India's grandest train, and the days it cannot give you
For this journey we use the short loop, and we do it on purpose. Three nights give you the train at its best without a week of fixed programmes. Then we fly you south and hand Rajasthan back to you, to see each place at its right hour and sleep in palaces rather than pass them.
Who runs it: the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, IRCTC. It was built to be the grandest way to travel in India.
The cabins: around forty guest cabins in four categories: Deluxe Cabins, Junior Suites, Suites and a single Presidential Suite.
- Nights
- Eleven: Delhi 2, the train 3, Udaipur 3, Kumbhalgarh 1, Jodhpur 2
- Pace
- Three sociable nights on board, then a slow private week
- Best months
- October to March
- Good for
- Celebrations, couples and train lovers
- Starts
- Delhi
- Ends
- Jodhpur, with flights to Delhi and Mumbai
- The Presidential Suite: it fills an entire carriage, with two bedrooms, a sitting room and a dining room of its own.
- Two restaurant cars: Rang Mahal and Mayur Mahal, the palace of colours and the palace of peacocks, serving breakfast, lunch and long, formal dinners.
- To complete the train: the Rajah Club lounge and a bar car.
- Several itineraries: unlike the Palace on Wheels, which runs a single loop through Rajasthan, the Maharajas' Express usually offers several.
- In recent seasons: a short three-night loop from Delhi to Agra, Ranthambore and Jaipur, and longer journeys of about a week between Delhi and Mumbai, or east through Gwalior, Orchha, Khajuraho and Varanasi.
- They change by season: the operator sets routes, names, dates and fares each season. For the 2026 to 2027 season, check with us which itineraries are running on your dates.
- The short loop's gifts: the Taj Mahal, a tiger safari at Ranthambore, Jaipur and three dinners in those restaurant cars.
- Then ours: Udaipur, Kumbhalgarh and Jodhpur, with your own guide and chauffeur.
- More time on board? Take a longer itinerary instead, and we wrap private days around it too. See the section on making the journey your own.
Day by day, on the rails and off them
The train's days, order and timings are set by its operator for each season. Your exact programme arrives with your booking, and we fit the private days around the train's departure and return times.
- Delhi to Udaipur
- About an hour by air
- Dabok airport
- About 22 km east of Udaipur
- Udaipur to Kumbhalgarh
- About 85 km, two and a half hours
- Kumbhalgarh to Ranakpur
- About an hour
- Kumbhalgarh to Jodhpur
- About four hours via Ranakpur
Days 1-2: Delhi, before the train
Met inside arrivals: however late your flight, we drive you to a calm hotel in New Delhi.
A slow first day: sleep late, swim, and walk among the fifteenth-century tombs of Lodhi Garden.
- Humayun's Tomb in the last light: Humayun's Tomb, finished around 1570, was the first great garden tomb in India and the building that taught the Taj its shape.
- Old Delhi at six: with a guide, before the shutters lift, ride a cycle rickshaw through Chandni Chowk and the spice lanes of Khari Baoli.
- Rest in the afternoon: the Delhi guide has more ideas if you have the energy.
Days 3-6: the Maharajas' Express to Agra, Ranthambore and Jaipur
To the station: your chauffeur takes you and your luggage, and the train's staff welcome you aboard. We keep any bags you won't need until you return.
- Then Sawai Madhopur: a safari into Ranthambore's dry forest, where tigers walk among lakes and ruins below a UNESCO-listed fort.
- Jaipur last: Amber Fort, the City Palace and the walled city.
- Life on board: long breakfasts as the country slides past, a drink in the Rajah Club and dinner in Rang Mahal or Mayur Mahal.
- Back to Delhi: on the final day. If the train arrives in good time, we fly you to Udaipur the same day.
Day 6: arriving by the lakes
An hour by air: your chauffeur meets you at Maharana Pratap Airport, about 22 kilometres east of the city.
- The drive in: past low hills and marble yards.
