Few have heard of this scenic train journey through Indonesia

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From CNN Travel

The train click-clacks along at a steady rhythm, passing through various shades of green. Lush rice fields morph into dense forests, while rivers glisten in the morning sun.

The verdant, tropical landscape is briefly interrupted by colorful sparks of life in the form of towns and villages, where people are going about their morning routine — street vendors serving breakfast to commuters, women carrying fresh produce back from the market and kids gathering in their red and white school uniforms.

This is the view from the Argo Wilis Panoramic, a bright and airy carriage on the Argo Wilis train. Running between the cities of Surabaya in East Java and Bandung in West Java, it’s one of the most scenic and underrated train journeys in all of Southeast Asia.

For some context, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago, home to over 17,000 islands. While boats and planes are typically the main way to travel between each island, on Java, trains are by far the best choice.

Stretching 1,064 kilometers from east to west and home to well over half of Indonesia’s population — that’s a whopping 275 million people — it makes sense that the rail network is so extensive and well-used.

Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) is the country’s national rail company. While there are limited train networks on the islands of Sumatra and Sulawesi, the large majority of them are based in Java, linking all the major cities including Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo and Surabaya.

Most of this network was constructed during the Dutch colonial era, which lasted some 350 years.

Each train has its own name with its own meaning.

“For example, the Argo Wilis is named after a non-active volcano in East Java,” explains a railway guard. “There are other trains named after volcanoes too, as well as historic places and Javanese myths and legends.”

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