How to Travel Around the World by Train

Published 24 July 2012 · Updated 12 September 2026 · RTW TOURS

Fascinated by rail travel? Jump back to a different era, when the journey was as much a part of the adventure as the destination. Trains are the most civilised, comfortable and sometimes luxurious way to travel in style!

In 2012 this page laid out a trip around the world on the great trains: the Orient Express to Istanbul, the Trans-Siberian to Beijing, the Reunification Express down Vietnam, the Eastern & Oriental Express to Singapore, the Ghan across Australia, the Canadian across Canada and Rovos Rail from Cape Town to Cairo. Most of those trains still run. Two of them no longer go where that plan needed them, and the Trans-Siberian is out of reach for now.

Can you still go all the way round by train?

No. You can't cross an ocean by train, so every version needs at least two flights or sea crossings. In 2026 there is a third gap, in the middle of Asia.

Mark Smith, who runs The Man in Seat 61, the most thorough train travel site there is, writes that "all trains between western Europe and Russia are suspended, originally due to Covid-19, now due to the war in Ukraine & sanctions". The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Russia. The southern way round, through Turkey, across the Caspian and through Central Asia to China, he calls "currently not viable", because the trains between Kazakhstan and China have not run since the pandemic.

So between Europe and China you fly. The good news is that the rest of Asia is far better connected by rail than it was in 2012.

The route in 2026

• London to Istanbul by train, via Paris, Munich, Budapest and Bucharest. Seat61 describes it as a four-night trip. From June to early October a Turkish couchette car runs straight through from Bucharest to Istanbul.

• Fly Istanbul to Beijing.

• Beijing to Hanoi on the through sleeping car, which leaves Beijing West on Thursdays and Sundays. In 2012 this leg was a flight.

• Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City on the Reunification Express: 1,726 km in 29 to 33 hours, with several trains a day and 4-berth soft sleepers.

• Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh and on to Bangkok by bus and train. There is still no railway from Vietnam into Cambodia.

• Bangkok to Singapore by train. The overnight International Express leaves Bangkok at 16:10 and reaches the Malaysian border at Padang Besar at 09:05. Electric ETS trains take you on to Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, and a five-minute shuttle crosses to Singapore. That is about 48 hours without stops, and Seat61 suggests a night or two in Penang or Kuala Lumpur on the way.

• Fly Singapore to Darwin.

• The Ghan from Darwin to Adelaide, through Alice Springs and the Red Centre. The full Ghan Expedition takes 4 days and 3 nights.

• Fly Adelaide to Vancouver.

• The Canadian from Vancouver to Toronto, two or three times a week.

• The Maple Leaf from Toronto to New York, daily, about 14 hours.

• Queen Mary 2 from New York to Southampton, 7 nights, then a train to London. Seat61 lists fares from £929 per person one way in an inside cabin.

There is a second way south from Beijing. Take the high-speed train to Kunming, then the Laos-China railway, which has carried international passengers since 13 April 2023, down through Luang Prabang to Vientiane. Since 19 July 2024 a direct sleeper has run from Vientiane to Bangkok, 12 to 13 hours overnight.

AirTreks puts the three flights (Istanbul to Beijing, Singapore to Darwin, Adelaide to Vancouver) at about $1,698 to $2,590 per person in economy. That is a planning estimate from AirTreks fare history, checked 1 October 2026, and an AirTreks specialist will price your exact route and dates. Allow two months at the very least. Some of these trains run only two or three times a week, and the connections set the pace.

What happened to the luxury trains

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, "the train against which all other luxury trains are measured" as Vanity Fair put it, still runs. Paris to Venice is one night. Its longest journey is Istanbul to Paris, five nights, which only fits a trip going round the world westbound.

The Eastern & Oriental Express came back, but it no longer goes to Bangkok. Belmond now runs it on 3-night round trips from Singapore through Malaysia, so use the ordinary trains above for the Bangkok leg and treat the E&O as a detour from Singapore.

The Ghan and the Canadian carry on much as before. The Ghan is named after the Afghan cameleers who once crossed the same country, and it still runs from one edge of Australia to the other, through the very centre.

Rovos Rail's Cape Town to Cairo expedition is no longer on its schedule. Its longest trip now runs from Cape Town to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, about 16 days, and fits a trip round the world as a detour: fly from New York to Cape Town, take the train north, and fly home from Dar es Salaam.

If you'd rather someone else organised it

Adventures by Train sells a 100-day trip round the world with no flights at all, leaving on 14 March 2027 with at most 12 passengers. It includes China's high-speed trains, a 23-day cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver by way of Alaska, the California Zephyr and Queen Mary 2 across the Atlantic. It costs £89,950 per person sharing, or £112,900 travelling solo.

For the sea crossings on a working ship instead of a liner, see travelling around the world on freighters. The best single source for any train in this list is The Man in Seat 61, with pages on London to Istanbul, Vietnam, Laos, Bangkok to Singapore, the Canadian and Queen Mary 2. The operators are Belmond for the Orient Express and E&O, Journey Beyond for the Ghan, and VIA Rail for the Canadian.

Tags: travel by train, luxury trains, round the world train, train travel, world train