Stuart Forster takes a journey on the Golden Chariot luxury train in South India, travelling from Bengaluru to Goa.
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The Golden Chariot is South India’s answer to the Palace on Wheels. This is a luxury train transporting tourists in five-star comfort between sites of cultural and historic interest. Every Monday of the season, the purple train pulls out of Bengaluru’s Yeshwanthpur railway station.
If you thought luxury train travel belonged to the world of Agatha Christie and went out of fashion with the Charleston, think again. The concept is proving increasingly popular. The Golden Chariot is a way of exploring heritage sites and then returning to a train with dining carriages, a lounge bar and comfortable sleeping quarters.
Luxury rail travel in India
The acclaimed Palace on Wheels rolled into service back in 1982. It tours attractions in the ‘golden triangle’ of Delhi, Rajasthan and Agra. It remained India’s only train of its kind until Maharashtra’s Deccan Odyssey entered service in 2004.
The Golden Chariot’s inaugural journey was in March 2008. Yet the idea of establishing a luxury train service in Karnataka was long in the offing.
“This was considered for the last ten years…primarily we felt that the interior parts of Karnataka were very difficult to access. The accessibility was an issue. We did not have good roads, we did not have good airports or even good tourism infrastructure, like hotels, in places like Hampi, Badami and Hassan,” explained Vinay Luthra, the Managing Director of the Karnataka State Tourism Development Commission, shortly after the service began.
“That was one reason we felt an up-end traveller would not be able to see and access these beautiful places. So we thought, after seeing the success of the Palace on Wheels in Rajasthan, why not have a similar kind of a train that overcomes this problem until we can get good infrastructure in place,” he added.
Heritage sites in Karnataka
Compared to neighbouring Kerala and Goa, Karnataka is only slowly entering the mass consciousness of international travellers. The slogan ‘One State, Many Worlds’, emblazoned on the Golden Chariot, is used to promote Karnataka.
This journey showcases a subset of the cultural diversity for which India is renowned. Remarkably, 609 of the nation’s 3,600 centrally protected monuments are in the state. The oldest monument you’ll see on this journey is approximately 1,600 years old.
Two of the stops along the route, Hampi and Pattadakal, give you opportunities to explore UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Shravanabelagola, with its monolithic, thousand-year-old statue of the Jain ascetic Lord Bahubali, Mysore’s Indo-Saracenic style Amba Vilas Palace, and the intricately sculpted twelfth-century Hoysala temples of Belur and Halebid are also on the itinerary.
Indian wildlife and Goa’s coast
None of Karnataka’s coastal resorts were included on the journey I enjoyed. However, Goa, the train’s final stop, was an opportunity to appreciate the golden sands and warmth of the Arabian Sea.
There’s also a chance to enjoy some of the region’s wildlife. An overnight stay at the Kabini River Lodge provides opportunities to take jeep and boat safaris in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. While there, I was fortunate enough to sight a tiger.
An air-conditioned coach follows the train throughout its journey. It picks up the Golden Chariot’s passengers from railway stations and provides transport to and from places of interest.
Should you develop a case of ‘temple fatigue’ or feel the need for a break from the daily infusion of in-depth commentaries provided by guides, who are local specialists who join the group along the route, you can opt out of excursions.
Onboard wellness and fitness
The train’s Aragoya carriage houses an ayurvedic spa, a compact gym with cardiovascular fitness machines and a business centre with internet access. The spa treatments, administered by specialist staff, include aromatherapy and Swedish massages. De-tox and de-stress packages are available too. Despite the obvious space constraints of a railway carriage, the spa is equipped with two steam rooms.
The train runs to a prodigious length, with a total of 18 coaches, including engines at either end. Of those, 11 carriages are given over to sleeping quarters. They are named after the dynasties which formerly ruled over territories in Karnataka, including Rashtrakuta, Vijayanagara and Chalukya.
Luxury train in South India
Each carriage has a full-time coach attendant who provides a butler service. The four cabins in each carriage have en suite bathrooms and are decorated with bedspreads made of hand-woven silk. The cabin designs are influenced by the Mysore and Belur-Halebidu schools of art and architecture but feature light-coloured wood and a television.
One of the highlights of travelling on the Golden Chariot is the outstanding food. Executive chef Deepak Chaubey does a great job of sourcing top-quality fresh and seasonal ingredients. His team creates their dishes using electric ovens and hot plates, as gas cooking is not permitted on the Indian Railways. Cooks work in two narrow galley-style kitchens, one for Indian cuisine and the other for Continental-style preparations.
Dining on the Golden Chariot
The onboard meals are served in two dining cars, named Ruchi (Sanskrit for ‘fine taste’) and Nalapaka (after a king and legendary chef from the Hindu epic, The Mahabharata). The attentive waiters aren’t afraid to chat about themselves during respectful, good-natured exchanges.
Presentation of the food is consistently of a high standard throughout the week-long journey. Desserts, with their glazed fruits and decorative strips of chocolate, stand out as being especially artistic. Yet the colour combinations of the Indian dishes, served as part of the traditional thalis (literally ‘plates’), are as noteworthy as their aromatic flavours. Even the shepherd’s pie – traditionally a no-nonsense blend of minced meat and mashed potato – is served to look aesthetically attractive and appetising.
Golden Chariot luxury train
The range of food is impressive. Continental and Indian options are served at every mealtime, with vegetarian and non-vegetarian choices in both. Karnataka is rich in regional cuisines, with Udupi, Kodava and Mangalorean cooking counting among the state’s varied and celebrated styles. Chef Chaubey does a great job of incorporating a range of dishes from Karnataka in his thalis.
After a good dinner, what is there left to do but retire to the bar for a nightcap? That’s precisely what many of the passengers do. They head to the lounge bar in Madira, the carriage named after the nectar of the gods, to chat and unwind with a drink.
Knowing that you are trundling towards the next attraction while conversing over a drink, and can effortlessly retire to a comfortable bed, helps take the stress out of travel. That’s one of the chief attractions of travelling on the Golden Chariot.
Travel to Bangalore
Air India and British Airways offer direct flights between London Heathrow and Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru.
Hotels in Bangalore
Search for hotels in Bengaluru using the map below:
Books about Karnataka and India
Planning a trip to Karnataka or elsewhere in southern India? You can buy the following books from Amazon.co.uk:
Karnataka’s Rich Heritage: Art and Architecture by Lalit Chugh.
Footprint’s Bangalore and Karnataka guidebook Footprint Focus Guide.
India: A History by John Keay.
Further information
See the Golden Chariot website for information about departures on the luxury train.
Thank you for visiting Go Eat Do and reading this post about South India’s Golden Chariot luxury train. Thinking about a luxury train vacation in India?If you want to experience a piece of India’s railway heritage, please take a look at my post about the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tamil Nadu.
Stuart Forster, the author of this post, lived in India for five years and travelled extensively. He is an award-winning travel writer and has travelled on some of the world’s best-regarded rail routes, including the Rocky Mountaineer in western Canada.
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A version of this post was first published on Go Eat Do in 2013.
