Land of Narrow Gauge Train Bānītis

The Bānītis Land is the place where you can find the only narrow gauge train in the Baltics that still provides regular passenger traffic – the Bānītis.

At one time, when boarding the Bānītis, people could get to any station in Europe – it took its passengers to standard gauge railway tracks, the total length of which in the world no one knows. For more than a hundred years, the Bānītis has been connecting the Latvian homestead with the rest of Europe. It was and is the first step towards big dreams. The Bānītis has been the basis of our development.

Today the Bānītis Land starts in the baggage shed of the Alūksne railway station – here you can experience an exciting story without even getting on the Bānītis, and the unique exposition makes everyone eager to find out the next train departure time.

Bānītis still runs, every day – regardless of the weather. In each of the 10 Bānītis land stations up to Gulbene, you will find something special – both a palace surrounded by love stories and the world’s simplest train station building. Follow the schedule of train, movements to plan your trip on time.

The Bānītis Land can also be explored by bicycle – cycle routes adjoin the train stops. The Green Railways are unusual – along the former railway embankments we can get even to Estonia, but in the annual competition ‘Bānītis Cup or Outperform Steam!’, everyone has the opportunity to find out if a cyclist can be faster than the steam locomotive Ferdinand.

The Bānītis Festival is the main event of the year of this land – it is a festival of both technology and happy people: finding out about the world of trains, you will also get to know Malēnieši (the borderland people) songs, dances and imagination. And, of course, you can leave the festival only after a filling meal.

The white steam puff of the Ferdinand’s chimney is the symbol of strength of the Bānītis Land.