About
Palace On Wheels ::
Schedule ::
Tariff ::
Itinerary
Destinations : Delhi -
Jaipur - Jaisalmer - Jodhpur - Sawai Madhopur - Ranthambhor - Chittaurgarh -
Bharatpur - Agra - Delhi)
Days:
6 Nights / 7 Days
The Palace on Wheels is one of the
world's most exciting rail journeys, as much for the train and the
facilities provided on board, as for the royal destinations it proceeds to
every single day. With everything taken care of - dining, accommodation,
sight seeing - as well as organized shopping, there is nothing for the
traveler to do but sleep in the history of the land, soak in the colours,
and experience the royal life of a Maharaja.
Welcome aboard
!! Wednesday Day 01: Delhi The capital city of
modern India, a city known for it's rich, valorous and exotic history. Once
the fabled city of the heroes of the Mahabharata, and ruled by the Rajputs
before they were displaced by foreign invaders. The tour starts in the
evening with a ceremonial welcome aboard the Palace on Wheels at Delhi
Cantonment.
1745 hours
¤ The train departs from Delhi.
¤ You will be
introduced to your fellow travelers.
¤ Feel free to
explore your new home, and acquaint yourself with its various facilities.
¤ Relax with a drink at the bar.
¤ Dinner
will be served on board the two restaurants.
Thursday Day
02: Jaipur
0000 hours Arrive in Jaipur
Jaipur, the Pink City, known for it's colourful and fascinating
Architecture. Your tour begins next morning with the Hawa Mahal or the
Palace of Winds, followed by a visit to the Amber Fort, riding on canopied
elephants in pomp and royal style of ancient maharajas.
After
indulging oneself in shopping at Rajasthali, the State's Handicrafts
emporium for souvenirs and crafts, an exotic and sumptuous lunch awaits you
at the majestic Rambagh Palace. The home of the erstwhile rulers, The City
Palace, now a museum, full of royal splendor and the amazing Jantar Mantar -
Astronomical Observatory, are to be explored at leisure. In the evening
after a cultural program of enthralling dance and music, dinner is a
celebration under the canopy of the star-lit skies at exotic Jai Mahal
Palace.
2230 hours The train departs from the Pink City at 22.30 hours.
Jaipur became the capital of the Kachchwaha dynasty when they shifted here
from their hilltop fort of Amber. It was built according to the principles
laid down in the ancient Architectural Treatises, but with all the opulence
deserving to a royal city. At its center rose the seven-tiered palace of the
royal family, and around it came up gardens and temples, its Astronomical
Observatory and the myriads of mansions and business houses.
Jaipur also offers a greats shopping experience since the city is the
country's capital as far as handicrafts go - and they include a very
extensive range - as well as a major international center for the cutting
and polishing of gems and stones. It also has a large number of palace
hotels, and both Rambagh and Jal Mahal, which are the venues for their lunch
and dinner, are intimately linked with the history of this former princely
state. Rambagh, in fact, was the last palace in which the former maharaja
and his glamorous Maharani, and now Rajmata or Queen Mother of Jaipur, the
popular Gayatri Devi, resided. The palace not only has most of the original
furnishings and artifacts, but its famous Polo Bar also has pictures of the
last maharaja with English Aristocracy and other important guests.
Friday Day 03: Jaisalmer 06.15 hours
Arrive
at 06.15 hrs at Jaisalmer. Spend the day in this isolated, but
Architecturally, one of the greatest Royal Bastions of the World. After a
safari dinner served under the stars, at a campsite, come back to the train
to resume your journey.
Jaisalmer was the stronghold for the
Bhatti Rajputs, and a hardier race never lived. Bandit marked their earlier
settlement, as they looted caravans at will, stealing horses, and inviting
the wrath of the West Asian invaders. Over time they began to settle, the
12th century fort with its ninety-nine bristling bastions was established on
top of Trikuta hill, exactly as prophesied for these descendants of Krishna.
Isolated Jaisalmer may have been a lost city in the sands of the Thar, more
mythic than real for those of who heard it, but the caravans that passed
through its territories enriched the coffers of the treasury. It also kept
Jaisalmer in touch with the world, for such caravans carried not merely
goods but also artisans and master-craftsmen.