- Pichola at sunset: an hour before, a private boat waits at the jetty for Lake Pichola, and you drift past the ghats and island palaces as the City Palace turns from cream to amber.
Days 7-8: Udaipur, at a lake's pace
The City Palace at opening: enter the City Palace and climb to the upper courtyards before the crowds, past the glass peacocks of the Mor Chowk.
Down through the lanes: to the Jagdish Temple, past silversmiths and painters, to Gangaur Ghat.
- A painter's studio: after a rest, one we know.
- Evening: the folk dance at Bagore ki Haveli.
- Nagda and Eklingji: next day, drive north early to the carved Sas-Bahu temples and the temple of Eklingji at Kailashpuri, the god in whose name the Maharanas of Mewar ruled.
- Fateh Sagar: after lunch and a long rest, walk its embankment with the city's families.
- The Monsoon Palace: climb to the Monsoon Palace for sunset over the lakes and the folded Aravallis.
Day 9: over the hills to Kumbhalgarh
North through the hills: about two and a half hours.
Lunch at Devigarh: RAAS Devigarh, an eighteenth-century hill palace turned into a calm marble hotel.
- Badal Mahal: rest at your lodge below the fort, then go up at about four and climb to the palace of clouds for the late light.
- The light and sound show: our guide translates the story of Panna Dhai, the nurse who saved the infant prince of Mewar.
- The lit walls: stay after the show and watch them glow against the dark hills.
Day 10: the wall at dawn, Ranakpur and on to Jodhpur
On the rampart at sunrise: with a guide and a flask of chai.
The wall: it runs for about 36 kilometres over the ridges, and on winter mornings mist fills the valleys below it.
- Ranakpur: after breakfast, about an hour down through the forest to Ranakpur, arriving as the Jain temple opens to visitors.
- Two unhurried hours: for its 1,444 carved marble pillars.
- Into Marwar: continue west out of the hills as the fields turn to scrub and the turbans change colour.
- Tea at Rohet: we often stop at Rohet Garh, a family fort by a lake south of the city.
- Jodhpur at dusk: walk to the clock tower market for a hot mirchi bada and a glass of makhaniya lassi.
Day 11: Jodhpur, Mehrangarh and the blue lanes
Mehrangarh as the gates open: climb to Mehrangarh, pass through the seven gates and pause at the handprints by Loha Pol.
A full morning: for the palaces and the museum galleries before the courtyards fill.
- Brahmpuri: after lunch and a rest, walk the bluest quarter with a guide who grew up in its lanes.
- Jaswant Thada: end at Jaswant Thada as the low sun lights its thin marble.
- The last dinner: on the terrace at Umaid Bhawan Palace, looking across the city to the floodlit fort.
Day 12: departure from Jodhpur
- A last stepwell: if your flight allows, walk to Toorji ka Jhalra, the restored eighteenth-century stepwell, before the cafes open.
- Flying home: Jodhpur Airport is only a few kilometres from the centre, with flights to Delhi and Mumbai.
Life on board the Maharajas' Express
The cabins: panelled and richly furnished, with large windows, private bathrooms and attentive staff on hand through the journey.
Generous for a train: even the Deluxe Cabins. The Suites are spacious, and the Presidential Suite takes up a whole carriage.
The food: the two restaurant cars serve Indian and international dishes, with regional specialities along the route.
- Drinks: the Rajah Club for a quiet drink and conversation, the bar car for something livelier.
- The rhythm: the train usually travels at night or between stops, and each day's excursions, by coach or private car, are arranged by the train's own team.
- The Ranthambore safari: it uses the park's official vehicles and zones, allotted by the forest department, so sightings are luck, as for every visitor.
- Full days, social evenings: days are well paced but full, and dinners are an occasion.
- Dress: relaxed by day, something smarter for the evening.
- Honest note one: this is a train, however grand, and some light sleepers notice the motion on the first night.
- Honest note two: sightseeing follows the operator's timetable, so you see the Taj at the hour the train chooses, not necessarily at sunrise.
