Portugal to Singapore by train is an intercontinental itinerary from Lagos in Portugal to Singapore, crossing 13 countries by train.
There has never been an unbroken railway along this route - it's disrupted by war and Covidphobia, and there's a gap of 15 km between railways in Laos. But if you're prepared to do it in sections whenever circumstances permit, you can start it right now.
Understand
[edit]- But did he ever return, No he never returned, And his fate is still unlearned…
- – and Charlie was only taking the train across town, according to the Kingston Trio, 1959
It's almost 200 years since the first steam-hauled passenger railway revolutionised travel in September 1825. Local lines gradually joined up into inter-city then international routes, and in May 1869 the "golden spike" was driven in at the completion of the United States' first coast-to-coast railway. In 1916 the Trans-Siberian railway linked Moscow with Vladivostok, and long-distance trains snaked across other continents. The public imagination was fired by the possibility of journeys previously unthinkable. Railways withered in the 20th century but revived in the 21st, and in 2024 one missing link in Laos was completed to leave a final 15 km still needed to connect Indochina to Europe. So as it stands, the longest railway trip you can make is from Lagos on the south coast of Portugal, some 18,755 km all the way to Singapore. Given the geography, it will remain so until someone tunnels under the Straits of Gibraltar to connect with the Marrakesh Express.
The route in a nutshell is Lagos–Madrid–Paris–Berlin–Moscow–Ulaanbaatar–Beijing–Vientiane–Bangkok–Singapore. No-one has ever done it as a single ride and perhaps they never will, or perhaps you might be the first. Railway travel across the borders of China is still blighted by COVID19-phobia and there remains a 15-km taxi ride between stations in Vientiane, Laos. Meanwhile in 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine, whereupon trains from west Europe were halted and Russia became off-limits for westerners. There is no saying when this might be resolved or what other upheaval might fragment the route. The paradox is, you can set off right now, there's never been a better time.
There is no single train along the whole route – you at least have to change trains or platforms, and in several cities you change between stations by taking the Metro or equivalent. The longest single ride is Moscow–Beijing, a seven-day odyssey of 7622 km. Travelled back-to-back, the entire route might take 21 days, factoring in overnight stopovers enforced by the timetable. But surely you must pause to see something of the places along the way, else when folk ask "so how was Madrid/Moscow/Mongolia?" all you can reply is that the station internet was kinda slow. And have you ever smelt a train that's been on the go for a week? – the pong is not soon forgotten. That being so, it's all the same if you fly away home after a section and return in a few months for another section, then another and another in no particular order till they all link up. Especially in west and central Europe where cities of interest are close together, it's simple to fly into City B, take day-trips by train west to City A and east to City C, and you're already on your way to covering the whole route in both directions.
Get in
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The complete itinerary crosses 13 countries. Check that your passport has enough room for all the stamps you're going to acquire, and will still have six months validity by the end of your trip. Depending on your nationality, you might need visas or e-permits (similar to the US Esta) for the Schengen area (Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), for Belarus and Russia – these will be by far the hardest to get – for Mongolia and China, then for Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
The route only necessitates single-entry visas, but doubling back and some side trips (such as Hong Kong) involve a second entry to a country so you'd need a multi-trip visa.
See individual city pages for maps, local transport, accommodation, sights and eating places.
All the places mentioned on the itinerary have an airport within an hour or so's travel. For Lagos the starting point use Faro or maybe Lisbon.
Go
[edit]West Europe
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Portugal is on Greenwich Mean Time or UTC, an hour behind Spain. CP (Coimboios de Portugal) is the national railway operator.
1 Lagos is start of the route. The name means "lakes", like the Nigerian city – they're brackish coastal lagoons. This is the Algarve, Portugal's Costa Golf, with not much to do apart from golf and sitting on the beach.
One train a day from Lagos is direct to Lisbon, otherwise change at Tunes (pronounced Tunesh) for a 4 hour trip.
Faro has the regional airport and is a more interesting place to stay. You can day-trip by rail from here to Lagos or Lisbon. Another line rattles east along the coast to Vila Real de Santo António on the Spanish border; there are no plans to extend it into Spain.
2 Lisbon the capital of Portugal is a fascinating historic city and national transport hub. You'd be mad not to stop for a day or two, though the timetable enables a skip - the earliest train from Lagos arrives at 10:00.
