Rovos Rail Honeymoon: Africa's Luxury Train

Published 13 October 2026 ยท Africa Golf and Safari

Most honeymoons in Africa are built around two things, a safari and a beach. A honeymoon on Rovos Rail is built around the journey itself, which is a different proposition entirely. You settle into a wood panelled suite, the veld slides past the window, dinner is a four course affair with the wine list opened on the table, and in the morning there is a whole new country outside. For couples who would rather travel beautifully than tick off sights, it is one of the most romantic ways to spend a week anywhere in Africa.

This guide covers what the train is actually like, the suites worth asking for, the dress code, the routes that suit a honeymoon, and how to build the train into a longer trip with safari and beach.

The Story Behind the Train

Rovos Rail is a family business, and it shows. Rohan Vos, a South African with a passion for anything mechanical and classic, bought a handful of old railway coaches at auction in the mid 1980s with the idea of restoring them as a family caravan. The idea grew. He bought a 1938 locomotive, named it after one of his daughters, and after lengthy negotiations was granted permission to run his first train in December 1986. The first overnight journey followed in 1989, launched into a country that most of the world was advising travellers to avoid.

Forty years on, the company runs what is regularly described as the most luxurious train in the world, and it remains private and independent. The engines are still named after the Vos children. The station, a sixty acre private rail yard in Pretoria, was opened in 1999 and is worth arriving early for.

Life on Board

The train carries a maximum of seventy two guests in thirty six suites, spread across restored coaches with smooth wood panelling, period fittings and copper and brass details. The ratio of staff to guests is unusually high, every suite has a dedicated host or hostess, and the service has the quality of a small country house hotel rather than anything you have experienced on rails.

Public cars are where the romance really lives. There are two dining cars, where lunch and dinner are served at tables laid with linen, silver and crystal. There is a lounge car with a small library and a bar. And at the rear, the observation car, an open air balcony at the end of the train where you can stand with the wind in your hair and watch the African landscape fold away behind you. Sundowners on that balcony as the train curves through the Karoo is the memory most couples come home with.

The Suites

There are three grades, and for a honeymoon the choice matters.

The Royal Suite

The Royal Suite is the one to ask for. Each takes up half a carriage, around sixteen square metres, which makes it the largest suite on any train in the world. There is a separate lounge area, a writing desk, and an en suite bathroom with a Victorian bath, a separate shower, toilet and basin. Double or twin beds, a fridge, air conditioning, robes and slippers, and a host on call. Waking up in a Victorian bath as the Karoo rolls past is a genuinely singular experience, and these suites book out first, often a year ahead for peak dates.

The Deluxe Suite

At around ten square metres, the Deluxe is a comfortable step down but still generous by train standards, with an en suite shower and the same wood panelling and period character. A sensible choice if the Royal is unavailable or if the budget is going on the safari either side instead.

The Pullman Suite

At around seven square metres, the Pullman is compact but perfectly formed, with an en suite shower. Fine for a shorter journey, less so for a week long honeymoon.

A Day on Board

Breakfast is served in the dining cars as long as you like, with the landscape doing the entertainment. Mornings are usually an excursion, a mine, a village, a stretch of open veld with a picnic laid out under the trees, or simply the observation car with a book and a pot of coffee. The train makes good time but no hurry, and there is a rhythm to it that most couples find they settle into by the second afternoon.

Lunch is a lighter affair than dinner, then the long afternoon: the balcony, a siesta in the suite, tea and pastries brought through the carriages. As the light drops the bar fills, and dinner is announced. Afterward, the lounge car, a nightcap, and the sound of the rails.

One thing worth knowing before you board: the train does not run to the minute. It is hauled by national rail locomotives rather than its own, and departures and arrivals flex around the network. This is treated as part of the character rather than a fault, and couples who know it in advance relax into it far faster than those who arrive expecting Swiss timing.

The Dress Code

This is the question we are asked most often, and it is worth getting right, because the evening ritual is a large part of the charm.

During the day the dress code is smart casual. Think lightweight trousers, chinos or a summer dress, collared shirts, comfortable shoes for stepping off at excursion stops. Jeans are not worn on board. The train is air conditioned throughout, so a light jacket or cardigan is worth having in the cabin.

At dinner, the code is more considered. From 2025 the requirement for men is a collar and tie, with a jacket no longer compulsory, though most guests still choose to wear one and the dining car rewards the effort. Ladies tend toward cocktail dresses or elegant evening separates. Avoid stilettos, the train moves, and flat heels or smart evening flats make walking between carriages far easier. Nobody has ever regretted dressing up for dinner on this train, and a few have regretted the opposite.

Which Route for a Honeymoon

Pretoria to Cape Town

The classic. Three nights on board, rolling south through the goldfields, the wide Highveld, the barren Karoo and the Cape Winelands, with a stop in Kimberley to tour the Big Hole and the Diamond Mine Museum, and the historic village of Matjiesfontein. You arrive at Cape Town station at ten in the morning, which is where most honeymooners hand the itinerary over to the city, the Winelands and the beaches of the Atlantic seaboard. This route runs most frequently and is the easiest to build around.

Pretoria to Victoria Falls

Three or four nights, heading north through Limpopo province and into Zimbabwe, to one of the great natural spectacles on the continent and a fittingly dramatic way to end a honeymoon. The train crosses the Tropic of Capricorn and the Limpopo river, calls at Bulawayo, and traverses Hwange National Park, where a game drive is part of the itinerary, before arriving at the Falls. Add two nights at the Victoria Falls Hotel on the Zimbabwean side and you have a trip that feels genuinely epic.

The Long Journeys

For couples with three weeks or more, the train runs occasional longer expeditions to Dar es Salaam and through Namibia, and a golf train that runs several times a year for the golfer and non golfer pairing. These are extraordinary but they are a commitment of time, and for most honeymoons the shorter routes combined with safari and beach work better.

Building a Honeymoon Around the Train

The train works best as the spine of a longer trip rather than the whole thing. A shape that reads well for a fortnight:

We can also run the whole thing the other way round, or add a night at the Falls instead of the Cape. What matters is the pacing, and this is where planning pays off, because the train runs to a fixed departure schedule and the safari either side needs to be built around it rather than the reverse. Peak departures and the Royal Suites in particular are often sold twelve months ahead, so early conversations help.

Common Questions

Is the train suitable for non travellers? Almost everyone becomes a train person on this train. The observation car does most of the converting.

Can you stay connected? Mobile signal comes and goes, deliberately so. There is no wifi on board and this is treated as a feature rather than a gap. Plan to be unreachable for a couple of days.

What is included? All meals, the house wines and drinks, and the guided excursions at each stop. Flights and the accommodation either side are separate, and we arrange the transfers either end as part of the wider itinerary.

When should we book? For the Royal Suites in the June to September window, twelve months is the honest answer. Shoulder season gives more flexibility and lower fares, and the train runs year round.

How does it fit with a safari? Perfectly, as the itinerary above shows. The Kruger reserves sit a short flight from Pretoria, and many couples combine the two. Our guide to planning an African honeymoon covers the wider shape, and the honeymoon page has the rest.