Train Advice First Timers

We have visited Goa some 20+ times, I'm 60 & the good lady is 56, she needs a stick for walking. Please factor her mobilty into advice. We have never travelled by Indian Rail before. The total trip time would be 22 to 26 days, nothing is yet finalised or set in stone, it's early planning time.
This year Nov/Dec we intend to fly into Kerala (Trivandrum), spend a week on Kovalam beach, then take the train up to Madgeon, we quite fancy 1st class on the Radjhani train, how soon should we be looking at booking it? How popular is this train or would we stand a better chance on a 2AC train? If we booked the return (from Goa), on arrival in Trivandrum, giving us a window of booking for travelling in 21 days time. is that a good idea or would we be better booking both trains on same day? There is no preference for a particular train returning to Trivandrum, Does the system allow you to book 2 seperate journeys at same time?
Any advice on the week in Kerala would also be appreciated, things to do, places to visit etc.
Any pros or cons on which trains to take, i.e. route, scenery ease of travel, places on route to include etc would also be appreciated.
Many thanks for your time.

There is a general guide to booking Indian trains here.
http://www.indiamike.com/india/india...012-a-t165379/

If you have definite dates in mind it is best to get in early (120 days before the journey)

I haven't travelled the trip you mention (yet) but Rajdhanis are usually pretty good trains.

Thanks Dave, probably already spent 10+ hours, reading the various articles / threads. American Express applied for, seems the easiest way to go. Want to try the 1st class experience, in both travel & accomodation, always been discerning budget travellers.

We've done rail tours of the north twice. My wife's price for spending significant time on trains was to have the highest class accommodation available. It's not expensive by western standards and you get a bit of space and peace and quiet. You will even qualify for a seniors discount.

Our experience this year, when my wife qualified for a senior concession, was that this also helped us get 2 berth coupes on our 1AC trips.

Not all trains have 1AC accommodation.

For overnight trains we always travel 2AC and this too is very comfortable.

November can be tricky in Kerala, you've still got the tail end of the monsoon, last November we visited, we had a couple of rainy days, a couple of overcast days and about a week of sunny days, there was a cyclone to the east of southern India and this may have made the weather a little worse than normal.

Kovalam? I love the place, but mainly for the big waves, what beaches do you prefer in Goa? (for comparisons), Kovalam should be better that Varkala as Kovalam is basically flat, but if your budget is high, there's many more expensive beach resorts away from Kovalam, so what do you want from your beach resort?

Why fly back to Kerala?, these days it's easy to fly into Trivandrum and back home from another city (though Sadly, Emerates don't fly out of Dabolim or Mangalore).

The Rajdhani is a great train, though it's extra cost isn't really justified on such a journey in your situation, mainly because you're very unlikely to get a 2-berth coupe (unlikely to be boarding at the trains originating station, and not travelling the trains full distance), a 4-berth cabin is good, but not significantly better than travelling in 2A.

You need to do all you can to be in a position to book tickets yourself online, keep at it, it will save you a lot of time and worry.

The easy alternative is to book via a London agent, they use Indrail passes and will get you confirmed tickets easily, but at a price, the Indrail passes are for periods of 12 hours, 1 day, 2 day and so on, so for the Rajdhani, you could travel Ernakulam (Kochi) to Madgaon or Alleppey (Backwaters) to Karwar (close to South Goa) on a 12 hour pass, however, the killer blow with the Rajdhani is that you're downgraded a class when using a short-period Indrail pass (12 hour or 1 day), so you'd need to use a 2 day pass, and as you don't get senior citizen discount with an Indrail pass, your 2 tickets just to get you to Goa will cost over £200 total (in 1A), the same tickets will cost only £60 total if booked online.

The quota for Goa-Kerala tickets on the Rajdhani isn't big, and with many foreign tourists now being forced to book in India, (and most likely using up the limited foreign tourist quota berth much faster than in the past), there is unlikely to be any availability on the Rajdhani when you arrive in India, even though it will still be 3 weeks before you board the train.

Rajdhani trains sometimes have booking restrictions, so if you try to book from Alleppey or Ernakulam to Karwar/Madgaon and find you can't book, just book from Trivandrum, then AFTER you've got the tickets, go back online and change the boarding station, don't forget to do this or you may find your berths have been allocated to someone else after the train staff assumed you missed the train at Trivandrum.

I strongly advise you to spend some time on the Kerala backwaters, not on one of the expensive houseboats, but at a nice backwater hotel, then hire (for peanuts) a narrow country boat or canoe for a couple of hours and get down some of the narrow canals, the big houseboats (normally for overnight trips) restrict you to the wider (busy) canals, and as tempting as they look, in my opinion (and my Fiance) they're overrated, time spent by the backwaters is a completely different way to relax than a beach.

Interesting.

