The Death Train (Tren de la Muerte)

Bolivia's other great railway could hardly be more different from the cold, high line of the altiplano. It runs east out of Santa Cruz de la Sierra — the country's booming tropical lowland city — and strikes across some 600 kilometres of dry forest and savannah to Puerto Quijarro, on the frontier with Brazil at the edge of the Pantanal. Bolivians know it by a name that has stuck for the best part of a century: the Tren de la Muerte, the "Death Train".

The name is far more alarming than the journey. There are competing stories behind it — that it remembers the labourers who died of fever and malaria cutting the line through the lowland jungle in the 1940s and 50s, or that in the old days passengers rode on the roof to dodge the fare and tumbled off as the train swayed through the night. Whichever is true, today's traveller rides in air-conditioned comfort, in a reclining seat, watching one of the least-known and most beautiful landscapes in South America roll by.

For this line crosses the Chiquitania — a vast region of dry tropical forest, sudden red-rock escarpments and, threaded through it, the extraordinary Jesuit mission towns whose churches are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It ends at the Pantanal, the largest wetland on earth. The "Death Train" is really nothing of the sort; it is simply one of the great overland adventures of the continent.

The journey starts at the Terminal Bimodal in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the modern rail-and-bus station of a fast-growing city that feels a world away from Andean Bolivia — hot, green, low and humid, more Amazon than altiplano. The train pulls out eastward through the sprawl and the farmland around Cotoca and Pailón, and soon the country opens into the Chiquitania.

This is the heart of the ride: hour after hour of dry tropical forest and savannah, broken by ranching towns, cattle at the line-side and the occasional horseman. The first great landmark is San José de Chiquitos, one of the old Jesuit mission towns, whose fortress-like stone church — begun in the 18th century — is among the finest in the Americas and worth breaking the journey to see. Beyond it the land begins to buckle, and at Chochís the astonishing Torre de Chochís and the sheer wall of the Cerro rise straight out of the green, the most dramatic scenery on the whole line.

Deeper east the train reaches Roboré, a relaxed garrison town of hot springs, rivers and forest waterfalls — a fine place to pause in the humid lowlands. From here it runs on through Puerto Suárez to journey's end at Puerto Quijarro, hard on the Brazilian border. Step off the train and you are on the edge of the Pantanal, the greatest tropical wetland on the planet, with Brazil — and the wildlife-rich town of Corumbá — just across the frontier. It is a journey that carries you from a modern Andean-fringe city, through wild mission country, to one of the great natural crossroads of South America.

The eastern line is run by Ferroviaria Oriental S.A., which operates two passenger trains between Santa Cruz and Puerto Quijarro: the daytime Expreso Oriental, with its reclining Super Pullman seats and restaurant car, and the faster Ferrobús, a railcar with near-flat seats that runs largely overnight.

Typical service, as of the 2026 timetable — confirm before travelling:

The full run takes roughly 15 to 18 hours, so at least one leg is overnight either way.

Good to know:

• The Ferrobús is newly back. Ferroviaria Oriental reactivated the ferrobús in February 2026, after around six years suspended, and it has been restoring frequency since — so its exact days can change. Check the current schedule before you plan around it.
• Expreso Oriental for the daylight. If you want to see the Chiquitania and the Chochís rock formations, the daytime Expreso Oriental shows off far more of the scenery than the overnight ferrobús.
• Break it at San José or Roboré. Both are scheduled stops and make natural places to get off, spend a night, and pick up a later train onward.
• It's an international route. Puerto Quijarro is the crossing into Brazil (Corumbá); have your passport and any onward tickets ready.

Times as of the 2026 Ferroviaria Oriental timetable and subject to change. Confirm current days and departures with the operator before you travel — see the Tickets section below.

Despite the fearsome name this is a comfortable and inexpensive train, and tickets are straightforward through Ferroviaria Oriental, sold on its website and at the Terminal Bimodal in Santa Cruz. The Expreso Oriental is the day service, with the fullest reclining Super Pullman seats, a restaurant car and a snack car; the Ferrobús is the fast air-conditioned railcar with near-flat seats that runs mostly by night. For scenery take the daytime train; for speed, the ferrobús.

Reserve ahead in the dry-season peak and carry your passport for the border. Bring bolivianos, insect repellent for the humid lowlands, and water. A popular plan is to ride the Expreso Oriental by day, break at San José de Chiquitos or Roboré, then continue to Puerto Quijarro and cross into Brazil for the Pantanal.

The "Death Train" is really a line through one of South America's great undiscovered regions, and it rewards getting off along the way. The Jesuit mission towns are the cultural highlight, and the wetlands at the far end are the reason many people come at all.

San José de Chiquitos sits right on the railway and is the one mission you can reach without leaving the line — a fortress-like stone church quite unlike the timber-and-adobe churches of the circuit further north, and a good half-day if you are not driving the loop. Roboré makes a fine lowland base, a warm, easygoing town surrounded by rivers, hot springs at nearby Aguas Calientes, and forest waterfalls such as the Chorro San Luis — a good place to feel the tropical, green Bolivia of the east.

Beyond Puerto Quijarro the border town of Corumbá, in Brazil, is the usual gateway to the wetlands, and where most Pantanal trips are arranged.

Where you stay along the "Death Train" depends on how much of the Chiquitania you want to explore, but the line offers natural places to break the night.

In Santa Cruz de la Sierra, at the western end, is the widest choice — everything from backpacker hostels to comfortable business hotels in a lively, tropical city. It is the obvious place to spend a night before an early-afternoon departure.

In San José de Chiquitos, on the line, are simple hotels and guesthouses around the mission plaza — the ideal base for seeing the Jesuit church and the wider mission circuit, and a gentle, atmospheric overnight stop.

In Roboré, deeper east, you will find relaxed small hotels geared to travellers heading for the hot springs, rivers and waterfalls of the surrounding hills — a good place to pause in the humid lowlands before the run to the border.

In Puerto Quijarro or across the border in Corumbá (Brazil) are practical frontier lodgings and, on the Brazilian side, the lodges and tour operators of the Pantanal — where most travellers spend their real nights, out among the wildlife of the wetland.

As with all our journeys, we point to the shape of the stay rather than specific bookings: a night in Santa Cruz for the departure, a mission-town room in San José, a lowland stop in Roboré, and a Pantanal lodge beyond the border — with the long ride across the Chiquitania linking them together. Pack for heat and insects; this is a very different Bolivia from the cold of the altiplano.