Indian Sojourn Journey (with Darjeeling)
Mumbai → Darjeeling → New Delhi
The Indian Sojourn Journey (with Darjeeling) is the Deccan Odyssey's most ambitious itinerary — a 14-day, 13-night odyssey that sweeps from Mumbai's bustling harbour through the gilded palaces and tiger forests of Rajasthan, north to the Mughal splendours of Agra, and then east into the misty Himalayan foothills of Darjeeling before concluding in the capital, New Delhi. No other Indian luxury-train programme combines the grandeur of western and northern India with the delicate, tea-scented world of the Darjeeling hills in a single seamless journey.
Seven nights are spent aboard the Deccan Odyssey itself — one of India's finest private trains, celebrated for its en-suite cabins finished in regional Indian motifs, multi-cuisine restaurant cars, a bar lounge, and a dedicated spa coach. Each morning the train delivers guests to a new world: a Mughal fort, a shimmering lake-city, a royal hunting ground. The Darjeeling extension adds an entirely different register — Himalayan panoramas, the legendary Toy Train, colonial tea estates, and a sunrise over Kanchenjunga — before a final transfer to New Delhi closes the circle of the subcontinent.
Spanning four UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Champaner-Pavagadh, the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway), two extraordinary wildlife reserves, and some of India's most storied royal cities, this is the definitive grand tour of the country for the discerning traveller. Contact Palace Trains at 1-800-724-5120 or travel@palacetours.com to reserve your cabin.
- ✦Sunrise over Kanchenjunga from Darjeeling's Tiger Hill
- ✦Dawn visit to the Taj Mahal at Agra
- ✦Tiger safari at Ranthambore National Park
- ✦Ride on the UNESCO Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Toy Train
- ✦Tour of a working Darjeeling tea estate with first-flush tasting
- ✦High tea at Laxmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara, with folk dance
- ✦Seven nights aboard the Deccan Odyssey through four royal cities of Rajasthan
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 — Mumbai: Embarkation
Guests assemble at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (Victoria Terminus), Mumbai's iconic UNESCO-listed Gothic railway cathedral, between 16:00 and 16:30. A traditional aarti welcome ceremony marks the start of the journey before guests are escorted to their cabins. The Deccan Odyssey departs at approximately 16:40, winding through Mumbai's northern suburbs as the city gives way to the Maharashtra countryside. A welcome cocktail reception and dinner in the restaurant car allow guests to settle in.
Day 2 — Vadodara (Baroda): Champaner & the Palace of Gaekwads
The train arrives at Vishwamitri station, Vadodara, in the morning. After breakfast on board, guests travel to Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that preserves the largely unexcavated 16th-century capital of the Gujarat Sultanate — including the magnificent Jami Masjid with its intricate lattice stonework, Kevada Masjid, and the hilltop Kalikamata Temple atop Pavagadh Hill. After lunch on board, the afternoon is devoted to the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum in Baroda Palace, housing an exceptional collection of Mughal miniatures and European paintings. The day ends in royal style with high tea and a folk dance performance at the magnificent Laxmi Vilas Palace, the largest private residence built in the Victorian era, completed 1890 for Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. The train departs at 20:00.
Day 3 — Udaipur: City of Lakes
Rajasthan's most romantic city greets guests with its panorama of white marble palaces reflected in a chain of interconnected lakes set against the Aravalli Hills. The morning is devoted to the City Palace complex — a labyrinthine accretion of courtyards, painted pavilions, and the exquisite Crystal Gallery, which houses the world's largest private collection of Osler & Company crystal furniture, ordered by Maharana Sajjan Singh in 1877. A tranquil boat ride on Lake Pichola offers views of the Lake Palace Hotel (built 1743) and the Jag Mandir island palace. The afternoon is free for a strolling tour of the old city bazaar, where lanes overflow with miniature paintings, silver jewellery, and Rajasthani puppets. The train departs at 20:00.
Day 4 — Jodhpur: The Blue City
Jodhpur's skyline is dominated by Mehrangarh Fort, one of India's largest and best-preserved fortresses, erected from 1459 by Rao Jodha on a sheer rocky outcrop 150 metres above the city. Guests explore the fort's seven gateways, its richly furnished royal apartments, and the celebrated Turban Gallery, which traces the social history of Rajasthan's iconic headwear. An optional morning spa treatment or excursion to a Bishnoi tribal village provides an encounter with a community famous for its centuries-old conservation ethic. After lunch, a tuk-tuk ride through the lanes around the Clock Tower Market brings the city's vivid street life within reach. The day concludes with a Marwar barbecue dinner served in the fort's royal courtyard under the desert stars. The train departs at 20:00.