- Compare and read more: our luxury trains guide sets it beside the Palace on Wheels, and our journal guide to the Maharajas' Express goes deeper into each itinerary.
Two halves, two stories of Rajasthan
A Mughal and Kachwaha story: in Agra you stand in the fort where Akbar ruled and before the tomb his grandson built.
The Kachwahas of Amber: they married into the Mughal family in 1562 and served the empire as its greatest generals.
Built on service: Raja Man Singh of Amber built the oldest parts of Amber Fort with what he earned, and the land under the Taj Mahal had once been his family's.
- 1562
- Amer's Kachwahas marry into the Mughal family
- 1568
- Akbar takes Chittorgarh
- June 1576
- Battle of Haldighati
- Pratap's birthplace
- Kumbhalgarh
- Marwar's war
- Nearly thirty years against Aurangzeb
- Mewar chose differently: its Sisodia rulers were among the last Rajput houses to accept Mughal terms.
- A new capital: when Akbar took Chittorgarh in 1568, Udaipur became their capital.
- Haldighati: in June 1576 Maharana Pratap fought the Mughal army there, a short drive north of the city.
- Born at Kumbhalgarh: in the fort you will sleep beneath on the ninth night.
- The story told: our journal piece on Maharana Pratap and Haldighati, and our long read on Mughal and Rajput history for both sides.
- Marwar, in between: a Jodhpur princess was the mother of Shah Jahan, yet under Aurangzeb the Rathores fought the empire for nearly thirty years.
- A short history in palaces: taken in this order, the journey reads like one, and our guides enjoy picking up each thread where the last left off.
Where you'll stay off the train
Delhi, before boarding
Green views: The Oberoi, New Delhi overlooks the Delhi Golf Club and is close to Humayun's Tomb and Lodhi Garden.
- The most historic: The Imperial on Janpath, from the 1930s, and the most central.
- The grandest: The Leela Palace, New Delhi, in the calm of the diplomatic quarter.
- Boarding day: we arrange a late check-out.
Udaipur, on the water
The island: the Taj Lake Palace, built in the 1740s as a summer palace on its own island in Pichola, reached only by the hotel's boats.
- The shore: The Oberoi Udaivilas on the western shore, with one of the best spas in India and many rooms with semi-private pools along the water.
- Inside the palace: Shiv Niwas Palace curves around a courtyard pool with views of the lake.
- Every option: our guide to luxury hotels in Udaipur.
Kumbhalgarh, below the walls
No hotel inside the fort: the best stays sit on the forested slopes a few minutes from the gate.
- Our usual choice: The Aodhi, one of the longest-established, a quiet country lodge with rooms spread over the hillside, a pool and a spa.
- Why there: the lit fort is ten minutes away, and the wall at sunrise needs no early drive.
Jodhpur, a palace or the old city
Umaid Bhawan Palace: Umaid Bhawan Palace on Chittar Hill was finished in 1943, partly as famine relief.
- Part home, part hotel: with some of the finest Art Deco rooms in Asia.
- Into the lanes: RAAS Jodhpur sits directly beneath Mehrangarh, with the floodlit fort filling your window at night.
When to go
The train's season: it runs through the cooler months, roughly from autumn to spring, and rests through the summer heat and the monsoon.
October to March: the best time for the whole journey, with warm, bright days, cool nights and Udaipur's lakes usually full after the rains.
- Train season
- Roughly autumn to spring
- Best for the journey
- October to March
- Ranthambore open
- October to June
- Core zones closed
- The monsoon
- Delhi air
- Can be poor in November and December
- December and January: cold mornings on the Kumbhalgarh ramparts, and fog that can slow early trains and flights around Delhi and Agra.
- Delhi's air: it can be poor in November and December, so we keep the Delhi days light.
- Ranthambore: open from October to June, with the core zones closed for the monsoon.
- Tiger sightings: they tend to improve as the forest thins and the weather warms towards March.
- The whole year: our guide to the best time to visit Rajasthan.
