Journeys in South Africa
Where to go
Safaris
Cape Town · Kruger Mpumalanga Airport · Sabi Sand · Victoria Falls
First-time visitors to Africa who want the region’s three best-known highlights in under two weeks
Cape Town · Franschhoek · Hermanus · Skukuza Airport · Kruger National Park
Honeymooners and anniversary couples traveling between June and November
Good to know
About 27 hours with one night aboard on the faster service, or two to three nights on the slower heritage service, which stops for excursions. Either way you cover roughly 1,600 km, so it replaces a two-hour flight with a travel experience in its own right.
Yes, on selected dates. Journeys from Pretoria to Victoria Falls typically take three to four nights and run only a few times a year, so they need to be booked early and the rest of the trip planned around the departure.
It depends on what you value. If you want to see the scale of the country and enjoy a day or two of unhurried comfort, it is a highlight; if your time is short, the flight leaves more nights for safari and the Cape.
As early as you can, ideally when you first plan the trip. Suites are few and departures are fixed, and it is much easier to fit flights and lodges around a confirmed train than the other way round.
Experiences
On foot
Swap the game-drive seat for boots and follow an armed trails guide through Lowveld bush, reading tracks, trees and birdsong at the pace of your own footsteps.
Ocean & reef
Watch southern right whales court and calve within sight of the Cape’s cliffs, from a clifftop path or a licensed boat, roughly June to early December.
Cities & culture
A full private day around the peninsula south of Cape Town: cliff roads, the Cape of Good Hope, African penguins at Boulders and a harbor lunch in Kalk Bay.
Share your dates, who is coming and whether malaria-free matters, and a safari specialist will design a private South Africa route around you. Nothing is booked until you approve it.
Plan My South Africa Safari
