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Apr 6, 2026
India has a way of doing this to people. You arrive planning a luxury train tour in India and leave wondering how to come back for longer. You travel through the highlights on one of the finest trains in the world. And somewhere between the desert palaces of Rajasthan and the ancient ghats of Varanasi, you realise the list has not gotten shorter. It has gotten longer.
The luxury train covers the highlights with elegance and ease. But India is a subcontinent, not a destination. Its regions are as distinct from one another as separate countries. Its landscapes, languages, and histories shift every few hundred kilometres. Luxe Train Journeys was built for this, not just to book the train, but to plan everything around it, before the journey begins, after it ends, and as far into India as the traveller wants to go.
For guests who book the Maharajas' Express , Deccan Odyssey , Palace on Wheels , Golden Chariot , through Luxe Train Journeys, a complimentary pre- and post-journey service is included. This covers the airport arrival, the first night's accommodation, guided city sightseeing, and the railway station transfer. It is India's way of saying welcome, managed by a team that has been doing exactly this since 1983.
For those who want to go further, extension tours can be arranged before or after the train journey across the Indian subcontinent. These are complete itineraries, built entirely around the traveller, with stays ranging from five-star hotels and heritage properties to luxury palace hotels. Whether it is three days or three weeks, every detail is confirmed before departure.
Every excursion is led by experienced, multilingual guides licensed and approved by the Government of India's Ministry of Tourism. All transfers are conducted in well-maintained, modern chauffeur-driven vehicles , from comfortable sedans to larger coaches, with experienced drivers who know the routes. Every movement is confirmed before departure. Nothing is left to chance on the ground.
The train shows the icons. The extension reveals what the tracks never reach. Shekhawati's havelis are covered in centuries-old frescoes. Bundi has a hillside palace and step-wells of quiet, unhurried beauty. Ranakpur holds a Jain temple of white marble with over a thousand columns, no two alike. Chittaurgarh is the largest fort complex in Asia. Barmer, Nagaur, Karauli, and Dungarpur are small princely states and craft villages that very few visitors reach, which is precisely what makes them worth the journey.
Extend the journey south, and everything changes. The architecture, the food, the coastline, and the pace of life are entirely distinct from the India just left behind.
Kerala deserves particular attention. Cochin carries five centuries of layered trading history on its waterfront. The backwaters of Alleppey, best experienced on a traditional houseboat moving slowly through canals flanked by palms and birdsong, offer a stillness that is genuinely difficult to find. Wayanad, Kumarakom, and Kovalam each add a different face of the state. Kerala alone warrants a week. Many travellers find it worth considerably more. The Kerala, God's Own Country itinerary is a good place to begin planning this extension.
Tamil Nadu carries India's oldest living temple traditions, from the extraordinary Meenakshi Temple in Madurai to the UNESCO-listed Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur and the shore temples of Mahabalipuram. Karnataka adds Hampi, Mysore, and the remarkable Hoysala temples of Belur. Those looking to cover the full south will find the Grand South India itinerary covers the region with the depth it deserves.
The Kalka-Shimla toy train is one of those journeys that international travellers remember long after the trip is over. This UNESCO World Heritage narrow-gauge line climbs through 103 tunnels and over 800 bridges, winding slowly into the hills with views that change at every bend. For those who have just stepped off a luxury train, arriving in Shimla by toy train carries a natural continuity, one heritage rail experience leading seamlessly into another. Beyond Shimla, Spiti's remote Buddhist monasteries, Manali's mountain roads, and the quieter reaches of Dalhousie and Dharamshala open a different India entirely.
Jammu and Kashmir draws travellers for one reason above all others: Srinagar. The houseboats on Dal Lake, with the mountains reflected in the water and the old city within reach, offer an experience that is unlike anywhere else in India. Gulmarg, Pahalgam, and the high-altitude desert of Ladakh extend the journey further for those who want more of the mountains.
Darjeeling, Gangtok, and the tea gardens of the eastern Himalayas. Assam and Kaziranga are home to the Indian one-horned rhinoceros. Arunachal Pradesh, bordering Tibet and Bhutan, with tribal cultures and mountain scenery that very few international itineraries include. Meghalaya's living root bridges and waterfalls. The Assam and Arunachal itinerary is one of the most rewarding in this region for those willing to venture this far. These are extensions that most visitors overlook, which is exactly why they reward those who do not.
The Rann of Kutch is one of the most surreal landscapes in Asia. Ahmedabad is a UNESCO World Heritage City. The Gir Forest is the only place outside Africa where lions live in the wild, and the Lion Trail in India itinerary is built entirely around this extraordinary experience. Palitana's hilltop of 863 Jain temples has been a place of pilgrimage for over a thousand years. Goa, for those who want to close the journey on the coast, offers old Portuguese quarters and quieter stretches of coastline alongside the better-known beaches.
India's neighbours carry their own worlds entirely. Nepal and Bhutan sit on the subcontinent's northern edge, one carrying the drama of the high Himalayas and Kathmandu's ancient squares, the other one of the most protected and quietly extraordinary kingdoms on earth. The Heart and Soul of Bhutan itinerary is a natural extension for those who want to cross that border. Further south, Sri Lanka offers ancient cities, tea country, and remarkable wildlife within a compact geography. The Maldives, for those who want to close the journey in the Indian Ocean, is simply without comparison.
All of it can be arranged as part of the same itinerary, by the same team, from the first enquiry to the final departure.
Browse our full range of tours and find the journey that is right for you.
Some travellers arrive in India with something very specific in mind. A week in the houseboats of Kashmir. The royal textile trail through Rajasthan. The tribal villages of Odisha. These are not journeys that can be taken off a shelf. They need to be built around the individual. This is where bespoke India tours come in.
Over four decades of working with international guests across every region of India have resulted in more than a hundred curated private luxury tour options covering every corner of the subcontinent. Whatever region draws you, whatever experience you are looking for, there is a journey already designed around it and a team that has delivered it many times before. For those who want to go beyond India entirely, Nepal and Bhutan can be incorporated into any itinerary, with every necessity handled and every detail confirmed by the same team.
A complete India luxury tour package, planned well, looks something like this. The flight is booked. A representative is waiting at the airport. The first night's accommodation is confirmed. The luxury train departs. The extension begins the day after it arrives. And when the journey is complete, the flight home is already arranged. Not a single detail is left to the guest to arrange independently.
This is what seamless planning actually means in practice, refined over four decades of welcoming international guests to India. From the first enquiry to the final transfer, every element of the journey is handled by one trusted team.
If you are considering luxury trips to India and want to explore what a complete itinerary could look like, we would be pleased to help you plan every detail. Get in touch with our team, and we will take it from there.