The Maharawalas of
Jaisalmer thought little of making use of their services to build the
magnificent, sandstone architecture for which it has become known around the
world. However, even more magnificent, along the cobbled stone pathways of
the fort, arose the havelis, the mansions of the Jain merchants who were as
powerful in the court of the time, as they were adept in business. Their
homes are poetry of sandstone, carved and pierced incredibly into different
patterns, and though they are opulent and effusive, the result is in perfect
harmony, and never offending the eye.
Not only is Jaisalmer's
Architecture magnificent, the meandering lanes, the many homes within the
ramparts and the resounding rhythms of the Langa and Manganiyar musicians
have frozen this citadel into a medieval time warp. Escape from here to the
desert sands around the fort, and see them drift in the breeze, or take a
Camel ride, or simply enjoy the mesmeric dances of its folk performers. So
must the kings have watched over their kingdom? However, you no longer need
to travel to Jaisalmer in a caravan; your carriage is a luxurious train -
fitting in the royal context. Enjoy dinner and Cultural programme.
2300 hours Depart for Jodhpur
Saturday
Day 04: Jodhpur 0800 hours Its time for you to
visit yet another desert kingdom, Jodhpur, where you arrive at 08.00hours.
You can spend the morning at Mehrangarh Fort that towers over the city like
an eagle's eyrie and then come downhill to lunch at Umaid Bhawan Palace, the
largest art-deco residence in the world and now home to the head of the
royal family, museum and luxury hotel.
The 500 year old history of Jodhpur, the bastion of the valiant Rathore
Rajputs, bristles with conflicts and sieges, with battles and savage
skirmishes, so it is difficult to believe that they found the time to not
only build the impossibly invincible looking Mehrangarh Fort. Its lavish and
delicately embellished palaces.
Within the Fort, reached by a
steep path with huge guarding at its turns and places at angles, to prevent
elephants from storming them, are a large number of apartments where the
maharaja's retainers now serve as guides. Within, the apartments are painted
and gilded and have windows and balconies to allow them an uninterrupted
view of the desert around it, now peopled with homes. The vintage battle
arms of the royal past are well presented - swords and daggers and spears
and matchlock guns; a battle tent seized from Emperor Jehangir; howdahs and
chariots and carriages; cribs and beds; the royal, octagonal throne; musical
instruments, large drums, even a collection of turbans. From the ramparts of
the fort, where the cannons are still mounted, the sweeping view also takes
in a huge palace located on top of another lower hill.
This is
Umaid Bhavan, the palace the Maharajas set out to build as a famine relief
project, but also ambitiously as the World's largest private residence. It
was intended to and did rival the presidential palace coming up then in
Delhi. Build by a British Architect; while the planning has incorporated the
elements of the Rajput life-style (large county yards, for example, or a
zenana wing), there is a formal western sense of symmetry and restrained
sense of ornamentation. Only in the royal suites does exuberance take over,
since a Polish artist, then traveling in India, was given the permission to
create huge paintings to suit the art-deco theme of the architecture and
furniture in the palace.
The grounds of the palace are huge and
towards the back, there is a bougainvillea garden, perhaps the only of its
kind in the world, and at the end, a Baradari, a pillared pavilion where the
maharajas held Mehfils, entertainment courts. Within the palace the
courtrooms are more formal, while the ballrooms resounded, till recently,
with the sounds of revelry, now captured in the whispered conversations of
tourists.
1530 hours Departure, after unwinding and
relaxing at the palace. Dinner and overnight on board.
Sunday Day 05:
Sawai Madhopur - Ranthambhor - Chittaurgarh
0400 hours Steam into Sawai Madhopur, to spend the day in the
wilds of Ranthambhor where your hosts are, of course, royal. Ranthambhor
National Park is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger, the most majestic of the
big cats, and magnificent in its agility and grace. As it moves through the
underbrush, its tawny gold hide striped with black bands, merges with
nature, and the jungle stands to attention. Ranthambhor is also very
picturesque.
A number of lakes from the shallow land where tiger
sightings are quite common, and where herds of deer can be seen foraging,
while crocodiles bask in the sun. The lofty hills ring the park, and in the
distance, the ramparts of Ranthambhor fort create a dramatic silhouette.
