I am hoping to travel from kerala to Goa with my wife and two young children( 4 and 2) around the 21st of dec. wondering if there is a train service that won\'t send kids bonkers and whats best type of train class ticket for that in terms of seeing india but not putting kids through cramped packed hell
Reply to this There will be plenty of trains travelling this route, check out www.indianrail.gov.in. Lots of Indian families travel in 2AC class where you get 2 lower and 2 upper beds and a curtain (or, more rarely, a door) to close on your compartment.
It's comfortable and the only down side is that the windows are usually tinted so India will have a kind of yellowy hue!
Reply to this I travelled from Cochin (Kerala) to Madgaon on 2AC sleeper - it was a fine journey and like Olly says, as a family you should get your own 4-bed compartment which closes off with a curtain. Meals are included in the cost of the tickets too and tea and coffee come round regularly. If you take that journey, it takes around 12 hours (though they told us it would be 17) as far as I remember, and goes overnight, but you get a good five or six hours of daylight in the morning before you get off the train, and you get to see the gradual change in climate/environment, from tropical rainforest to drier landscape, so this is interesting. The only thing to bear in mind just to prepare you, is that technically you're only entitled to your bunks from 9pm until around 8am - this means that theoretically people can board the train in the morning and you might be required to move up so other people can sit down on your bunks with you. Normally the guards ask you to pack away your bedding(which is also provided on 2AC class) after a certain time in the morning, and sit on the bunks as seats. BUT it may not happen - in 2AC you don't always get extra day passengers, it depends on the day, and also Indians are generally very friendly and amenable - if they see if you have kids who are spread out, they'll understand that. And the other thing to remember is, if it does get a bit cramped for a couple of hours, it'll also be very entertaining watching people, your children will see India in that way too! And people who travel on 2AC (not to be classist, but it's just how it is) tend to be able to speak some English and will be very interested in you and your family and your journey.
Some final advice - trains from Kerala to Goa get very booked up, so I would book those tickets soon - you can do it online at India rail via this link
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