Day 5 — Jaipur: The Pink City
India's best-planned Mughal-era city, founded 1727 by Sawai Jai Singh II, unfolds in shades of terracotta pink. The morning begins at Amber Fort (commissioned 1592 by Raja Man Singh I), a masterpiece of Rajput-Mughal architecture perched above Maota Lake, with its mirrored Sheesh Mahal and intricate jali screens. Guests then pass the fairytale five-storey façade of Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds, 1799) before entering the City Palace complex, still partly occupied by the royal family of Jaipur, with its textile galleries and armament collection. The Jantar Mantar observatory — another UNESCO World Heritage Site — displays Jai Singh's monumental stone instruments for measuring celestial time. The afternoon is free for shopping in Johari Bazaar for gems, or a spa session. The train departs at 20:00.
Day 6 — Agra: The Taj Mahal & Mughal Monuments
Few mornings in travel equal the first sight of the Taj Mahal — Shah Jahan's white marble mausoleum built between 1631 and 1653 for his empress Mumtaz Mahal, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The perfectly proportioned central dome, calligraphic panels, and inlaid pietra dura floral patterns repay close inspection. After the Taj, guests visit the delicate Itmad-ud-Daulah (Baby Taj), the tomb of Mumtaz's grandfather, whose intricately carved marble screens prefigure the Taj's own style. A walk through Agra Fort — another UNESCO site, the red sandstone citadel enlarged by Emperor Akbar from 1565 — completes the Mughal trilogy. A pietra dura inlay demonstration at a workshop in the city reveals the ancient craft still practised by artisans descended from those who built the Taj. The train departs at approximately 20:30.
Day 7 — Sawai Madhopur: Ranthambore National Park
Ranthambore, once the exclusive hunting reserve of the Jaipur maharajas, is today one of India's finest tiger sanctuaries, spread across 1,334 sq km of dry deciduous forest, rocky gorges, and ancient ruins. Guests rise early for a wildlife safari through the park in a government jeep or canter, searching the grasslands and lake shores for the park's Bengal tigers, as well as leopards, sloth bears, chinkara gazelle, nilgai, sambar deer, and over 270 species of birds. The ancient Ranthambore Fort (10th century), perched on a rocky bluff within the park boundary, provides an extraordinary backdrop unique among Indian wildlife destinations. High tea is taken at a royal hunting lodge. The train departs at approximately 19:30 for New Jalpaiguri.
Days 8–9 — Overnight transit east
The Deccan Odyssey makes its long overnight run eastward across the Gangetic plains, passing through Uttar Pradesh and into West Bengal. Onboard life — meals in the restaurant car, cocktails in the bar lounge, and an optional spa treatment — keeps the journey comfortable. On Day 9 the train arrives at New Jalpaiguri (NJP) in the Siliguri corridor, the gateway to the Himalayan foothills of the Darjeeling district.
Day 10 — Darjeeling: The Toy Train & Arrival in the Hills
From New Jalpaiguri, guests transfer to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway — the celebrated UNESCO World Heritage Toy Train — for a memorable ascent into the hills. Built between 1879 and 1881, the narrow-gauge (2 ft / 610 mm) steam-hauled railway climbs 86 km through tea estates, loop bridges, and cloud forest from the plains at 116 m to Darjeeling at 2,134 m — one of the great feats of Victorian mountain engineering. The journey takes approximately six hours, with the Batasia Loop spiral and its war memorial among the highlights. Guests check in to the Mayfair Hill Resort, a heritage property perched on Observatory Hill with panoramic views of the Kanchenjunga range, and enjoy an afternoon at leisure to explore Chowrasta, Darjeeling's colonial mall and market area.
Day 11 — Darjeeling: Tiger Hill Sunrise & Tea Estate
An early pre-dawn drive to Tiger Hill (2,590 m) delivers one of India's most celebrated spectacles: sunrise over the Himalayan massif, with Kanchenjunga (8,586 m, the world's third-highest peak) glowing gold and, on clear days, the distant pyramid of Everest visible on the horizon some 215 km away. After breakfast back at the Mayfair, the morning is devoted to a visit to a working Darjeeling tea estate — perhaps the historic Happy Valley Tea Estate (est. 1854) — where guests tour the plucking fields, watch the orthodox processing of the exquisite muscatel two-leaves-and-a-bud, and sample the fragrant first- or second-flush teas that give Darjeeling its reputation as the 'Champagne of teas'. The afternoon allows exploration of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, founded in 1954 and home to exhibits on Tenzing Norgay and the history of Everest, and a visit to a Tibetan refugee craft centre. Evening is free for dinner in Darjeeling town.