The principal station is Lisboa Oriente, which has Metro connections to the centre and the airport. Local trains start from Lisboa Santa Apolonia in the centre, then stop at Oriente, and these alas are what you must take. A high-speed line to Madrid is under construction but completion is nowhere in sight: the fastest journey is nine hours departing around 12:30 with changes at Entroncamento and Badajoz (below), to reach Madrid for 23:00.
Entroncamento is little more than a railway junction, though it does have accommodation and a railway museum.
An alternative itinerary is to go north to Coimbra, a charming university town, and historic Porto on the Douro river. Thence travel to Vigo for trains to Madrid or Bilbao. Maybe stop off in Santiago de Compostela, where they're used to blessing footsore pilgrims arriving on the Camino de Santiago, and could presumably spare a benediction for those setting out on a madman's quest to Singapore. A narrow-gauge railway also potters along the coast from Ferrol to Oviedo, Bilbao, San Sebastian and the French border – it's slow, often disrupted by engineering works, and not as much fun as it sounds.
Spain is on Central European Mean Time, UTC+1, so there's a one-hour switch at the border. Renfe is the national railway operator.
Badajoz is 4 hours by rail from Lisbon, 3 from Entroncamento and 5 from Madrid: the high speed line from Madrid might get here in 2025. It's mostly industrial but has an interesting walled citadel.
Two trains a day to Madrid are direct, via Mérida, Caceres, Talavera, Torrijos and Leganes. In Madrid they stop at Atocha Cercanías (the commuter station next to the main station) then Chamartin.
3 Madrid the capital of Spain needs an overnight stop and deserves several days to explore: accommodation and major sights such as the Prado are near Atocha station. High speed lines fan out to Toledo, Valencia, Alicante, Cordoba, Seville, Granada, Malaga, Valladolid, Zamora, León, Burgos, Zaragoza and Barcelona. The simplest onward route is east of the Pyrenees via Barcelona, but an alternative is to go west via Burgos, Vitoria-Gasteiz, San Sebastian, Irun where you walk across the border river bridge to Hendaye, then via Bayonne and Bordeaux to Paris Montparnasse.
Trains to Barcelona run every 30 min and take 3 hours via Zaragoza. The direct train to Paris has been on and off during the 2020s so you probably need to change in Barcelona, with two connections a day taking 10 hours.
Zaragoza midway to Barcelona deserves to be better known, if only for its station called Delicias, the garden of delights (a former confectionery factory). The station is 2 km west of downtown where the top sights are the Moorish palace and two cathedrals. This is last chance to travel west of the Pyrenees, via trains to Pamplona and Bilbao.
4 Barcelona is a must-see buzzing metropolis, allow at least a couple of days. The main station Sants is in the south of the city, use the Metro for Old Town and Las Ramblas 3 km northwest.
Trains into France often sell out, so book early. The direct train to Paris runs twice a day, taking almost 7 hours via Girona, Figueres, Perpignan, Narbonne, Beziers, Montpellier, Nimes and Valence. You may not ride it just for the Spanish sector; if you intend to stop at intermediate stations, use the old (yet nowadays speedy) line from Barcelona (Sants and 3 other stops) to Girona, Figueres, Portbou at the French border, and Cerbère. From there a hourly local train takes you to Perpignan.
Girona has a cathedral and remnants of its old town and walls. The old and new (i.e. post-2010) rail routes diverge here, with the high-speed station beneath the original. Figueres is served by both but at different stations.
France (UTC+1, no change) has an impressive "TGV" high-speed railway network: see Rail travel in France. SNCF is the national rail operator.
Perpignan station inspired a famous surreal painting by Salvador Dalí, who mistook it for the Centre of the Universe, an easily-made mistake.
5 Paris is a huge city and you could easily spend a week taking in its major sights. It's the hub of the TGV network, reaching most cities in France and stretching beyond to Madrid, London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
The mainline stations of Paris are several km apart, linked by Metro or RER regional trains, allow 30 min transfer plus 30 min check-in time for the next train. Gare de Lyon is your likeliest arrival point, serving all the south including Spain, Marseilles, Nice (with connections into Italy), and Geneva and Basel in Switzerland. Gare de l'Est is the likeliest for departure, for trains to Germany and beyond. Use Gare du Nord for England, Belgium or the Netherlands.
