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I Spent 22 Hours on a Train & Bus from Sydney to Adelaide! (Was it worth it?)

Josh Goes Slow

25,858 views

Is taking the 22-hour overland route from Sydney to Adelaide by public transport actually worth it, or should you just fly?

In this video, I take the ultimate budget transit challenge: traveling from Sydney Central Station to Adelaide using the overnight XPT train and connecting to the V/Line regional coach.

Considering a flight back from Adelaide to Sydney cost me $152, I only saved about $10 by spending nearly a whole day on the tracks and roads. But if you love the experience of watching the changing Australian landscape, passing the Murray River, and experiencing regional towns like Echuca, Swan Hill, Ouyen, and Tailem Bend, this trip is quite an adventure!

Join me as I review the first-class XPT seats, check out the onboard facilities (yes, including the famous train and bus toilets!), grab breakfast at a BP truck stop, and cross the South Australian border for a quick fruit quarantine check.

00:00 The 22-Hour Journey Begins
00:42 Central Station Sydney & Boarding the XPT
01:32 XPT First Class Review & Ticket Costs
03:13 Inspecting the XPT Train Bathrooms
03:43 Midnight Snacks at the XPT Buffet Car
05:59 Arriving at Albury Station
06:23 Boarding the V/Line Bus to Adelaide
08:54 Breakfast Stop at Echuca (BP Bowser Bean)
10:20 V/Line Ticket Pricing & Route Details
11:55 What Does a Bus Toilet Look Like?
13:10 Rest Stop at Ouyen Bakery & IGA
14:44 South Australia Border Fruit Quarantine Check
15:57 Afternoon Tea at Tailem Bend & Murray River Views
18:31 Sunset Over South Australia
19:14 Arriving at Adelaide Bus Station: Worth It?

ABOUT THIS CHANNEL
I travel long distances using unusual transport routes around the world — trains, buses, ferries and anything else that moves.

If you enjoy slow travel, trains, buses and unusual ways of exploring the world — subscribe for more journeys.

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Date Filmed: 29-30/6/26

Here is exactly how the trip broke down:
• Leg 1: Sydney to Albury via the Overnight XPT (First Class Seat) — $110
• Leg 2: Albury to Adelaide via the V/Line Bus — $32.30
• Total Cost: $142.30
• Total Time: 22 Hours!

Locations:
Sydney Central Station, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Albury Railway Station, Albury, NSW, Australia
Adelaide Bus Station, Adelaide, SA, Australia

#TrainTravel #VLineBus #XPTTrain #SlowTravel #AustraliaTransit #SydneyToAdelaide

20 Comments

@aaax1313 2 months ago

finally an Aussie version of Noel Phillips adventures I can binge watch.

@christophermills99 2 months ago

I'm glad someone is doing these itineraries so we don't have to 😂
(but thanks Josh for doing them!)

@rotovelo_naut 2 months ago (edited)

Back in the day I did the Ansett-Pioneer Overlander, Sydney -Perth return. 65hrs each way... by bus!...it's a pity the service no longer operates. I'm enjoying your content very much.. I'm about to retire this year and I'll be trying some of your journeys.. thanks for the inspitation!

@leonkernan 2 months ago

It’s kinda silly the only SYD-ADL and MEL-ADL trains are tourist focussed overpriced services

@johnlang4198 2 months ago

The Melbourne to Sydney XPT is busy full stop, no matter which class. They could run the full seven cars and it would still sell out every run.

@1mmickk 2 months ago (edited)

Once on a flight to London in cattle class, I had two empty seats next to me, people kept on boarding, still two empty seats. No more boarding, the gate is shut, still two empty seats.
Some kerfuffle, Hosties looking at papers, the doors closed. I could not believe my luck.

Then the door opened and in came the two largest humans on Earth. I had to be upgraded, it was not happening, they took up three seats and the aisle.

@ulfw 2 months ago

You're a legend mate. So glad you do these trips for us so we don't have to !

