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: Call it slow mo travel. If you are looking to ‘do’ India and ‘do’ it nice and easy, then travelling by a luxury train may just be an option that you could consider. And the price tag of course isn’t going to bother you.

You can see the pomp of Rajasthan and the grandeur of the Deccan while chugging away in a luxury train. Tourists can pick from three options — the Palace on Wheels and the Heritage on Wheels for Rajasthan, or the Deccan Odyssey for Maharashtra. All three allow you to explore the country at your own pace with the kind of hospitality and style that the best hotels provide globally.

The Palace on Wheels is a week-long tour starting from Delhi and travelling all through Rajasthan — to Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Sawai Madhopur to Chittaurgarh, Udaipur, Bharatpur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh. In keeping with the royal theme and to give you an authentic touch, all 14 coaches in the train are named after erstwhile Rajput states. They come fitted with matching themes and motifs.

The Heritage on Wheels also has a similar concept but provides a shorter itinerary of three days by metre guage. Starting from Jaipur, it travels to Bikaner and Gajner on the second day and on the third day goes on to the Tal Chhapar Black Buck Sanctuary located on the fringe of the Thar Desert.

And if you’ve done the touristy Rajasthan travel earlier, then you can opt for the Deccan Odyssey. The Deccan Odyssey, as the name suggests, travels around places of historic and cultural intersest in the Deccan in a 8-day trip. It starts off from Mumbai, goes to Jaigarh, Ratnagiri, Sawantwadi before reaching Goa. From there it goes to Pune, Aurangabad, the famed Ajanta and Ellora caves and then to Nasik. It then returns to Mumbai where it has a day tour for its passengers.

The theme of the train and the service is much the same as that provided on the Palace on Wheels and the Heritage on Wheels. The train, with its 21 coaches however has room for more passengers. Depending on your wallet, you can travel in either the coupes in its 11-passenger cars or go in for the Presidential Suite cars with two coupes each, which offer the ultimate in luxury.