Until 2020 the onward route was obvious: you took the weekly direct train to Moscow, and the whole itinerary pivoted on this. It left from Gare de l'Est on Thursday towards 19:00, running via Berlin, Warsaw, Brest and Minsk to reach Moscow towards noon on Saturday. There is no foreseeable prospect of it resuming.
That remains the obvious way to head east, continuing into the Baltic countries, as described below. There are multiple others, and a swing north might travel via Amsterdam and Cologne. A long swing south might go via Munich, Vienna and Ostrava to cross Poland via Katowice and Krakow. Eventually all routes come up against the new Iron Curtain of Russia.
A daily direct train plies between Paris and Berlin, departing Gare de l'Est just before 10:00 and taking 8 hours via Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt, to arrive around 17:00. Several other trains involve a change but are almost as quick.
Strasbourg is on the border with Germany and has good rail connections there and into Switzerland. It has an elegant historic city centre.
Central Europe
[edit]Germany (UTC+1, same as France) has an excellent ICE fast railway network, see Rail travel in Germany. Deutsche Bahn is the national rail operator, and its website is about the best for planning cross-European journeys.
Karlsruhe has a sumptuous bling-palace, but for tourists it's overshadowed by picture-perfect Heidelberg and Freiburg another hour away.
Frankfurt is very modern but has an old town square, and lots to see. Most trains also stop at its airport (FRA), which has a huge range of flights.
6 Berlin, the German capital, has been re-engineered since the wall came down and east and west were re-united. The main station is Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) near the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate that long symbolised its division. Trains from France and most destinations arrive here. Trains to Poland are from outlying stations such as Gesundbrunnen or Lichtenburg (transfer by S-Bahn or regional train, 10 min): the last departs around 17:30. This necessitates an overnight stop in Berlin since the earliest arrival from Paris is 17:00, too tight a connection. And in any case this fascinating city demands longer. In communist times, trains from the eastern bloc came into Freidrichstrasse in East Berlin, which (once you'd cleared border control) had platforms effectively in the west. To assist any traveller confused about that, helpful guards toted machine guns, and West Berlin local trains departed through a tunnel of barbed wire.
Reservations are compulsory on all inter-city trains between Germany and Poland. Trains run every two hours, taking 5 hr 30 min to Warsaw via Schwedt and Poznań.
An alternative route north and east is via Hamburg. Trains run through the Jutland peninsula and string of islands to Copenhagen, thence via the bridge-tunnel to Malmo and Stockholm. Swedish trains run to Haparanda on the border with Finland, with a 3-km bus connection to Tornio and change of gauge to the eastern system. All Finnish trains converge on Helsinki, which until 2020 had a train to St Petersburg and an overnight one to Moscow. As of 2025, the border is closed.
Poland (UTC+1, same as Germany) has reasonably fast trains, somewhat slower than ICEs and a good deal cheaper. PKP is the national rail operator.
Poznań was the cradle of the nation and has a rebuilt old town. Change here to go north to Gdańsk or south to Wrocław, Katowice and Kraków.
7 Warsaw, the Polish capital, has a skilfully rebuilt old town – it was pulverised during the Second World War – and many attractions beyond such as Łazienki Park. There are three major stations in a row – Zachodnia west, Centralna (go on, guess) and Wschodnia east. Trains from all directions stop at all three before terminating or heading elsewhere, so from Berlin and Poznań you encounter them in that order and finish at Wschodnia. The cross-town line is a bottleneck, and engineering until 2026 may disrupt the pattern.
Until 2020, Warsaw not only had trains via Minsk to Moscow and St Petersburg, but slip-coaches shunted onto Trans-Siberian trains all the way to Vladivostok. Another route was via Lublin then Lviv and Kyiv in Ukraine to Moscow.
A daily train from Kraków runs via Warsaw and Białystok to Kaunas and Vilnius, where you change for Riga and eventually Tallinn.
Białystok is a textile town with a few baroque buildings. Trains from Warsaw run every hour or two, the quickest non-stop in 90 min. The daily train to Lithuania comes through at 10:00, and it might be more convenient to join it here rather than at 08:00 in Warsaw. Trains no longer cross to Brest and Minsk in Belarus.
