B2B: Bali to Bangkok by Rail

Step onboard an amazing rail journey in 2026 from Bali to Bangkok with some great side trips along the way.

We'll detour to visit the worlds largest Buddhist temple, Borobudur, in Central Java, visit the UNESCO world heritage city of Malacca and trip up to lush tea plantations and the cool mountain air of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia and the Island of Koh Samui in Southern Thailand as well as the major cities of Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

It’s a big itinerary traveling over 3,000 kilometers by rail crossing the equator from south to north on a 20 day rail adventure. This is a great way to see Southeast Asia from the comfort of a train with passing panoramas. I’ve designed this tour so all rail segments are during daylight hours so you’ll enjoy the landscapes and passing parade from the comfort of an aircon train.

Practical issues. Trying to decide on a departure date to travel in this region takes some consideration of seasonal factors, local national holidays, and of course avoiding peak airfares from Australia (generally avoiding school holiday periods). It’s no fun for most being in Asia during the ‘hot season’ March to May or the rainy season June- October. The very best time is during the ‘cool season’, November –February.

So, I’m looking at tour dates 9 -28 of November 2026. I have listed this tour on Meetup with a fictitious date of 15 December this year for 2 reasons. Firstly it takes some time to promote this tour and many people have to organise holidays well in advance so I need to get it out there now. Secondly I am heading to Asia on December 15 this year and spending 5 weeks researching this tour. I have done this journey before but a few things have changed so I’ll do the trip in both directions and make a few logistic considerations as I do. For those interested I’ll give you a link to my trip and you can follow me and decide if this is a trip you may be interested in.

You can RSVP to this fictitious trip (Dec 15 2025) as an expression of interest. I will list the actual tour on Meetup in March next year with the tour scheduled for November 2026 with a full itinerary and tour costs. I'll also organise a tour info night so we can meet and discuss the tour in person if interested.

Those who have already expressed interest will be given first option to join the tour before I put it up on Meetup generally.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.