I'm also normally a budget backpacker, but when introducing my Fiance to India last year I decided to up the budget to about Rs5000 a night, and in the middle of the trip decided to see how 'the other half' live and splash out £250 a night for 3 nights at the Taj Kumarakom, it was an amazing experience, our own private pool and a lovely villa, we loved every second there and thought it was worth the money, though the Taj's food is a little overrated and a lot expensive, I found myself craving the street food and having a Rs40 shack breakfast that returned the WOW feeling to my mouth, the Villas are a short walk (level) from the restaurants, but the Taj staff will bring a 'Golf cart' to taxi you around if you call room service, and every meal can be delivered and served in your room, (or by your pool, or on your back porch, or in your garden ) at no extra cost.

The Taj Bekel looks better value for money (£150 a night with private pool) and would break up your journey to Goa, and the Taj group also have a place in Kovalam (though I think it's uphill from the beach, so maybe not great for the Mrs.), let me know if you plan to book at one of the Taj hotels and I'll give you some tips.

Or for the ultimate.........£990 for a week, this place has your own pool, own part of the beach (short walk), own chef, maid and beach attendant (who'll bring your lunch.drinks), and the place is also on the edge of a small village, what more can you ask for......

The above place is between Alleppey and Kochi, very close to this place is another expensive beach resort, Beach Symphony.

The problem with Kerala, is there are too many tempting places to stay, and normally too little time.

Thanks Steven, a lot of points to ponder. Dates we were thinking about, 20th Nov from UK and returning round about 14th Dec. These are flexible as long as we’re back by 22nd Dec.
Budget, We usually spend about 1000 to 1500 /- per night for accommodation, this time we’ve got approx 5000/- per night. Last time we spent £85 per week for an apartment with AC, pool & TV. At the Taj prices we might have to settle for the 2nd Class experience.
We flew Qatar Airways last time & was impressed with the service, so probably looking to use them again. Preliminary investigations came up with approx £200 each extra to fly into Trivandrum & out via Dabolim, when if booking flights now, we could get Manchester to Trivandrum return for approx £500 each. More research & watching sales to follow.
We like the Baga/Arpora area & take time out at Aswem when we feel the need for peace & quiet. We like to wander & generally don’t like being in one place for meals etc,
We did the trips in our 1st 3 or 4 visits & generally just chill out, relax & enjoy the food now.
Initial thoughts were 5 days Kovalem, 7 days Palolem (never visited there in 20+ trips to Goa), looking at The Fern Gardenia Resort, 5 days in Arpora, got to say hello to old friends, then travel to 2 days Hampi/Hospet, 3 or 4 days Alleppey, a couple of days Trivandrum/Kovalem.
Maybe reversing it, in light of monsoon possibility in Kerala. We thought that by travelling from Trivandrum originating station to Madgeon on 12431 (Rajdhani) we might get a 2 berth but not worried about sharing a 4 berth, then trying other classes on return. What is best route to get from Hospet to Alleppey on return, is it breaking the journey in Bangalore?
Many thanks for everybody’s input.

Just one point on booking 1AC. To have any chance of a 2 berth coupe you need to request one upper and one lower berth when you book. You don't find out whether you have been allocated 2 or 4 berth until charting takes place a few hours before the train leaves its original starting point but you will know that you have confirmed status.

Another thought, can you use the pre-loaded ICICI UK Bank Indian Rupee Card for buying tickets, I have had a ICICI savings account (UK) for many years. Is this a valid work round for the American Express only route.

To be honest I don't know. I have not seen any reports of this kind of card being used successfully but they are probably not widely held. When you get your irctc account open you could try it out with a low cost test purchase

Now having successfully registered at Cleartrip & linked to IRCTC, when I get my ICICI card, (it's only valid for 170 days). I'll try test purchases on both to give feedback. This won't be until August time.

If I search for train from Madgeon to Alleppy, it doesn't come up with the Rajdhani train, but If I search for Madgeon to Trivandrum it comes up with the Trivandrum Rajdhani which stops at Alleppy. This trains timings are ideal for us.
Is there anything stopping us booking it through to Trivandrum and getting off at Alleppy?

Nothing at all but you can't then claim a refund for the unused portion of the trip.

We have finalised flights for the trip & things have changed in the planning stage. We fly in to Goa on 28th Nov & out early morning on 21st Dec. We hope to spend 6 days in palolem area then train to Alleppy on either 3rd or 4th, then 5 days in the backwater area probably at The Backwater Heritage homestay in Kumarakom. Which is the nearest station to Kumarakom, am I right in thinking its Alleppy? We'll then travel to Kovalem for 5 days before travelling back to Goa & spending our last few days with friends in Arpora.
Many thanks for all the help in the planning.

Only a Scot would think of that.

thanks for the quick reply