Visit Mysuru like a royal guest on Golden Chariot this Dasara

The Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) will launch the Dasara special package train tour on the Golden Chariot from October 1, 2016.

Tourism Minister Priyank Kharge told DH that this will be the first ever short domestic trip of the luxury train. The idea is to make travel on the Golden Chariot affordable to all and ensure that train runs full house. Discussions on ticket rates and sales is on. Tickets for the Dasara special and domestic travel would be sold through various tourism portals soon.

The Dasara special will be a one-day, two-nights trip, where tourists will travel from Bengaluru to Mysuru, have breakfast onboard and then see the jamboo savari with gold pass. The guests will also enjoy the cultural programmes organised as part of the festival. There will be 86 berths, along with exclusive berths for the disabled. Publicity for the trip will start from August-end. The ticket modalities are being worked out, it would be around Rs 30,000 per person, said a KSTDC official.

Apart from enjoying the festival like a royal guest, passengers can also utilise the facilities of a five-star hotel on the Golden Chariot such as the five course meal, bar and spa.

Domestic circuits
After the Dasara special tour, the KSTDC will launch weekend domestic travels. Initially, two circuits are being launched, the Mysuru-Hampi circuit and the Hampi-Badami-Patadkal circuit.

These circuits will be only during weekends, so that the train does not stand idle. The modalities and cost factor of the two circuits are being worked out, the official added.

For the Mysuru-Hampi trip, the train will leave Bengaluru to Mysuru on Friday night. On Saturday, after visiting Mysuru for half-a-day, tourists will go to Kabini Jungle Lodges property for safari and will head for Hampi the same night.

Tourists will be spend Sunday at Hampi. On Monday morning, the train will return to Bengaluru.

In the heritage circuit, the train will leave Bengaluru for Hampi on Friday night. Tourists will visit Hampi on Saturday and then travel to see the temples of Badami and Patadakal on Sunday. The train will return to Bengaluru on Monday morning.

The luxury express will run for 26 weeks as scheduled from October 2016 to March 2017. Advanced planning for 26 trips has been done.

Ten trips of Pride of South (from Bengaluru to Goa) and Southern Splendour (covering Bengaluru, Chennai and Puducherry) are already pre-fixed and will not be altered. The two new domestic circuits will run on the remaining 16 weeks. Based on their success, more trips will be introduced in Karnataka to run the train throught the year, the official added.
DH News Service