Luxury Train Travel in India: Journeys That Combine Comfort, Culture, and Scenery

When you think of luxury train travel, a high-end rail experience that blends opulent accommodations, fine dining, and curated cultural stops. Also known as palace trains, it’s not just about getting from point A to point B—it’s about traveling in style through India’s most breathtaking landscapes. These aren’t ordinary trains. They’re rolling five-star hotels with polished teak wood, brass fixtures, personal butlers, and windows that frame everything from the golden deserts of Rajasthan to the misty hills of the Western Ghats.

India’s Palace on Wheels, a legendary luxury train that revived royal travel in the 1980s, offering seven-night circuits through Rajasthan’s forts and palaces set the standard. Then came the Maharajas' Express, the most expensive train journey in Asia, with suites that cost more than a week in a five-star hotel, but include guided tours, private excursions, and gourmet meals prepared by chefs trained in royal kitchens. And if you want to explore the south, the Deccan Odyssey, a train that winds through Goa’s beaches, Maharashtra’s caves, and Karnataka’s temples, all while serving champagne at sunrise delivers a completely different kind of grandeur.

What makes these journeys special isn’t just the velvet curtains or the silver service. It’s how they connect you to places most tourists never see. You wake up outside a 17th-century fort, step off the train onto a private platform, and walk through empty courtyards before the crowds arrive. You dine on biryani cooked over charcoal in a royal kitchen, then sip whiskey as the train glides past elephants at dusk. These trains don’t just transport you—they immerse you.

And unlike flying or driving, luxury train travel in India gives you time. Time to read on a balcony, time to chat with fellow travelers who’ve saved for this trip, time to watch the landscape change without rushing. There’s no traffic, no airport lines, no rental car stress. Just the rhythm of the rails and the quiet hum of a journey designed for those who want more than a checklist.

Whether you’re celebrating an anniversary, planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip, or simply craving a break from the ordinary, luxury train travel in India offers something no other form of tourism can: the feeling of being part of a living story. And below, you’ll find real stories from people who’ve taken these journeys—what surprised them, what they wish they’d known, and why they’d do it all over again.