The Indian Palace on Wheels – Rajasthan to Delhi

The Indian Palace on Wheels, Rajasthan to Delhi, is a truly unique and fun way to explore India. Or course, there are many types of vehicles and ways to transport yourself from one side of a region to another. However, there are not so many amusing and unforgettable journeys to take. The Palace on Wheels train is definitely the best and most exciting way to get to know the foreign Hindu ground. Get ready to explore every bit of what India has to offer, riding the special Palace on Wheels.

The palaces and forts of Rajasthan are placed around the hills of the famous province, forsaken deserts, and vivid cities. It will take you one week to visit everything it can essentially enrich your traveling memories. With the help of the Palace on Wheels, your days are gonna be culture-filled with different locations.

Activity/Place Highlights

The magical train

At Delhi’s Safdarjung Railway Station is where the Palace on Wheels starts. As soon as you step in, you’re gonna feel like you live now with ancient Maharajas. Elegant khidmatgars (attendants) dressed in classy suits and traditional clothing will help you with your bags. Then they disappear only to come back and surprise you with a cool drink. As if this royalty-like treatment isn’t surprising enough, you will also be addressed as Maharajas or Marahanee.

Wagons nowadays are replicas from the old ones used when the train line began working. However, the design is still pretty similar and just as beautiful. On the inside, deep red colors and velvet textures decorate the walls, embellished with gold here and there. In addition, traditional Indian ink drawings illustrate court life, hanging in the corridors and sitting room.

India’s landscape from the train

As the train moves forward and you get out of Delhi’s Station, the tracks leads to the countryside. You can see farmers working with sacred cows in the distance, all looking ghostly through the dust clouds. Take this moment to sit at the bar and have a good chat, while drinking anything of preference and taste. Then, bedtime arrives and you can sleep heavenly without even realizing the train is moving to your first stop. Later, you wake up at the busy Jaipur, an active city where camels, cows, and India’s Ambassador cars create the traffic.

Jaipur

When you arrive at the city, you might as well fasten your pace so you don’t get in the way of any driver or trader. Jaipur is also known as the ‘Pink City’, thanks to its pink-colored buildings, such as the Palace of the Winds (Hawa Mahal). Also, the Jantar Mantar is not that far away, an open nature space with artifacts that are still used for astrology studies. Head to the Amber Fort for a quick historical moment, where you can get a deeper look into the Maharaja lifestyle.

Jaisalmer

Heading west, you will find the center of the Thar Desert. ‘The Golden City’ of Jaisalmer is waiting for you to explore all its wonders. This renowned sandstone fortress looks pale yellow in the day, and glows gold in the sunset, looking down to the small city below. Often compared to a big sandcastle, it creates its own maze of alleyways and streets. The beautiful bright brown havelies, where Rajasthan merchants live and work, are inside Jaisalmer.

Exchanging the Palace on Wheels for a ‘ship of the desert’ is a must if you want to know how life is like in the surrounding plains. Ride on a camel through the lonely yet extended dunes of Sam, 40 km away from Jaisalmer. It’s truly hard to get used to sitting on its hump, but it’s all worth it once you live this unforgettable experience.

The Blue City

To the east, you will encounter the ‘Blue City’ located in Jodhpur. Its hill is filled with blue houses that resemble an ocean just in the middle of the city. It’s nice to have this colorful touch to the orange-ish tone around it. The owners of these houses are the Brahmin people. The eye-catching Mehrangarh Fort just on top of the hill creates a view on its own.

The Ranthambore National Park

The Ranthambore National Park provides a different kind of view. This National Park offers tours to track tigers, famous around the world for being the best place in India to see these animals up close. You will have a professional guide by your side aboard the safari vehicle, patiently waiting for a tiger to appear through the woods. Feel your heart racing and adrenaline rush through your body every time one of these big striped cats appears.

Jag Niwas Island

New ways to see colors are lying at the waters of Jag Niwas Island. Here, you get to admire the sun hiding and creating a colorful show over the water, touching it with every color. This spectacle gives the romantic tones that define the city of Udaipur as the ‘Venice of the East’.

As you go back to Delhi, you can have the last stop of the tour at Agra to see India’s most famous and romantic monument: the Taj Mahal. One of the wonders of the world, a touching dedication from Emperor Shah Jahan to his wife.

Yes, there are many ways to travel around Rajasthan and get to know it. Still, nothing compares to travel in your own mobile palace, as you fully educate yourself in its history-abundant grounds.

How to get there

The Indira Gandhi International Airport is connected to major cities of India, and over 40 International airlines serve it.