Lithuania is on Eastern European Time, UTC+2 an hour ahead of Poland. It has a limited railway network, see LTG Link for timetables and tickets. Reflecting its Tsarist history it uses Russian broad gauge of 1520 mm (as do Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine and Moldova) so there's a break-of-gauge at the border. You step across the platform from one train to the other, and these connections are always held. Long term the plan is create a "Via Baltica" of 1435 mm, European standard gauge, as much for political as transport and economic reasons. This is coming along at about the same pace that Ice Ages once ground across this landscape, and sometimes means buses replacing trains.
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Kaunas is mostly modern on a grid pattern, but with an old town at its west end and lots to see. Major sports and similar events are often staged here rather than in Vilnius, as Kaunas is more central. Trains to Vilnius are every hour or so taking 75 min, with the train from Poland coming through towards 16:30.
8 Vilnius is the capital and largest city, with a must-see old town in baroque style – the railway and bus stations are together at its south end. Politics and mismanagement have disrupted several routes: trains no longer run east to Minsk in Belarus, or west to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, or north to Daugavpils in Latvia; occasional buses still run. Similar travails afflict the upgrade of the creaking slow line to Klaipėda on the Baltic coast.
Since 2023 a daily train runs to Riga (reservations compulsory), leaving Vilnius at 07:00 and taking four hours via Jonava, Šiauliai and Jelgava. From Jan 2025 this has an immediate connection to Valga, Tartu and Tallinn in Estonia.
Latvia (UTC+2 same as Lithuania) likewise has a limited railway network, see Vivi for times and tickets. The Vilnius-Riga line is the only connection from the west.
Riga the capital can be skipped on the 2025 timetable, but it's worth lingering for its curious mix of Soviet architecture, Art Nouveau and modern grot.
A daily train leaves Riga at 11:15, reaching Valga at 13:50 where you change to the Estonian train, reaching Tartu by 15:15 and Tallinn shortly after 17:30. You need separate tickets for the two countries’ systems. An evening train runs to Valga but has no onward connection. The only other train you're likely to use in Latvia is the commuter link from Riga to the charming beach resort of Jurmala, heading for Tukums.
Estonia (UTC+2) is as far east as you can go on this route – the trains to Russia have been suspended as in Finland. For times and tickets see Elron.
Valga at the border is an amiable small town, but Tartu is more attractive. Three trains a day ply the domestic sector.
9 Tallinn has a gorgeous medieval old town. Ferries sail to Helsinki: there's occasional talk of building a road and railway tunnel but nothing's ever come of this.
Ukraine (UTC+2) was another alternative route, impractical since 2022. Trains still run from Poland and Hungary to Kyiv but should only be used for essential travel, the country is a war zone, and no trains cross the Russian border.
Ukraine uses Russian gauge. From Warsaw you cross at Yagodin (where you stay on the train as it's jacked up and the wheels changed), from Kraków you change at Przemyśl. There's a big tax difference between Ukraine and the west, so border stations were formerly the haunt of brazen and well-tooled smugglers, who would almost dismantle westbound trains to stuff tobacco and other goods into every possible cranny. Customs waited patiently till they were done, then tramped along with dogs and step-ladders and power tools to re-dismantle the train, seize the stash then re-assemble everything in time for departure. It was a little eco-system.
Across Russia
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It can't be done. As of 2025, the big blocks are:
- No trains cross any western border of Russia or Belarus, though there are a few buses. There is no through railway route that swerves south of Russia: you can cross Turkey as far the borders with Georgia, Iran or Syria but then hit an impasse.
- No trains cross into China from Russia direct or via Mongolia or Kazakhstan, though resumption is promised for 2025.
- Western passport holders are unlikely to get visas to enter Russia, and the apparatus of consulates and visa support centres is defunct. Conversely, CIS and Chinese citizens may have little difficulty here but face hurdles across western Europe.
- Western bank cards no longer work in Russia, and vice versa. Even accessing websites such as the railway company RZD or hotels is embargoed, so you can't complete a booking or buy tickets.
- And you do need bookings, firstly because you need to show them in your visa application. Second, trains often sell out, especially on the section into China. The travel agents are scalpers who buy up every ticket the day bookings open, forcing you to buy through them for a mark-up.
But if by some change in circumstances you could get in, trains are running normally across this vast country and its borders with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and North Korea. Russians get about by train in the way Americans and Canadians did until the 1950s; there isn't a "car culture" and budget airlines are minor players. Fares are inexpensive, see Rail travel in Russia.
