Hop aboard your own self-drive railway car and enjoy epic 360-degree views of Lake Rotorua and rolling farmland.
Rail Cruising is a fun, innovative and totally new way for people to explore the stunning Dansey Scenic Reserve.
This is a magical railway experience with a difference. In this awesome travel experience you get to step aboard and captain your very own rail car! The Rail Cruiser is a self drive heated 4 seater hybrid rail car with unobstructed viewing windows.
The RailCruiser V3000 is an innovative world first vehicle like no other! Travel along the Rotorua Railway in your comfortable RailCruiser at 20km/hr departing Ngongotaha Railway Station. You can listen to the audio tour as you make your way through the beautiful Dansey Scenic Reserve and surrounding farmland on your 26 km return trip to Mamaku Railway Station.
The historic railway provides gentle curves and steep climbs with views of Lake Rotorua, stunning bush scenery and views extending as far as Mount Tarawera. So, for a totally unique, relaxed, comfortable and independent travel experience hop aboard a Rail Cruiser - this is a magical railway experience not to be missed!.
All prices are shown in NZD ($)
We four had a very enjoyable ride on this rail trail. The two staff were very personable and we enjoyed their interactions! On our return we were a little disappointed that there was no memorabilia available to buy. Something you might like to look into - even a fridge magnet or similar would have been great!
Thank you for your lovely message! We are very pleased to hear that you enjoyed your ride on the rail trail and even more so that our staff left a great impression! We will be sure to pass on your message to them. We also appreciate your suggestion of having memorabilia. We love the idea and we will definitely consider offering items like fridge magnets or other keepsakes. Thank you very much again for your support. *Rail Cruising *
Awesome
Thank you Ross! We're happy to hear you had a great trip
Great to see use being made of the old Rotorua railway line. Would be fantastic if use of the track beyond Mamaku in the future.
Free ice cream! But seriously, I thought we were going to cycle the 28 km, instead we had a small covered train for ourselves. 14 km each way - coffee, milo, tea at the mid point. Charming, interesting and fun. Glad they provided blankets as we were last trip of the day and caught amazing sunsets and the most charming NZ scenery around. The staff made us so so welcome and source of interesting info too.
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Christine Browne from New Zealand wrote on 02 June 2025
Birthday outing
Great experience for overseas visitors and also for the locals. Staff were lovely and very helpful. Highly recommend it.