In this issue

GREAT INDIAN TRAIN JOURNEYS - From Uber Luxury to Heritage’—Experience India on Tracks, Destination Hotlist For 2017, The Most Exciting Indian Mountain Rally, Untamed Chambal, Take Flight With The Birds and Bihar In Focus..

10 Most Fascinating Train Journeys In India

There is no other journey like the Great Bharatiya Rail Yatra on the planet. Satyajit Ray knew it, Paul Theroux appreciated it, and Wes Anderson is in on it too. “In other countries, a long wait at a train station is a dull thing and tedious, but one has no right to have that feeling in India,” Mark Twain wrote in his travelogue, Following the Equator. “You have the monster crowd of bejewelled natives, the stir, the bustle, the confusion, the shifting splendors of the costumes—dear me, the delight of it, the charm of it are beyond speech!” The romance of train travel in India is legendary, taken to epic proportions by Bollywood. Remember Rajesh Khanna serenading Sharmila Tagore as the Darjeeling toy train snaked its way up the hills? Or Shah Rukh Khan getting jiggy with Malaika Arora atop the Ooty mountain train? It’s difficult to find a symbol which is as practical and mass-friendly as it is romantic. After all, Indian Railways transports almost 2.5 crore travellers every day, and runs almost 11,000 trains on a daily basis. Here, we list 10 of the most fascinating train journeys in India, from heritage to scenic to uber luxury.

10+ mins

Badlands

The wild riverine tract of the Chambal, more famous as the former haunt of dacoits, is a national sanctuary teeming with birds, mammals and dulleyed, toothy amphibians. It also hosts the oldest mela in India.

5 mins

Living On The Edge

Treacherous mountains. Impossible terrain. A gruelling motor race. The Maruti Suzuki Raid de Himalaya—a cross-country motorsport rally that cuts through some of the world’s highest roads and passes— is a test of endurance and strength like no other.

7 mins

The Travel Hotlist

Traipse around spice plantations in Thekkady, try your hand at golfi ng in Ranikhet and discover the Portuguese legacy of Diu. We round up 10 emerging Indian destinations to look out for in 2017.

10 mins

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Discover India Magazine Description:

Discover India, India's premium travel and culture magazine launched in 1988 by Media Transasia India Limited in active cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, with a view to cater primarily to the inbound tourist. It is a beautifully presented glossy monthly, widely circulated and available at all our missions abroad.
Discover India reflects the diverse aspects of India. It deals with India's philosophy, history, culture, architecture, fashion, art and folklore in both the ancient and modern context. It is a magazine with some thing for everyone - the gourmet, the scholar, the architect.