Belarus (Moscow Standard Time, UTC+3) was traditionally the gateway, though this necessitated a transit visa. These were swiftly granted to travellers with permission to enter Russia. For CIS nationals, there is a free movement agreement.
10 Minsk is the showcase capital, a curious mix of east and west, and squeaky clean. It's worth a look if your transit visa allows enough time. Beware that the airport and land borders have different visa regimes, so you could be in trouble if you fly in then try to exit by train. A dozen trains a day run to Moscow, taking 8-9 hours.
Russia has multiple time zones (until 2018 all trains and stations hewed to Moscow time, several hours adrift from local time once you crossed the Urals into Asia). The country no longer adopts daylight saving or "summer" time. The railway operator website RZD is inaccessible in the west, try a CIS-based travel agency.
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11 Moscow (UTC+3) is unmissable, exhausting, and expensive. You can't miss seeing Red Square, the Kremlin, a major gallery / museum such as Tretyakov, and more onion domes than you can shake a stick at.
There are nine major railway stations in Moscow, connected by the lavishly-decorated Metro. The usual approach via Minsk and Smolensk arrives at Belorussky Station.
The onward journey is along the Trans-Siberian Railway so see that page for details, a few key points are reiterated here:
- No such thing as the "Trans-Siberian Express", multiple services head east then fan out to the various cities.
- Key decision is how to enter China. Shortest and standard was the suspended Trans-Mongolian Railway nightly via Ulaanbaatar, so this required a Mongolian visa. Longer but bypassing Mongolia was the route via Chita, likewise suspended but with a bus link. There is nowadays no route via Kazakhstan.
- From that, work backwards to consider which Russian cities you might stop over in, if any. Good choices on the classic route are Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Omsk and Novosibirsk.
- The Trans-Mongolian train departs from Yaroslavsky Station, but other routes are from different stations, for instance Kazansky station to travel via Kazan.
"Steppes" are what you are destined to see a lot of over the next few days: featureless heath with here and there wetlands and stands of birch. It stretches north into boreal forest and tundra, and to a westerner it's striking how little is cultivated or urbanised, even close to major cities. The train plods on and keeps good time: the schedule has slack, and every so often there's a one-hour stop.
12 Nizhny Novgorod (UTC+3, same as Moscow) has trains from Moscow every hour or two, the quickest taking four hours. The main sight is the grand kremlin or citadel. Because this is not a seat of government like Moscow kremlin, more of it is publicly accessible and in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Kazan is on a more southerly route and also has a magnificent kremlin.
13 Yekaterinburg (UTC+5, two hours ahead of Moscow) is on the boundary between Europe and Asia. The divide is hard to spot, the Urals have such a gentle gradient. The city is modern but with several old churches, including one on the spot where the Tsar and his family were shot.
Petropavl is where you don't want to go accidentally. It's astride the original Trans-Siberian railway but is nowadays in Kazakhstan, so by going there you exit Russia and terminate your visa. Most trains now loop further north via Tyumen to Omsk. Petropavl is a good route into "the Stans": trains take you to Astana, Almaty, Tashkent, fabulous Samarkand and Bukhara, and right down to Termez on the Afghan border. It used to be a good rail route into China, see Moscow to Urumqi; buses still run but trains are suspended.
14 Omsk (UTC+6, an hour ahead of Yekaterinburg) is where the original and present routes rejoin. It's a pleasant city with a lot of 19th century architecture, and used to be a dumping ground for dissidents not worth shooting, such as Dostoevsky.
15 Novosibirsk (UTC+7, an hour ahead of Omsk) proclaims Russia's subduing and mastery of Siberia. It's Soviet-era on a grid pattern but full of curiosities, such as the church the size of a phone booth perched on a traffic island, that somehow squeezes in a choir singing Orthodox liturgy and a bearded priest blessing the icons.
16 Krasnoyarsk (UTC+7, same as Novosibirsk) is a rough place where the main sight is the fug from the aluminium smelters. A stroll on the platform during the stop, and top-up of provisions from the hawkers, will be enough here.
17 Irkutsk (UTC+8, an hour ahead of Krasnoyarsk) like Omsk was a place to send dissidents, but a fire in 1879 destroyed most of its old centre, and wooden buildings were never again permitted downtown. The city is close to the shores of Lake Baikal and you might be able to join a local tour.
