The Palace on Wheels is an exotic luxury train providing unique journeys through the heritage centres of Rajasthan since it began operating in 1982. The immensely popular heritage train which won the PATA gold award in 1987, is today rated as one of the top ten luxurious trains in the world. Uptil early 2001, it has carried over 32000 tourists in over 520 trips.
The coaches originally used on the train are believed to have been ornately designed in ethnic Rajasthani style to serve the erstwhile royalty of the princely states. With the annexation of these royal states post-independence, these trains fell into disuse due to their luxurious interiors which were unfit for normal passenger trains. Therefore the 'Palace on Wheels' project gave a new lease of life to these coaches up until 1991 when the old train was replaced by a new air-conditioned meter gauge train designed as a replica of the old heritage train.
The Palace on Wheels comprises of 14 saloons or coaches - each named after a former princely state. Each saloon has 4 cabins with twin beds, attached toilets, shower, a lounge with TV and other amenities. There are 52 rooms in total varyingly allocated to Single, Double and Triple occupancies. Any fully-booked tour would have around 104 passengers. The train has two restaurants serving Continental, Chinese and of course, Indian cuisines, and also a drinks bar.
The standard tour is an eight-day seven-night journey and includes stops at Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Fatehpur Sikri, Bharatpur and Agra. While in Jaipur, a bus transports you from the train to the various attractions around the city such as the Hawa Mahal, Amber Fort, City Palace, Jantar Mantar, etc and then back to the train at the end of the day. You can check out the itinerary and other details from the website www.palaceonwheels.net. Bookings are recommended to be made as early as possible because rooms for the peak tourist season get sold out around 8 to 10 months in advance. There is also a waiting list for the sold-out departure dates, so if you find a tour date that you really want and it is sold out, you can try your luck by getting your name added to the waiting list and see if by chance something becomes available!