tranzalpine train

一路上的行程等于是从平原到高山，城市到乡村再到无人的山上，一幅幅漂亮的美景穿梭在眼前十分值得，但是网路订票没办法直接买到特惠票真的有点可惜，还要写电子邮件才能买到应该是未来可以改进的地方。

Due to our itinerary schedule, we travelled on the train from Christchurch to Greymouth and back to Christchurch. It was an expensive, average train journey. Apart from a short section of the journey near Christchurch the scenery was average NZ scenery. It is certainly not one of the world’s great train journeys. Anyone who has done train journeys such as the Rocky Mountaineer or the McKinley Explorer will be very disappointed. There is a café carriage on the train and prices are reasonable. The staff were very helpful. The train ride was smooth. However at the end of the journey the train arrived at Christchurch over an hour late – not an uncommon occurrence apparently. People who love trains might like this train trip but it’s certainly not worth going on the train for the sake of seeing the scenery because the scenery is very ordinary.

I enjoyed this reading and scenic train journey from Christchurch to Greymouth. A nice relaxing way to travel and the train had comfortable seat and was clean. A good cafe car on board as well. Recommended.

The views from this train are amazing. It is truly an experience to travel on this route in this wooden interior classic locomotive. Not to be missed, if you are a nature lover.

Scenic trip with not having to drive. I would recommend taking your own food with a limited selection available on board. Viewing platform is busy so get a spot early and enjoy.

Took the 4 hour train ride from Christchurch to Greymouth starting at 9 am. The train was clean, comfortable, and very new looking. But it was the views of New Zealand as we crossed over the mountains to the west coast that were just so beautiful and made the experience so rewarding.

1 word "beautiful" pretty much says it all. Great ride, great staff, good food, beautiful scenery. Yes you can get better than this, see the rest of the West Coast & Fiordlands

Its almost certainly better by road, when you can stop and take photos and even get out and walk a bit. Its very expensive and unreliable, frequently being very late (several people on our train missed international flights) like 3 hours! Apart from a very brief stretch its pretty standard NZ scenery. Hugely over-rated.The staff are utterly fantastically helpful, though.

We had already completed a tour of the South Island so to see yet more braided rivers, mountains, lakes etc was a bit of the 'same old' for us. But if this was the only view of these wonders that you were going to get... this is the comfortable way to see it.... just close your eyes over the bridges.

Would have put excellent if it had not been raining on the day we travelled - you pay your money and take your chances.

We booked the trip from Greymouth to Christchurch and were disappointed to learn that the first section of the journey to Arthur's Pass would be by bus. We needn't have worried. KiwiRail laid on two proper panoramic tour coaches and the driver kept up a running commentary for the whole of the 90 minute journey to Arthur's Pass. It was brilliant. Also the road runs alongside the railway line for most of the time and only diverges when the train runs into the long tunnel which takes 20 minutes. As we were on the coach, we got the amazing views going over the top of the mountains. Stunning. We then boarded the train in Arthur's Pass. Very comfortable seats and large windows perfect for viewing. Most of the time the train ambles along quite leisurely so it's easy to take photos. There's a really good recorded commentary which you can listen to through provided earphones. We loved every minute. The staff were very friendly and helpful right from the terminal in Greymouth, where we dropped our luggage off early, through to the staff on the coach and train. This was definitely a train journey not to be missed!

This trip starts on the Canterbury plains where the scenery is OK but the last 3 hours are absolutely fabulous. We got a cloudy day but still wonderful views. Journey is smooth, cafe car was good quality and staff were excellent. Very friendly. One word of warning - be careful of getting off at Arthur's Pass to stretch your legs...one traveller in our carriage left his wife and kid at the station with no phone, no money and limited English. Listen for the whistle and horn! On the other hand the staff were incredible to the distraught individual and located his spouse and arranged the reunion!

Our seats were very comfortable but I thought the observation car was too small for the number of people on board the train which was a shame as we ended up sat in our seats for most of the journey. The views were spectacular and you had commentary via a headset so you could chose to listen if you wanted to. The train arrived about half an hour late into Greymouth and it was painfully slow for the last hour or so of the journey but still a good experience & worth doing.

We took the train from Christchurch to Greymouth and really enjoyed it...especially since it was a hot, sunny day. There are headphones at each seat with a running commentary about the history, mining, geography and other aspects of this part of NZ that was extremely well done. The long tunnel was an experience in itself. May not be great on a rainy day, but we really enjoyed our trip and would recommend. One fellow traveler later told us his travel agent had suggested going only as far as Arthur's Pass because there wasn't much to see after that...we thought the entire cross-country trip was great. We have scores (and scores) of photos to prove it!

We took the train both ways on our first day in New Zealand, had good weather up to Arthur's Pass, and rain from there and on the return. It was an excellent way to see the plains and the mountains without the hassle of driving, though it meant a long day. We suggest following the advice on seat61.com for finding the best fares. Spend time in the observation car, to see the scenery without glass in the way, but take warm jacket for that!