Ulan-Ude (UTC+8) is the junction between the Trans-Mongolian route to Ulaanbaatar and Beijing, and the Trans-Siberian / Manchurian route to Chita (for China), Ussuriysk, Vladivostok and North Korea. Not much here.
18 Chita (UTC+9) is the junction between the Trans-Manchurian route into China, and the far eastern reaches of the Trans-Siberian railway. There are sights and accommodation if you choose to stop off.
The Trans-Manchuria railway runs from Chita to Harbin and Beijing, with trains from Moscow once a week; these remain suspended but buses run. The main reason for taking it was to bypass Mongolia and the need for an extra visa, which was tedious to obtain, and is no longer necessary. From Ulan Ude it's 21 hours to the border, where the crossing takes 12 hours. Another 13 hours brings you to Harbin, then it's 17 more to Beijing.
19 Ussuriysk (UTC+10) is the last branch-point across Russia. The main train continues to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast. Once a month, coaches are taken off to head into North Korea. A bus from Ussuriysk runs to Pogranichny, where you change for the bus to Suifenhe in China.
North Korea has a train once a month from Moscow, slip coaches off the Rossiya Express to Vladivostok that continue to Pyongyang. Trains from Pyongyang run to Dandong where you cross the Chinese border for trains to Beijing. Don't even think of it.
Mongolia and China
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Mongolia (UTC+8, same as China) can be visited by westerners without a visa for up to 30 days. Foreigners may only enter / exit at eight checkpoints, but these include Ulaanbaatar Airport, and the north (Suhe Bator) and south (Dzamin Uud) railway crossings. The country uses daylight saving while Russia does not, so timetables alter by season.
Trains from Moscow run twice a week, but in 2025 they don't continue into China. From Ulan Ude to the border at Naushki / Suhe Bator is four hours, the crossing is 2 hr 30 min, then onward to Ulaanbaatar is 8 hours 30 min. Mongolia uses the same railway gauge as Russia.
20 Ulaanbaatar is at 1300 m altitude and viciously cold in winter, when -20° C would count as sweltering. The city has many sights of interest but your decision is how long to stay over, given that onward trains are infrequent and sell out. The city is within 100 km or so of nature reserves and other sights so you could join an organised day-trip.
Trains normally take 13 hours from Ulaanbaatar to the border at Dzamin Uud / Erlian, seven hours to cross as the wheels have to be changed for Chinese gauge, then 12 hours 30 min to Beijing. No trains nowadays cross: you can take a local train to the border then a minibus 3 km across.
China has a single time zone, UTC+8, across a very wide country. It has an extensive high-speed railway network operated by China Railway, use their passenger portal for timetables and ticket purchase (open 05:00-01:00 China time). Tickets are ticketless, so to speak - your purchase is recorded alongside your ID and you simply present that ID at station barriers. (One barrier to enter the station precinct, one for the "airside" zone of what resembles an airport, and one at each boarding gate, so don't be rushing up at the last minute.) The same system is used at major visitor attractions. You are so utterly sunk if you mislay your passport, about the only thing you can do without it is eat noodles and break wind.
21 Beijing means "northern capital" and all routes converge here. It's a vast city but much of what you want to see is in a manageable area, such as the Forbidden City Palace next to Tiananmen Square. Day trips even run to the Great Wall.
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Trains from Mongolia and Manchuria arrive at the station simply called "Beijing" or "Main Station" though it's nowadays far from the biggest in town. Continuing south means a transfer to Beijing West (Xi) Station, 10 km on the metro.
From Kazakhstan trains are suspended. These ran once a week from Astana and Almaty to join at Dostyk and trundle across the border to Ürümqi. There you joined the high speed system to Lanzhou, Xian and Wuhan, where you either turned north for Beijing or south for Guangzhou (for Hong Kong) or Kunming.
Going south are several possible routes and stop-offs, and you can also take slow conventional trains, for the sort of journey times that might have daunted Marco Polo. But Confucius he say: never try to see all of China in a few days.
Three railways are intended to link China with its southern neighbours. As of 2025 the only viable route is the central, from Kunming via Laos to Bangkok as described below. The eastern route is via Nanning and Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon, but then you have to use the bus to Phnom Penh in Cambodia then into Thailand to rejoin the railway to Bangkok. The western route via Burma / Myanmar is long-stalled and the money allocated to it has somehow disappeared.