Once, this was the scene for fierce battles, and for fiery Jauhars, but all
that is of the past now, though former-hunting lodges such as Jogi Mahal,
close to the lakes, is still retains its former grandeur and glory.
Ranthambhor is particularly well known for its tiger sightings because the
undisturbed ambiance and the spreading, shallow lakes provide them the
surroundings best suited to their needs, and therefore sightings by day time
are quite common. Various conservationists and wildlife photographers have
worked at length here to document the life cycle of the tigresses of
Ranthambhor, even giving them names, so that they are now a part of the
regional lore.
Since the best time to visit the park is early
morning.
1100 hours Leaves for its destination,
Chittaurgarh.
1530 hours Arrival at Chittaurgarh.
Chittaurgarh is India's most valorous fort, its history an unending saga of
passion, chivalry and romance. Within its sprawling ramparts were beautiful
palaces, but few of them remain, the fort having been sacked by invaders.
Lunch and dinner are served on board the train.
Monday Day
06: Udaipur 
0730
hours Arrive, Udaipur, the capitals of the Sisodia Maharanas,
enjoy pre-eminence among the Rajput clans of Rajasthan. Spend the day sight
seeing at Udaipur.
Lunch is at Lake Palace, the beautiful island
palace built as a summer resort by the royal family, and now converted into
one of the world's finest hotels. The train departs again at 20.00 hours,
and dinner will be served on board.
Maharana Udai Singh, laid the
foundation for a new kingdom-Udaipur-situated by Lake Pichola, where the
impressive City Palace was lavished with aesthetic and imaginative works of
art, and the art of miniature painting was encouraged as decor-et-al.
Subsequently, the princes built the seemingly floating Island Palace, the
royal summer retreat, offering a spectacular view of the lake and
surrounding mountains. Besides the Lake Palace, there are other such
retreats that have been converted into modern hotels, one of them, Shiv
Niwas, being run by the current head of the family.
A graceful,
valorous race, the Sisodias and their city bring alive the excitement of a
medieval kingdom as it once was, and with a little imagination.
Tuesday Day 07: Bharatpur - Agra - Delhi 0600
hours It must be Bharatpur. Arrive at a royal kingdom where the
Jats, rather than the Rajputs, ruled. Bharatpur's Jat history is not too
old, with Suraj Mal establishing a firm stronghold in a region contested by
both the Rajputs and the Mughals. Suraj Mal's exploits are legendary, and
the fort, Lohargarh, or Iron Fort has a history that recounts it with pride.
The only fort in the state to have bastions of mud, these proved meritorious
because they simply swallowed up the cannon shells, not allowing them to
impact. However, it is not for its fort, or palace, or even the close by
fortified resort of Deeg that passengers of the Palace on Wheels are here;
Their attention is drawn to the bird sanctuary, one of the finest in the
world. The Keoladeo Ghana National Park was developed by a royal edict when
dykes were created so that water could be canalized for the hunting preserve
at the maharaja of Bharatpur wished to create. In the early decade of this
century, Bharatpur became famous among visiting British royalty and
aristocracy for the amount of game the visitors bagged. These days,
thankfully, only shooting by cameras is permitted in this sanctuary with
over three hundred species of birds, many of them migrant species that come
from parts as distant as Siberia and China.
1030 hours After visiting the sanctuary in the morning,
visitors travel by couch to Fatehpur Sikri, the red sandstone city build by
Emperor Akbar on a lavish scale, but which he had to abandon soon after
because of shortage of water.
1500 hours
From here to Agra, first for lunch at hotel and then for a visit to the
world's most well known monument and well worth its fame; The Taj Mahal.
Built in the memory of his beloved empress by Emperor Shah Jahan, this
marble mausoleum is the greatest gesture of love known to mankind, and is
breathtakingly, bewitchingly beautiful. Land for the building of the Taj
Mahal in Agra came from the maharaja of Jaipur and the marble used in its
construction was from the mines of Makrana, also in Rajasthan. The precious
stones used in its inlay, and the craftsmen employed for the twenty-two
years its construction took, came not only from India, but from all over the
World. The Taj Mahal is the perfect finale to your Royal Sojourn.
2000 hours Palace on wheels departs for Delhi.
Dinner and overnight on board.
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