Makhanda to Paarl train

Trains from Makhanda to Paarl start at €102.09 and take 6h 55m at their fastest.

GrahamstownGrahamstownPaarlPaarl

The Trains from Makhanda to Paarl starts at €102.09 and takes 6h 55m door to door, run by 1 operator over 807 km, with around 5 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 21 days before departure.

Checked September 15, 2026Priced for October 6, 2026One passenger, all fees included

  • 6h 55mDoor to door
  • 6h 11mMoving
  • €102.09 to €223.64From
  • 06:52 to 07:30First and last departure
  • 5Per day
  • 26.6 kgCO2

First and last are taken from the services we sell on October 6, 2026. The return direction keeps its own timetable and is not these times reversed.

€102.09 to €223.64 for one passenger across the 14 departure dates priced here. The low end is one day, not every day. Worked out from this corridor rather than held for anybody. The operator sets the price on the day.

Fares by date

What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.

Typical fares

  1. about €181.84Wed16
  2. about €223.64Thu17
  3. about €165.34Fri18
  4. about €171.94Sat19
  5. about €159.84Sun20
  6. about €146.64Mon21
  7. about €104.29Tue22
  8. about €148.84Wed23
  9. about €147.19Thu24
  10. about €138.39Fri25
  11. about €156.53Sat26
  12. about €147.74Sun27
  13. about €105.39Mon28
  14. about €102.09Tue29

Based on what this route has cost recently. The operator sets the price on the day, and the live fare is confirmed when you book.

Real services

The cheapest and the fastest on October 6, 2026

Cheapest€85.04
  1. Shosholoza Meyl SM573107:303h 13m10:43Atherstone Railway StationOudtshoorn station
  2. Shosholoza Meyl SM746611:292h 32m14:01Oudtshoorn stationPaarl

Changes at Oudtshoorn, with 46 minutes between services and a walk of about 5 minutes.

Door to door 7h 15mCO2 26.7 kgChanges 1Refundable

Fastest€91.64
  1. Shosholoza Meyl SM233606:526h 11m13:03Atherstone Railway StationPaarl

Door to door 6h 55mCO2 26.6 kgChanges 0Refundable

Carriers

Rail operators

Every operator we sell on this corridor. Speed is the carrier's own typical cruising speed, not the average over this route.
OperatorFromFastestTypical speedFlexibilityOn board
Shosholoza Meyl€91.646h 11m140 km/hRefundablePower outlets, Wi-Fi

The train gets you into Paarl. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.

A hotel room

A room in Paarl for the night the train gets in

Sort by distance from Paarl and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.

Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Makhanda to Paarl

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €93.8490 days
  2. €86.6960 days
  3. €89.9945 days
  4. €105.3830 days
  5. €85.0421 days
  6. €102.0914 days
  7. €104.297 days
  8. €165.343 days
  9. €181.841 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 21 days ahead, at €85.04.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 114 percent. The most expensive point is €181.84, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 21 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Day of the week

Which departure day costs least

Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.

  1. €147.74Sun
  2. €105.39Mon
  3. €102.09Tue
  4. €148.84Wed
  5. €147.19Thu
  6. €138.39Fri
  7. €156.53Sat
Terminals

Where you leave from and where you arrive

Grahamstown

Rail
  • Atherstone Railway Station

Paarl

Rail
  • Paarl
  • Paarl railway station
  • Klapmuts
The journey

What the journey actually looks like

Direct or connecting
20% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 80% involve one connection.
How far it really runs
The route covers 807 km against 702 km in a straight line, a detour of 15 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
Where the change is
Connections are made at Oudtshoorn, Kariega, George, Worcester. The gap between arriving and leaving is 46 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 20 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
First and last departure
The first service of the day leaves Makhanda at 06:52 and the last at 07:30, across 5 departures The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.

Questions about Makhanda to Paarl

The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.

How long does the Train from Makhanda to Paarl take?

The Train from Makhanda to Paarl takes 6h 55m door to door, of which 6h 11m is spent moving. The route runs 807 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.

How much does the Train from Makhanda to Paarl cost?

The Train from Makhanda to Paarl starts at €102.09 for one passenger, as of September 15, 2026. A typical fare is €88.33. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.

Who runs the Train from Makhanda to Paarl?

1 operators run the Train from Makhanda to Paarl: Shosholoza Meyl. Between them they file around 5 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.

Which terminal does the Train from Makhanda to Paarl use?

The Train from Makhanda to Paarl leaves from Atherstone Railway Station and arrives at Paarl. Allow about 44m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.

When should I book the Train from Makhanda to Paarl?

Fares for the Train from Makhanda to Paarl bottom out around 21 days ahead, at €85.04. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 114 percent, measured on September 15, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.

How much CO2 does the Train from Makhanda to Paarl produce?

The Train from Makhanda to Paarl produces about 26.6 kg of CO2 per passenger over 807 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.

What is provided on board the Train from Makhanda to Paarl?

Operators on the Train from Makhanda to Paarl publish Power outlets, Wi-Fi. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 6h 55m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.

Where these numbers come from

Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.

Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.

Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon

On this page
Every figure above was computed for Makhanda to Paarl on September 15, 2026: 807 km of route against 702 km in a straight line, 5 services a day, 1 operator a cheapest fare of €102.09, and 6h 55m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

Related journeys

The train is the simple part. What you do once you are in Paarl is somebody else's catalog.

A guided tour group

Day trips out of Paarl and across South Africa

Day trips that leave Paarl in the morning and cover a good part of South Africa by evening.

Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.

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