@WarrenSievier 2 months ago

This is fantastic and brings back memories seeing Echuca bus stop. My family and I were travelling from Adelaide to Sydney and stopped at the service station. Paul Keating had become prime minister and it was my 18th birthday. A big fight broke out just after we got off the bus...Ah the memories

@KimboACP 2 months ago

Very happily agree XPT at night is First Class but during the day is Economy

@scottietheshark 2 months ago

Bless you Josh, this trip sounds like insanity to me. An overnight train without a sleeper, then a long bus, no thanks

@shellsie34 2 months ago

9:08 The bus driver wasn't messing about when he said everyone off

@TM_expeditions 2 months ago

Beautifully framed shots. You captured the quiet, shifting moods of the changing landscapes perfectly, making a 22-hour overland haul feel like a genuinely cinematic experience.

@Rheilffordd 2 months ago

I’ve just come home to Adelaide after a very long drive from Parkes today! This takes the same route as this coach you took from Swan Hill to Adelaide.

As I drove the route I thought the Speedlink coach would be a perfect subject for a Josh Goes Slow video…. imagine my surprise when I come home and open up YouTube to find this gem of a video! 😂

The only thing I have to say about it, apart form showing a good budget option for Sydney-Adelaide travel, is you missed an opportunity in Ouyen to try what is bragged as Australia’s Best Vanilla Slice! 😋

@mikebyrne9044 2 months ago

Loved this video Josh! I did this exact trip but in reverse way back in 1995! ADL - SYD on the VLine Coach to Albury, then the overnight XPT Albury to Sydney. Quite the the journey!

@JayWesty316 2 months ago

I don’t how you do it sometimes mate , 😂.. but thanks for the show, compulsory watching ..

@johnhamilton6003 2 months ago

done the reverse trip from Adelaide into Canberra around 4-5 times. Back when I was a broke 20 year old, I could do the trip for $60 but had a 45 minute layover at Albury station (at around 2 in the morning). From memory, the bus didn't go via Wangaratta in those days but I could be mistaken

@mrmalbigpond 2 months ago

Thanks Josh. With the half-price Victoria Vline fares, you benefited by a $5.70 reduction for the Vic component!! A big warning about this connection at Albury though - Although Vline have a "Sydney - Adelaide" timetable showing the overnight XPT then Vline 'Speedlink' connection, this is not guaranteed ..... If the 04:08 scheduled XPT arrival into Albury goes past 04:25 actual arrival time, the Adelaide coach has departed!! It's NOT a guaranteed connection, and can ruin a passenger's plans to get to Adelaide that day.

@davidbennetts616 2 months ago

Thanks Josh for your interesting video. Just to be pedantic, you don't need to cross the Murray River from Victoria to be in NSW. The river is within NSW, and control over boating on the River is maintained by the NSW Government. In fact the top of the embankment on the south side determines the state boundary. Some years back some-one was murdered on the Victorian side of the border on the bank of the river, the perpetrator was tried in a Victorian court but the case was thrown out by being held in the wrong jurisdiction. The case had to be re-tried within a NSW Court. Interestingly I found out only a few weeks ago, that Albury Hospital comes under the control of the Victorian Health system. Enjoy watching your videos, at my age I think such long journeys by train and bus would be too exhausting.

@dullgreyrock 2 months ago

I had done the route between Swan Hill and Albury/Wodonga, but not the rest to Adelaide.
At some point I want to try taking the train from Sydney to Broken Hill and then the bus from there to Adelaide, or vice versa. And of course taking VLine around the Great Ocean Road to Mount Gambier would be pretty cool.
Anyway, thanks for "taking one for the team". But of course for people like us, it's less about the destination, and more about the journey, places and people we meet along the way. :)

@sp00ng1rl 2 months ago

I had the pleasure of doing this trip on a night that the XPT decided to be about 10 minutes too late to Albury, leaving me and a dozen others who were booked on the V/Line coach stranded in Albury. Some booked hotels to get the next day's 4am bus, some (including myself) went to Melbourne that morning, and others were still in limbo as I left. 11/10 would fall over in the toilets on 120 year old sections of the line south of Goulburn at 2am again

(There were also no refunds. V/Line specifically doesn't cover XPT delays in this circumstance even when the services are designed to connect. Yay.)