Golden Chariot adds Kerala

Golden Chariot, the luxury tourist train service operated by the Karnataka government, has added Kerala as part of its extended tour itinerary.

The inaugural run of the train on the 7 nights/8 days ‘Southern Splendour’ itinerary covering Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala, commenced on March 15 from Bangalore.

The train reached Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. From here, it would proceed to Alappuzha where passengers will be taken on a houseboat cruise on the backwaters of Kumarakom. The final stopover is Kochi, which will include a tour of the Jewish town, the Dutch Palace, the Chinese fishing nets followed by a sunset cruise and a Kathakali performance.

Kerala tourism secretary V Venu said the tourism department was looking forward to welcoming another new Golden Chariot package that is still in the pipeline, which will take in Kochi, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram via Mangalore. Called Jewel of the South, this third itinerary is expected to start operations in 2011.

The Golden Chariot has been around for two years. It has 19 thematically designed coaches. Its 44 cabins have amenities like wi-fi, plasma TV and attached baths.

In January this year, Kerala Tourism launched one of the biggest branding exercises ever undertaken in India with the exterior wrapping of the Rajdhani Express train. ‘Chalo Kerala’, it saw 17 carriages on the Rajdhani Express wrapped in life size images of Kerala’s attractions targeting around 30 million people across 10 states.

The six-month campaign on the south-bound Rajdhani will continue till June this year.