Cape Town Transportation Tips by Eish

'Mode': TO
Category: Train
Getting TO/AROUND: The train is a wonderful way to get to and from Cape Town from Gauteng. It takes 26 hours from Joburg, or 27 hours from Pretoria. This is certainly not as luxurious as the Blue Train or Rovos rail, but it travels the same route, and is no less fun. There is very little difference between 1st and second class - first class has showers in the same coach. First class compartments sleep 4 people, and coupes sleep 2. Second class compartments sleep 6 people, and the coupes 3. You will get a whole compartment or coupe to yourself if you book a family, or a mixed sex group. If you book a single bed, you could be put with someone else, unless you pay the premium for booking the whole coupe.

You can buy bedding for the night on the train for R25, and in the late afternoon they will come around and "make up" your bed for you. This means rolling out the pre-folded sheets and blanket onto your bunk.

There is a small basin in each compartment/coupe. There is a communal toilet (the sort that flushes onto the train track) at each end of the coach.

The food is awful: greasy, tasteless, and really recommended only if you have a steel-lined stomach. You can take food onto the train, and I would highly recommend this option.

People come past at each station and try to sell fresh fruit or curios through the windows. Do not leave valuables in reach - passersby have been known to grab what they can see from the inside of the coach. However, they are not pests as a rule.

The Trans Karoo is run by Shosholoza Meyl, the mainline passenger services of the South African Railways (Spoornet). It costs probably about the same as a coach journey, but you can stretch your legs and take in the passing scenery.

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Website: http://www.mti.co.za/shozalosa_interc.html