Explore top tourist places in Karnataka without worrying about stay, food, commute and packing/unpacking everyday - Day-wise Itinerary of exceptionally luxury exploration with Golden Chariot Train
If you have a 10 days in hand and want to explore some of the top tourist places of Karnataka state in India, there are multiple ways to do it. But planning such trip may demand great planning and flawless execution. This becomes even important if you value your time more and want to enjoy something premium. Today we are sharing about how such exploration with Golden Chariot train can be a great idea although it may cost a little more but still worth given the kind of services you get during the trip, hotels you stays in and not to miss your own room on Golden Chariot train along with fantastic restaurant with great team of chefs and a bar along with basic amenities like gym, spa etc.
During my trip to Karantaka in Golden Chariot, I talked to lot of folks who were travelling with us to understand why they chose Golden Chariot over planning their own trip. One thing stood very clearly is that most of the foreigners felt that it's a great option because they don't need to pack/unpack multiple times in other country, carry luggage from one hotel to another in different cities and it offers a great stay for sure. Let's go through some of the basic doubts which come to everyone's mind when they think about exploring a state through a train journey.
1. You get your own room on Golden Chariot with an assumption that you are 2. You can book single occupancy room as well but will cost a little more. Above photograph shows room in Golden Chariot. There are rooms with double beds.
2. During the day, there is an AC coach which takes you to different places of interest and you spend night on the train in your room. Most of the times train is parked during the night after evening ride, so you can sleep well. Some folks used to complain about noise of moving train which didn't bother me. So if you are someone whose sleep gets disturbed by even a little sound, you may want to know more about the schedule when train will be on the move vs parked during night.
3. Most of the meals are served on the train, which means after exploration you get back to the train for lunch and then head for evening exploration. On certain days there are other evening plans on the train only. Especially on days when we had to cover more distance in the evening.
4. Food on Golden Chariot Train is fantastic. There are very well trained chefs on the train who serve good quality food with good variety. It's amazing to see the kind of food variety served on train. When I talked to the chief chef, they have identified quality shops at every place where this train goes for fresh procurement, especially meat.
5. Staff on Golden Chariot is very good and cooperative. That gives a huge comfort especially when you have to live in a space for more than a week.
6. On certain days, you stay in a hotel or dine out. These options of hotels of restaurants is very special and pretty good. Even then you don't need to take all your stuff with you. Just pack what you need on that day/night. Staff will brief you about what this place is about and what kind of activities you would do there. Accordingly pack a small bag with you and keep the rest in your room of Golden Chariot.
7. During exploration there are very good guides accompanying you. Since this is run by KTDC, govt guides of KTDC accompany guests of Golden Chariot at different places of Karnataka.
Let's look at what Golden Chariot offers in 8 days long trip within Karnataka, which has Goa as bonus & final destination before train comes back to Bangalore.
First day on Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train of South India
Throughout the walk he showed us various old trees which are as old as this property. During the tour, we tasted tamarind which was plucked in front of us.
He also showed us one of the oldest terrace gardens (the one you see in above photograph) on first floor of the property. It was amazing to see how carefully this whole property is maintained in the middle of the city.
Then Satish Babu performed Deepanjali, wherein he was dancing with various lanterns on his head and arms, while dancing on a brass plate. Do check out the video for more.
And finally the performance concluded with Tanjavur doll dance. I loved the doll dance and you must see the video of this.
After the performances guests also got a chance to get clicked with the artists. Richard & Bridget in above photograph with the artists.
Everyone is supposed to sit in the "Madira" coach which is the barroom on the Golden Chariot. It is in this room that everyone gets to know of the room they are allocated. It was little chaotic as the number of passengers was much larger than the capacity of this single coach. It was supposedly a cocktail evening, but we couldn't really enjoy this gathering.
2nd Day on Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train offering Tiger & Leopard sighting in Kabini :
After a wonderful day on Golden Chariot, we woke up when the train was parked at Mysore Railway Station. Last night, the train took only a few hours to reach Mysore from Bangalore and was parked in a secluded area, away from the noise of the railway station. Most of the folks had had a sound sleep as the train was stationary, although I missed the experience of sleeping in the train while it’s moving :).
Breakfast menu included cut fruit, Mango/Pineapple/Orange juices, cornflakes, wheat flakes, Muesli, oatmeal, cheese, eggs accompanied by ham, bacon, chicken sausages, grilled potatoes, masala dosa, aloo parantha, fresh breads and beverages.
