Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail

Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail

Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail
4.5
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.


We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles5 reviews
Excellent
3
Very good
2
Average
0
Poor
0
Terrible
0

YALLAMANN
Oslo, Norway79 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2019 • Friends
Don't listen to people saying you don't need a proper car. Let there be no doubt. YOU DO NEED A PROPER CAR!

We drove from Finke to Alice Springs. Quite exiting road to drive. Be sure to bring fuel and plenty of water in case something happens. Bring an emergency beacon or a sat.phone.

I would really recommend the trip... In a proper 4x4 car...
Written 24 April 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

David L
Northern Territory, Australia122 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2018 • Couples
The Old Ghan track is rough and you are travelling through the Simpson desert. Alice Well approximately 60km from Finke (Aputula) sits beside the Huge river astride the Old Ghan heritage track and consists of a couple of houses with a wold life sanctuary being established. The Finke track is the actual race track used in the annual Finke Desert Race and forms one boundary of the Alice Well property. There is an old ruin, the first prison in the central Australian region. The old Well is still there alongside the newer windmill and stockyard.
The area is a no shoot area and you can see many birds, wild kangaroos, malu in the local language, donkeys, cattle, horses and camels. Alice Well is indigenous freehold and permit lands but you can call to arrange a visit. Just have a chat to Lorelle (08 89120602)
The track and I do mean a track, 2 wheel marks through the desert is 29.1 km to Titjikala a community on the very edge of the Simpson desert. The big red dune there is the most western dune of the largest sand desert in the world. A community of 300 people it has a store, church, art centre, school and clinic. It has won the Northern Territory Tidy Towns award more than once and is the home of a young man, RW who has been Young Territorian of the Year.
The road on from here to Alice Springs is a main dirt road but beware it’s rough and is well known for damaging vehicles so just take care.
Written 13 January 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Traveller060651
Newcastle, Australia369 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2015 • Couples
This road between the town of Finke and Alice Springs follow the former route of the Ghan Railway track. The new track has been repositioned further to the west. You will find a 4-wheel drive vehicle very helpful but not absolutely necessary. We did it in approximately 5 hours but you could do it in a little less, or much more if you wanted to take more time to see the scenery. We did it in August when it was not too hot. Because the road follows the old railway line there are sleeper pins buried in the dust all the way along. we were warned and so we were watching very carefully. A tire could very easily be ruptured if one of these pins was run over at the wrong angle. This is not for the faint hearted. But the desert scenery is marvellous. And we saw camels, big red kangaroos and flocks of major Mitchell cockatoos and budgies. This track is the scene of the Annual Finke Desert Race. I cannot believe how quickly those guys must travel.
Written 29 November 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

C...
Victoria, Australia94,482 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2019 • Friends
We drove into Finke rather excited to see a town ... and it's a gorgeous little town. Both of us had heard about the Finke Desert Race... it's hard to imagine this town swollen to triple and more of it's size for the race.

We followed the road to Alice Springs and after leaving town we realised that something was amiss. You only have to be a few kilometres out of town to realise that this track makes the Oodnadatta track feel like children's play.

We were driving a 4WD vehicle, but it really wasn't suited to the road. So we turned around and found another way out of the area. This road would be terribly exciting to be on IF you had the right vehicle... clearly we didn't. Further to this there were huge signs of animals being prevalent in the area... so again, I can't repeat enough... to drive this track... be prepared.
Written 6 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Mjs181
Hunter Valley, Australia232 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
June 2017 • Friends
Great trip from Alice Springs to Finke via the route of the old Ghan Railway. There are plenty of historic railway sidings and things to see along the way. The route also runs alongside the Finke Desert Race track for those more adventurous or looking to test their stamina. Lots of old railway line pins rusting in the dirt along the track if you stop and look around.
Written 7 July 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing

Old Ghan Railway Heritage Trail - All You MUST Know Before You Go (2025)

FlightsHoliday RentalsTravel StoriesCruisesRental Cars