Trains to Kunming depart from Beijing West Station. Two morning departures take 11 hours and bring you to Kunming South (Nan) station, which is what you want for the next stage to Laos and Thailand. Two sleepers (one morning, one evening) take 36 hours to Kunming original station.
22 Wuhan is a stop for the southbound trains. Its top sight is the elaborate light show on the buildings along its rivers, the confluence of the Han and the mighty Yangtze.
Nanning has limited sights and amenities but might make a stopover on alternative routes south. It has high-speed trains to Guangzhou (4 hours, for Macao and Hong Kong) and Kunming (4 hour), and a slow overnight train to Hanoi. The station is small and old-fashioned by Chinese standards.
23 Kunming ought to be tropical, but it's 2000 m above sea level. It's the chief city and transport hub for Yunnan Province, with lots to see and do. Downtown are the old station (for sleepers from Beijing) and North Station, once terminus of an extensive metre-gauge railway that has fallen into disrepair. All high-speed trains including those for Laos and Beijing use South (Nan) Station, a futuristic structure 25 km south of the centre reached by metro.
The train to Laos leaves South Station just after 08:00 and takes 4 hours 30 min to Mo Han / Boten at the border. Crossing takes 4 hours, but set back your watch by an hour. No change of train, which continues to Muang Xai, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane, a ten hour journey.
Indochina
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Laos (UTC+7, an hour behind China) is a tourist-friendly country that feels free and easy (going on chaotic) if you've come from heavily-regulated China, and delightfully undiscovered if you've come from mass-market Thailand.
Only one train a day crosses the Chinese border, but two slower trains start from there and two more from Luang Prabang. So you could stop off on the way to Vientiane, but the sights are at some distance from the stations.
24 Vientiane is the capital. It has enough sights to occupy you for a day but is trying too hard to mimic Bangkok, only without the restrained elegance. Buses run from here and Luang Prabang to Hanoi.
The railway from Kunming is extending towards Bangkok but its next obstacle is the mighty Mekong river, and there's a 15 km gap between the Chinese and Thai railways. From arrival you have one hour to transfer, factoring in another hour for Laos exit procedures, to catch the best onward train. Otherwise head into the city for the night by frequent minibus. The Chinese station (and it does feel like one, with all the security and checks) is 15 km east of downtown, incongruous among grazing goats. Khamsavath Thai station is 7 km east of downtown. Nevertheless this is an improvement since 2024, when trains for Bangkok started south of the Mekong and you had to take an occasional shuttle from the inconvenient Thanaleng terminus. The high-speed Mekong rail bridge and link between the systems might be complete in 2028.
Thailand (UTC+7, same as Laos) has a slow but scenic metre-gauge railway network. State Railways of Thailand is the railway operator; their website is ponderous.
The best train south is the nightly sleeper from Khamsavath around 18:30, via Nong Khai, Udon Thani, Ayutthaya and Don Muang, to reach Bangkok at 07:30 next morning.
Nong Khai south bank of the Mekong has Thai border control, which takes about 45 min. The town has the usual Buddhist imagery but the oddest sight of all is Sala Kaew Khu sculpture park 6 km east. There are two trains a day from Vientiane Khamsavath station, and four south to Bangkok taking 12 hours via Udon Thani, Ayutthaya and Don Muang Airport (DMK).
Ayutthaya 80 minutes out from Bangkok has old city ruins a short walk from the station. Change here for Lopburi, Sukhothai and Chiang Mai.
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25 Bangkok has four stations, and since 2023 all long-distance trains use Krung Thep Aphiwat Central (KTW). Originally called Bang Sue until they worried about attracting low-life visitors, it's 7 km north of downtown, linked by Metro. The bus for the main airport (BKK) also runs from here.
At this point you're only one day's journey from Kuala Lumpur and two from Singapore, but you need a couple of days to explore Bangkok's dazzling palace complex and downtown. This includes the historic terminus station Hualamphong, which still has local trains including from Ayutthata.