October and November
Fresh and green: after the rains.
- Diwali: Diwali fills Jaipur's bazaars and Udaipur's ghats with lamps.
- Music at Mehrangarh: the Rajasthan International Folk Festival comes to Jodhpur close to the October full moon.
December to February
The clearest weeks: the coolest, with the busiest hotels.
- Dance at the fort: the Kumbhalgarh Festival in early December.
- February: our favourite month for Udaipur.
March
Warm afternoons: and good tiger season.
- Holi: Holi, the festival of colour, which we can celebrate with you privately in a courtyard.
- Late March or April: Gangaur and the Mewar Festival may fall then.
Make it yours, with the longer train routes
The week-long Rajasthan routes, between Delhi and Mumbai
In recent seasons: journeys of about a week in either direction, calling at Agra, Ranthambore, Jaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur and Udaipur. Routes change by season, so we confirm them.
The eastern route, to Khajuraho and Varanasi
East from Jaipur and Agra: another itinerary has run through Gwalior, Orchha and Khajuraho to Varanasi.
- A good pairing: it sees so little of western Rajasthan that private days in Udaipur and Jodhpur afterwards fit beautifully.
- The private version: our Rajasthan and Varanasi journey.
Shorter, in eight nights
- The shape: one night in Delhi, three on board, two in Udaipur and two in Jodhpur, seeing Ranakpur on the drive across.
- What you lose: Kumbhalgarh and one slow Udaipur day.
For couples and celebrations
A moving apartment: a Suite or the Presidential Suite, which many couples choose for an anniversary.
- Then: the Lake Palace, and a historic suite at Umaid Bhawan.
- More ideas: our Rajasthan honeymoons page.
For train lovers
- The original royal train: read Palace on Wheels and beyond.
- Ordinary fast trains: our page on trains in Rajasthan explains how we use them on private journeys too.
How we look after you
The train booking: we handle it with you, check which itineraries and cabin categories are available for your season, and plan around the train's real departure and return times.
Met and delivered: inside the arrivals hall at Delhi, and to and from the station.
Spare luggage: we keep what you don't need on board until the train returns.
- One chauffeur off the train: from Udaipur to Jodhpur.
- A local guide in each place: someone who knows the custodian kings of Eklingji in Udaipur, someone who tells Panna Dhai's story on the spot at Kumbhalgarh, and a guide from Jodhpur's blue lanes.
- The flight: Delhi to Udaipur, booked and timed to the train.
- Paid to guide, never to sell: we never take you to commission showrooms.
- Your planner on WhatsApp: throughout, including while you are on the train. Meet the team on our planners and guides page.
- No published prices: the train's fares are set by its operator each season and vary by cabin. After one conversation we send a full quote, with the train confirmed for your dates. Start on plan my journey.
Who will love this journey, and who should choose another
The train without a whole week: you will love it if you want India's most celebrated train but not seven nights of it.
A special occasion: if you are marking one.
Sociable, then private: if you like a few evenings in company, followed by a private week of lakes, forts and quiet roads.
- Train luggage
- A soft bag, the rest with us
- Dinners on board
- Something smarter
- Temples
- Soft shoes you can slip off
- Winter mornings
- A warm layer
- Greeting
- Khamma ghani
- Who it suits: couples, friends travelling together and anyone who enjoys a beautifully set table.
- Less right if: group sightseeing and fixed timetables make you restless, or you'd rather spend the train's share of the budget on more palace nights.
- The private alternative: our Golden Triangle and Udaipur journey covers similar ground, with the Taj at sunrise and a short flight to the lakes.
- Only the countryside half: choose Mewar and Marwar.
- Pack a soft bag: for the train, and leave the rest with us until you return.
- Rest in Delhi first: jet lag and early safari starts are a poor mix.
- Tigers: the Ranthambore safari follows the park's rules and zones, and tigers are never guaranteed.
- Khamma ghani: learn it before Udaipur. It works on both sides of the Aravallis.
