Puffing Billy just turned into Melbourne's prettiest night out this winter

Forget the CBD light trails everyone does every winter. Melbourne's prettiest cold weather outing this year is a century old steam train weaving through the Dandenong Ranges covered in fairy lights, and you have probably already missed your chance to book it.

Puffing Billy's Train of Lights is running from 26 June through to 19 July, its fifth year in a row. It is a two and a half hour round trip through the forest at night, with the historic steam engine and the surrounding trees, tracks and towns lit up in sparkles, rainbows and colour changing patterns along the way.

What makes this different to every other winter light installation currently competing for your Saturday night is that you are not just walking past the lights, you are moving through them on an actual heritage train, through actual bushland, in open sided carriages. It is less polished light show, more genuinely magical old school outing, and the novelty of the format is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Here is the catch. Tickets for the 2026 season sold out in record time, and Puffing Billy Railway has confirmed on social media that the event is fully booked out. If you did not get in, you are not alone, and there is no indication of extra dates being added this year.

The good news is the Dandenong Ranges are not going anywhere, and the Puffing Billy team have effectively confirmed a 2027 return is on the cards. If you missed out this time, set a calendar reminder for whenever bookings open next year rather than finding out the hard way again. This one is popular enough that acting fast is not optional.

For anyone who does have tickets locked in for the remaining nights before 19 July, dress properly. The Dandenongs get genuinely cold after dark and you are sitting in open carriages for the full trip, so extra layers and a blanket are the difference between a magical night and a miserable one.

It is a strong example of an event succeeding by leaning into what makes it different rather than trying to out light trail the light trails. Melbourne did not need another glowing forest walk. It apparently did need a glowing forest on rails, badly enough to sell every seat before most people even heard about it.