Day 12 — Darjeeling to Delhi
After a final Himalayan breakfast with views of the snow peaks, guests transfer by road to Bagdogra Airport for the flight to New Delhi. A comfortable hotel in New Delhi serves as the journey's final base, with the evening free to explore Connaught Place, browse the crafts emporiums of Janpath, or enjoy a farewell dinner.
Day 13 — New Delhi: Optional exploration
A full day in the capital allows guests to visit the monuments of Old and New Delhi at leisure — the towering Qutb Minar (UNESCO World Heritage Site, 12th century), the great Humayun's Tomb (the mausoleum that inspired the Taj Mahal), the massive red sandstone Red Fort on the Yamuna, or bustling Chandni Chowk bazaar. Guests may also visit India Gate and the ceremonial Rajpath boulevard. An optional guided city tour can be arranged through Palace Trains.
Day 14 — New Delhi: Disembarkation & Departure
After a final breakfast at the hotel, guests are transferred to Indira Gandhi International Airport or their onward destination in India. The journey of a lifetime — from the gateway of western India through the royal heartland of Rajasthan and the Himalayan tea hills — comes to a close.
Destinations & Highlights
Mumbai — India's Gateway City
Mumbai, India's financial and cultural capital, sets the tone for the journey with its extraordinary Victorian Gothic streetscape along the waterfront. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Gateway of India, and the Tree of Tenement life at Dharavi contrast with the glittering cosmopolitanism of Malabar Hill and Marine Drive. A city of 21 million, Mumbai is where Bollywood dreams, colonial history, and ancient temple traditions collide in spectacular fashion.
Rajasthan — Land of Kings
Rajasthan — literally 'Land of Kings' — occupies the northwestern corner of India and contains the country's most spectacular concentration of forts, palaces, and living royal culture. Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Jaipur each have a distinct personality: Udaipur is all lakes, marble, and romance; Jodhpur commands the Thar Desert with a medieval fort and markets stained indigo blue; Jaipur, the planned Pink City, is a treasure house of Mughal-Rajput architectural fusion. The state's chivalric Rajput clans — Mewar, Marwar, Amber — competed over centuries in building ever more opulent pleasure palaces and imposing fortresses, leaving behind a legacy unmatched anywhere in the subcontinent.
Agra — Heart of the Mughal Empire
Agra served as the capital of the Mughal Empire under Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan — three emperors whose combined patronage produced some of the greatest architecture in human history. The Taj Mahal, built 1631–53 of translucent white Makrana marble inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones, has been synonymous with eternal love for nearly four centuries. Agra Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in red Agra sandstone, housed the imperial court and retains audience halls, pleasure gardens, and a marble mosque of striking refinement. Together with nearby Fatehpur Sikri, Agra's monuments define the high-water mark of Indo-Islamic architecture.
Ranthambore — Tigers in a Medieval Landscape
Ranthambore National Park is one of the best places on earth to observe the Bengal tiger in the wild, and it is unique in combining a dense wildlife population with the ruins of the 10th-century Ranthambore Fort — so that guests may spot tigers prowling past ancient temples and battlements. Established as a sanctuary in 1955 and elevated to Project Tiger status in 1973, the park shelters around 70–80 tigers alongside leopards, hyenas, crocodiles, and a bird list exceeding 270 species. Open-top jeep and canter safaris operate at dawn and dusk for the best sightings.
Darjeeling — Queen of the Himalayan Hill Stations
Perched at 2,042 metres in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, Darjeeling was developed by the British from the 1840s as a sanatorium and administrative retreat, its cool air and spectacular Himalayan panoramas a world apart from the tropical plains below. The town's reputation rests on three pillars: its tea gardens, which produce the muscatel-flavoured Darjeeling teas regarded as the finest in the world; the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the steam-powered 'Toy Train' designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999; and its mountain views, anchored by Kanchenjunga (8,586 m) rising above a sea of clouds. Tiger Hill (2,590 m) outside the town is the classic vantage point for the famous sunrise spectacle, when the entire Himalayan chain — including, on clear days, Everest — turns crimson and gold. The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, established in 1954 by Tenzing Norgay and Jawaharlal Nehru, documents the history of high-altitude climbing, while Darjeeling's bustling Chowrasta and busy Tibetan marketplace reveal a multicultural mountain town that has drawn travellers for nearly two centuries.