Ranked, with the working shown
The best train tours in South Africa
28 hotel-based trips in South Africa had enough verified data to score; hostel and self-guided rail-pass trips are not ranked here. The ranking below is fully mechanical; here is exactly how it works:
- Eligibility: only hotel-based tours are ranked. Trips built around hostels or self-arranged accommodation are left out, since these guides recommend hotel-inclusive tours for the general traveller.
- Rail share (35%): the estimated share of itinerary days with a train leg (a share of days, not distance or time); trips not assessed are not ranked.
- Value (20%): price per day against the other hotel-based trips on this page (cheaper per day scores higher).
- Data completeness (25%): full day-by-day itinerary, imagery, inclusions, and verified price.
- Departure breadth (20%): how many months the operator publishes departures for.
Eleven-night luxury train journey from Pretoria to Victoria Falls through Southern Africa
- Rail share
- 65
- Value
- 50
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 100
17 days · from $12,831 ($755/day)
14-day Rovos Rail luxury train circuit across four southern African countries
- Rail share
- 85
- Value
- 39
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 50
14 days · from $10,676 ($763/day)
Nine-day London round trip: Cape Town exploration, then luxury Rovos Rail to Pretoria
- Rail share
- 22
- Value
- 96
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 100
9 days · from $4,862 ($540/day)
Nine-day luxury rail journey from London to Cape Town on the Blue Train
- Rail share
- 40
- Value
- 82
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 75
9 days · from $4,997 ($555/day)
12-day ground-only vintage-rail tour through South Africa's Cape
- Rail share
- 50
- Value
- 100
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 13
12 days · from $5,672 ($473/day)
Nine-day luxury rail journey from Cape Town to Pretoria aboard the Blue Train.
- Rail share
- 22
- Value
- 82
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 75
9 days · from $4,997 ($555/day)
14-day fly and vintage-rail tour through South Africa's Cape
- Rail share
- 43
- Value
- 93
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 13
14 days · from $7,698 ($550/day)
Nineteen-day escorted tour across South Africa by luxury train and coach from London
- Rail share
- 63
- Value
- 64
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 0
19 days · from $13,777 ($725/day)
17-day Rovos Rail journey across South Africa, Mozambique, Eswatini and Zimbabwe
- Rail share
- 71
- Value
- 43
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 0
17 days · from $12,961 ($762/day)
Luxury train from Pretoria to Victoria Falls with Hwange game drive
- Rail share
- 50
- Value
- 68
- Completeness
- 100
- Departures
- 0
6 days · from $4,051 ($675/day)