We reached Kabini by 1:45pm and headed towards our cottages/rooms.
Everyone went to their rooms and assembled in the restaurant for lunch. There was a little break to relax and gear up for the forest safari in KABINI TIGER Reserve.
After a while we reached tiger tank - a place with water pond, which falls in the territory of a tiger with 2 cubs. Our driver asked us to wait for 2 minutes and move ahead if there is no action by then.
Interestingly one of the tiger cubs came near Tiger tank within few minutes. He sat there and entertained us a lot. He was there for a good 10 minutes. I missed my zoom lens at this moment.
These leopards were there for a good 15 minutes. Then we started moving in another direction.
We saw them going and walking on the road. At the same time, another jeep was going from the other side and that’s when these guys ran away.
A bonfire was also planned but most of us were tired and the weather was not very favourable for a bonfire. So we sat around the bonfire for 15-20 minutes and headed towards our rooms.
3rd Day on Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train through Kabini, Mysore & Srirangapatana :
Dinner for the day was planned at Lalitha Mahal, Mysore. Lalitha Mahal is the second largest palace in Mysore and now a hotel. The property is located near the Chamundi Hills.
Lalitha Palace is built on a raised ground and resembles the St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and is one of the most imposing structures of the Mysore city in Karnakata State, India.
This is one of my favourite photographs clicked at the Lalitha Palace Hotel in Mysore - Unique lift and a lovely couple (Richard and Bridget). This is one of the ancient lifts in India, which is still in use.
It was time to head back to the Golden Chariot and the plan was to reach Hassan Railway station by morning for exploring our next destinations Belur Temples, Halebidu Temples and Shravanbelagola.
4th Day on Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train through Belur, Halebidu and Shravanbelagola
5th Day on the Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train through Hampi in Karnataka State of India :
We visited Virupaksha Temple, saw monolithic Nandi from the bus and also saw Achyutarya Temple from bus. But before doing all that, we spent good amount of time around this hill which is full of huge rocks and some ancient structures.
As we started climbing up one of the neighbouring hills, we got to see huge landscapes of Hampi. There were huge areas in ruins. Most of these places looked grand and beautiful. At the same moment I realised how big this place is and that it is impossible to explore it well in a day or 2.
Near the Virupaksha Temple, there is road surrounded by the ruins of an ancient market where pearls, gold, diamond trading used to happen in Vijayanagara kingdom. This is a huge structure and I really wanted to spend some time around this space.
![5th Day on Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train through Hampi in Karnataka State of India Here is another view of Virupaksha Temple from one of the surrounding hills. This is one of the most interesting places in Hampi to closely experience gigantic rocks, monolithic structures and beautiful views. I am sure sunset would look much better from this place as it gives great views in all directions.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUWYX-HuDi7i85wYIiCaetysoYw9CKh7sVdL88-aq3Gj2RtPo8tckKRRLJyalqC0sbKg4haaMYHGCMD6ybbA5p89JdNszGDpHtwbMtMYPMizgM9qEjymcKgZh56367hTVINJC150HZqP0/s200/Golden+Chariot+-+The+Luxury+Train+through+famous+Hampi+in+Karnataka+State+of+India-2-10.jpg)
We boarded the bus and then stopped around Lotus Mahal, Elephant’s Stable, Ranga Temple and Zanana enclosure.
I will be posting separately about Hampi, its heritage, and some of the most interesting places to explore.
Our next halt was the Hazararama temple and near that were the ruins of Hampi palace.
Most of the structures of Vajayanagara were made up of sandal wood, which don’t exist now and so only stone structures can be seen, which were usually the base of any palace or watchtower.
There was a huge swimming pool and we guessed it’s depth as 30 feet.
It was hot in the month of March and I am positive that it would be worse in summers. So the best time to visit Hampi is winters. This was the hottest place so far during our ride on the Golden chariot.
On our way, we had a quick halt near Zananaghar - the place where important ladies of the kingdom used to come for bath. The central place used to be water pond, which is empty now.
Some of the us loved climbing these huge rocks. Jane made best of the time available. She was focussed on exploring the place at it's best and do some crazy stuff. She suggested some cool places to me for clicking and that worked really well.
