Travel as the,
maharajas once did.
A palace on rails — wood-panelled cabins, white-glove dining, a different fort or desert city outside the window each morning. India's luxury trains turn the journey itself into the destination, and unpack the country's grandest sights without unpacking your bags.
Five royal trains,
one moving palace.
India runs some of the world's finest luxury trains — recreations of the private carriages once kept by its princes. The Maharajas' Express, repeatedly voted the world's leading luxury train, sweeps across the north and centre; the iconic Palace on Wheels traces a week through royal Rajasthan; the Deccan Odyssey opens Maharashtra, Gujarat, and the Deccan; and the Golden Chariot carries you through the temples and palaces of the south. Each is a five-star hotel that moves by night and delivers you, rested, to a new world by day.
Travalive curates the whole experience around the train — securing the right cabin category and departure, arranging private touring at each halt so you skip the group-coach crush, and adding pre- and post-train nights in palace hotels to bookend the journey. We know the routes, the seasons, and the cabins, and we are candid about which itinerary suits which traveller.
What you come here for.
The flagship — multiple winner of the World's Leading Luxury Train. Its itineraries run three to seven nights across Rajasthan and central India, from Delhi to Mumbai via Agra, Ranthambore, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Udaipur, or the Indian Panorama route to Khajuraho and Varanasi.
The original, running since 1982 — a classic seven-night loop from Delhi through Jaipur, Ranthambore, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, and Bharatpur to the Taj at Agra. Camel rides in the dunes, palace dinners, and the romance of royal Rajasthan by rail.
Based in Mumbai, the Deccan Odyssey runs six itineraries across Maharashtra, Gujarat, the Deccan, and beyond — from the Ajanta and Ellora caves and the Konkan coast to the Rann of Kutch and the wildlife of central India.
South India's luxury train, running from Bengaluru through the heritage of Karnataka — Hampi, Mysore, the Hoysala temples — with itineraries reaching into Goa, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. World Heritage sites, palaces, and wildlife in one elegant arc.
Wood-panelled cabins with en-suite bathrooms and personal attendants, two fine restaurants, a bar-lounge and an observation car, spa treatments on the move, and dining that moves between regional cuisines and international classics — all while the landscape rolls past.
The trains include guided excursions, but Travalive arranges private vehicles, guides, and special access at each stop so you experience the forts, palaces, and parks at your own pace — and skip the queues the standard group itinerary cannot.
The experiences that define the journey.
A Suite That Travels by Night
The pleasure of a royal train is waking rested in a new place each morning, having crossed half a state in your sleep. Your cabin — panelled wood, soft furnishings, a private bathroom, and a butler who learns your preferences by the second day — becomes a small moving home. Evenings settle into the bar-lounge and the dining cars, where the chef's regional menus follow the route, and the observation car offers a sundowner as the desert or the Deccan slides past. We secure the cabin category that suits you, from deluxe to the grand Presidential Suite.
A Fort Before the Crowds, a Dinner in a Palace
At each halt the train becomes your base for a day ashore. With Travalive's private arrangements you take Amber or Mehrangarh before the coaches arrive, ride a camel into the Thar at Jaisalmer for a desert sundowner, and dine one evening inside a working palace rather than the standard banquet hall. The train handles the distances overnight; your days are spent in the places that matter, touring privately rather than in a column of fifty. It is the grandest way to see royal India without a single long road transfer by day.
Caves, Temples and World Heritage by Rail
The royal trains reach far beyond Rajasthan. The Deccan Odyssey carries you to the painted Buddhist caves of Ajanta and Ellora and the white salt desert of the Rann; the Golden Chariot threads the boulder-strewn ruins of Hampi and the Hoysala temples of the south; the Maharajas' Express Indian Panorama route ends at the ghats of Varanasi. We match the route to the India you most want to see, and add palace-hotel nights at either end so the journey opens and closes in style.
8 days in
Luxury Royal Trains.
This eight-day outline follows the classic Palace on Wheels loop through royal Rajasthan, ending at the Taj Mahal — the most iconic of the royal-train journeys. Every element is adjustable: choose a shorter three- or four-night Maharajas' Express run, a southern Golden Chariot route, or a Deccan Odyssey itinerary, and we add palace-hotel nights and private touring throughout. A starting point, not a fixed product.
After any pre-train nights in Delhi, a ceremonial welcome at the station and boarding in the evening. Settle into your cabin, meet your attendant, and enjoy dinner on board as the train pulls out into the night.
Wake in Jaipur. A private day at Amber Fort, the City Palace, and Jantar Mantar, with Travalive's guide and special access, then a leisurely lunch and return to the train for the onward journey.
A morning game drive in Ranthambore in search of tiger, then on to the colossal hill fort of Chittorgarh, heavy with Rajput legend, before dinner on board.
Udaipur — the City Palace complex and a boat ride on Lake Pichola past the island palaces. The gentlest, most romantic stop on the route.
The living sandstone fort of Jaisalmer and its merchant havelis, then a camel ride into the Thar dunes for a sundowner and folk music — a highlight of the journey.
The mighty Mehrangarh Fort rising above the blue old city, the Jaswant Thada, and time in the bazaars, with private touring throughout.
A morning at the Keoladeo bird sanctuary at Bharatpur, then the journey's crescendo — the Taj Mahal at Agra, with Agra Fort — before a final dinner on board.
Arrival back in Delhi after breakfast and a fond farewell to the crew. Travalive's representative meets you for any onward arrangements — a palace hotel, a flight home, or the next leg of your India journey.
Luxury Royal Trains, on your terms.
Tell us what you are thinking — a timeframe, a mood, a question — and one of our consultants will come back to you with something worth reading. No automated quotes. No fixed packages. A real conversation.