Expert unravels the myth behind the world’s ‘longest train journey’
‘Don’t bother chasing this elusive concept of the longest train journey,’ said international rail expert Mark Smith
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Your support makes all the difference.With tourists seeking more sustainable travel options for 2025, there are eyes on the tracks for the most remarkable rail adventures this year – but is the “world’s longest train journey” a ride you can actually take?
The route has been theorised as a 21-day trip from Lagos on Portugal’s Algarve coast to Singapore at a cost of around £1,000.
Mark Smith, known as The Man in Seat 61, has unravelled the myth of the 13-country rail journey as complete fiction on a route littered with logistical impossibilities and political obstacles.
Speaking on The Independent Travel Podcast, Mr Smith said: “You don’t buy the ticket from a little bloke in a booth in Lagos, selling tickets to Singapore for a direct train leaving every Tuesday. That’s what you don’t do.
“If it were possible, and it isn’t, you, it would be about 20 different separate tickets for 20 different separate trains bought on 15 different websites, all for regular scheduled trains.”
Along the proposed route, rail transfers would include Paris to Moscow and Moscow to Beijing.
The international rail guru explained that due to the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia and travel in the aftermath of the pandemic, trains are not running from western or Central Europe to Moscow.
As a result, the suspension of frequent departures between Moscow and Beijing means the proposed route is “not viable” at the moment.
The theory of the world’s “longest rail ride” originated when the Laos-China railway opened for business, linking Kunming and Vientiane – a missing link in the rails between Europe and Singapore – in 2021.
However, deciding the “longest” distance connecting Portugal with Singapore – Villa Real de San Antonio to Lisbon is technically longer than Lagos to Lisbon – and whether road transfers between termini invalidate the trip as rail travel means that defining the world’s longest train route is “not as simple as you think,” said Mr Smith.
He advised prospective fans of the complicated multi-continent rail route: “If, as I fervently hope, the war ends and we can, and peace returns and we can do this journey again, don’t bother chasing this elusive concept of the longest train journey.
“Leave Portugal in peace, start from your local station in the UK, travel to Moscow, to Beijing and onto the Far East, that journey is going to be amazing enough.”
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
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