![5th Day on Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train through Hampi in Karnataka State of India This was just the beginning. Hampi had lot of surprises for us. These huge rocks look so amazing around the hills of Hampi. There are various monolithic structures around this place and few of the structures were unimaginably huge. Just look at above photograph and see the size of people standing in comparison to the rocks on right side.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNV2uRPhlrc_LxaimevHjjfuOZcpgPSZsn-dB0LUyEAB1jhlu0Lu_wwXg-dJmiH6SBKeZzmUIljZo66FEPAMq2Q1mh-0GyMPnW7vQZ2fjc097ntqJpXQcphha7cheqOuQmrLn6A4Wmzfg/s1600/Golden+Chariot+-+The+Luxury+Train+through+famous+Hampi+in+Karnataka+State+of+India-2-28.jpg)
This was just the beginning. Hampi had lot of surprises for us. These huge rocks look so amazing around the hills of Hampi. There are various monolithic structures around this place and few of the structures were unimaginably huge. Take a look at the above photograph and see the size of people standing in comparison to the rocks on right side.
We started back from Hampi for the train at 1pm for lunch and reached by 1:20pm. After lunch, it was time for some rest and then headed back again at 3:30pm.
Vithala temple is one of the most important temples of Vijayanagara, which has amazing architecture. Like other temples in south India, this one is also a huge compound with various temples around.
The famous photograph of a chariot at Hampi is clicked inside the compound of Vithala Temple.
We shall be sharing a separate post about Vithala Temple and some interesting facts like it’s musical pillars. There is a zone around this temple where vehicles are not allowed, but one can reach here via foot from the parking area or get the electric golf-carts.
Vishnu temple, King’s balance and inscribed vishnu temple are around this part of Hampi. Virupaksha Temple, Achyutaraya temple and Yantrodharak Anjaneya temple are a little far from this place.
Hampi is also known as the Temple town because of various town around Hampi town. I am a little confused if Hampi is a town or a village :). I heard a lot of folks calling it a village.
![5th Day on Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train through Hampi in Karnataka State of India After visiting Vithala Temple, we headed towards Tugbhadra river for sunset. It was 10 minutes walk from Vithala Temple.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Gu5nGt0jQjBau8psiXR24MC5mAYq0KmuYbUxx3rZunkCfrVIDR3ZTk9b7gw3NH6Dm4wZSzaDlj1ChpmG1KvKPe7QHcZyR_uNhYkdPaietpCt0YW1p6HY8WZHccVDvdITEu2sPht7Du4/s1600/Golden+Chariot+-+The+Luxury+Train+through+famous+Hampi+in+Karnataka+State+of+India-2-29.jpg)
Unfortunately we couldn’t stay there till the sunset as battery operated cars don’t operate after 6pm. We had some elder folks in the group, for whole walking for 1.5 kilometres was not possible so whole group left before sunset.
![5th Day on Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train through Hampi in Karnataka State of India After reaching back the Golden Chariot, Chief Chef of the train demonstrated his recipe of Kundapur Kolisaaru (Kundapur Chicken Curry). It was super delicious. Then we headed towards the restaurant on Golden Chariot for dinner. Dinner menu included - crispy coleslaw, creme du barry, grilled fish, coq-au-vin, gosht nilgiri korma, murgh kundan waliya, palak aloo, pancras dal, taw piranha, jeera rice, tomato raitha, tiramisu and sheer korma. This was about the non-veg menu and I didn’t check the veg menu, so sorry for that ignorance.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVHzpJOeqVtFPzR8XndnNoAVmAM-stYQlCp9GAs0vEvOK6YAGT_ynT5gI1HIKstNA56FRLQueifa3AT0ZefNbzTkBVVOrNb6YjZX7tVuPkLiBVpFWugnRusjJankRLg2ylstgxg2CvJ3I/s1600/Golden+Chariot+-+The+Luxury+Train+through+famous+Hampi+in+Karnataka+State+of+India-2-32.jpg)
It was my best day on Golden Chariot. I loved Hampi and now I need to plan another trip with Vibha. Stay tuned for the next leg of this journey with Golden Chariot and some interesting facts about Badami cave temples & Patadakkal temples.
6th Day on the Golden Chariot - The Luxury Train through Badami & Pattadakal in Karnataka :
Golden Chariot (Day-7) - The only luxury train to Goa through main tourist places in Karnataka
Indian Railways is a huge network to connect various parts of the country and luxury trains like Golden Chariot are very few. Palace on Wheels is one of the most popular luxury trains in India. Planning Luxury train trips in India is quite easy and availability is not an issue. Luxury train vacations are certainly special when it comes to enjoying holidays with your loved ones.