The train to the Malaysian border departs Bangkok Krung Thep Aphiwat daily at 16:00, taking 16 hours via Nakon Pathom, Hua Hin, Chumphon, Surat Thani (for Ko Samui and Koh Tao) and Hat Yai, (for Phuket, Krabi, and the alternative "jungle railway" down the east coast of Malaysia). It then rumbles over the border to Padang Besar; an afternoon train also crosses and has a same-day connection to Butterworth but not KL.
The Jungle Railway has been afflicted by trouble in the border zone, check government advice before coming this way, and by flood after flood after flood. First stage is the branch line from Hat Yai to Sungai Kolok, with five trains a day. Trains no longer cross the border so you have a 20 km bus journey to any of the three stations serving Kota Bahru. Leisurely trains amble south to Gemas where they connect with the main line. Few tourists venture this way but it's a lifeline for locals, since when the roads are flooded they can walk along the tracks.
Malaysia (UTC+8, an hour ahead of Thailand) has the same metre-gauge railway but trains no longer run through. The overnight train from Bangkok arrives at Padang Besar at 09:00 Malay time. That gives you 90 min for passport control (which is unlikely to take 30 minutes) before the next train to Butterworth, another two hours away and with a connection to Kuala Lumpur arriving 17:00. One afternoon train and two next morning are direct to KL, taking 5 hour 30 min and bypassing Butterworth. KTM is the Malaysian railway operator.
Butterworth has a few sights of its own, but the chief reason to break the journey here is to take the ferry to must-see George Town on Penang island. Six trains a day run from Butterworth to KL, taking 4 hours via Ipoh, and the departure at 07:50 has a same-day connection all the way to Singapore.
Ipoh has an old town with colonial architecture. Long-distance trains from Padang Besar and commuter trains from Butterworth stop here; they can be very crowded.
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26 Kuala Lumpur the Malaysian capital has lots to see and do but your enthusiasm may be blunted by the sticky heat and traffic fumes. Outdoors there never seems to be a cool breath of air here. On approach, don't get off by mistake at "Kuala Lumpur" the picturesque old station, but stay aboard for KL Sentral another 2 km down the line.
Malacca is a possible detour, a charming place to rival Penang, but it's not on the railway network. The bus from KL takes two hours (three once you factor downtown transfers for both bus stations) so it's a bit beyond a day trip. You can stay over then double back to KL, but most southbound travellers continue by taking the bus from Malacca to Johor Bahru or Singapore.
The upgrade of the KL-Johor line is incomplete, so as of 2025 the through-service is suspended. You have to change at Gemas from the diesel-hauled to the electric train, and you need separate tickets for these. The first stage is from KL Sentral at 12:14 via Pulau Sebang / Tampin to reach Gemas at 14:52. The electric train departs at 15:20 to reach Johor Bahru Sentral at 19:45.
Gemas has nothing to see, but it's where the eastern or "jungle line" from Thailand via Khota Bahru reunites with the usual western route.
Johor Bahru is too often overlooked by travellers hurrying on to Singapore, but there's lots worth seeing and doing here in Malaysia's second city. A KTM shuttle train runs from JB Sentral across the causeway to Woodlands Train Checkpoint on Singapore island, taking 5 minutes. This only runs every hour or two, a sparse service for such a short busy route, and it often sells out - book ahead if you can. The last shuttle is near midnight so you can connect same day from KL. Passport control for both Malaysia and Singapore is at the Train Checkpoint, so you don't have to factor in that process before boarding the shuttle.
27 Singapore (UTC+8, same as Malaysia): that's it, you've done it, you can turn around right now and head back to Lagos in Portugal. However you're still 20 km short of downtown and the main sights.
Singapore downtown station closed in 2011 and there is no mainline connection to JB. From the Checkpoint you have to make your way 2 km south down Woodlands Centre Road to join the nearest Metro (MRT) at Marsiling station; there are no plans to close this gap. You could walk, but by now the time is after 21:00 and you're humping baggage across an unfamiliar night-time city, best take a taxi or Bus 911.
SMRT runs the Metro, with trains every five minutes or better till about 23:30. Marsiling is on the Red Line, and it's 50 min to get downtown on the train for City Hall and Marina South Pier. (The opposite train loops down the island's west coast to Jurong East.) For Changi Airport, change at City Hall for the Green Line, then again at Tanah Merah for the airport branch. City centre is very modern and feels bland after Malaysia and Thailand, but Bugis village on the Green Line is one area that retains some raffish charm.
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