A Royal Visit, Gajra Cafe and the Night Vadodara Met Our Drag Queens

One unforgettable day on Prince & Palaces showed how hosted LGBT+ travel can connect culture, community and pure joy.

A Royal Visit, Gajra Cafe and the Night Vadodara Met Our Drag Queens

Some travel memories are carefully planned.

Others happen somewhere between dinner, a coach ride and a city full of curious smiles.

One of the most unforgettable days on our Prince & Palaces journey ended with our group driving through Vadodara at night, passing through the night bazaar with the lights of the city around us.

Frock Hudson was on board in full fabulous form. Beside them was Matt, one of our guests, who had tried drag for the first time that evening and taken to it with the ease of someone discovering a new superpower. We were full from dinner, very happy with the experience we had just shared, and the mood in the coach was joyful, relaxed and – among some of the gang – just a little bit mischievous.

Travelling through the middle of town with two very large, wigged drag queens in the coach started to attract attention almost immediately. People began reacting in the streets, pulling out mobile phones, taking photos from motorbikes, waving and interacting with us as we made our way through Vadodara. Inside the coach, our drag guests and the rest of the group were happily reacting right back.

An afternoon at QueerBagh

Earlier that day, we had visited Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil at QueerBagh, his private country estate and LGBTQIA+ community campus in Gujarat’s Narmada district. Prince Manvendra is widely known as India’s first openly gay royal, and meeting him was one of the most meaningful experiences of the tour.

What made the visit so special was not just the title, or the sense of occasion, although there was certainly plenty of both. It was the generosity of the welcome.

We shared a wonderful vegetarian lunch prepared by his staff, enjoyed the chance to swim in the pool, and spent time with him in a relaxed Q&A conversation. He was generous with his time, open with his stories, and deeply committed to the work he is doing around LGBTQIA+ rights, HIV awareness and community support.

We were also fortunate to meet his father, the King, which added another layer of historical context to the day. Sitting in what felt like a family living room, surrounded by photographs from another era, there was a quiet poignancy to the moment. The images spoke of royal gatherings, functions and a way of life that now belongs to a different chapter of Indian history.

It was striking to be in that space, conscious that history is not only something written in books or displayed in palaces. Sometimes it is sitting across the room from you, in family photographs, in inherited memory, and in the lived experience of people who have had to navigate enormous change.

Prince Manvendra then took us on a guided tour of QueerBagh, including the LGBTQIA+ library being developed there and other spaces intended for performance, gatherings and community connection.

One of the things that stayed with me most was the sense that he had created a gathering place.

That idea resonates deeply with the work we do at Points of Difference Travel and Events. At its best, LGBT+ travel is not just about moving people from one landmark to the next. It is about creating spaces where people can connect, feel safe, share stories, sit around a table, laugh, learn and be themselves.

That was very much the spirit of QueerBagh. It was a place for memory, advocacy, conversation and community. A place where people could gather, be visible and feel part of something larger than themselves.

Dinner at Gajra Cafe

During our visit, Prince Manvendra also told us about Gajra Cafe in Vadodara, and it immediately felt like somewhere our group should experience.

Located in a heritage building behind Sursagar Lake, Gajra Cafe was established through the work of the Gaekwad Trust and Shree Maharani Chimnabai Stree Udyogayala, with Radhika Raje Gaekwad helping lead the initiative. Named after the maiden name of Maharani Chimnabai Gaekwad, the café was created to provide employment, hospitality training, visibility and a welcoming social space for members of the local LGBTQIA+ community.

That evening, we made our way there for dinner.

Before we left, however, another small transformation was taking place. Dean Arcuri, whose drag alter ego Frock Hudson is well known to many in Australia’s LGBT+ community, was travelling with us and had joined the visit to meet the Prince. One of our guests, Matt, had expressed interest in trying drag for the first time.

So, with encouragement, generosity and a few essential supplies from Frock – wigs, curves and an appropriately dramatic outfit – Matt had his first drag moment. His drag name became Di Wali, a playful nod to the Indian festival Diwali, split into a relaxed two-name persona.

There was something particularly lovely about it. Matt was excited, open to the experience and seemed to find the character quite naturally. It was also a first for Frock, who had never previously “frocked up” someone else in quite that way.

By the time we headed out for dinner, Frock Hudson and Di Wali were both with us.

And dinner itself was stunning.

The general consensus from the group was that it was the best meal we had on the tour. The food was generous, delicious, spicy and traditional, with a wonderful variety of dishes, beautifully presented and served with genuine warmth.

But what made the evening memorable was not just the food, although the food absolutely deserves its flowers. It was the feeling of being welcomed into a space that had purpose behind it. This was not simply a restaurant stop. It was a chance to support a local LGBTQIA+ community initiative and to experience a place where inclusion was being put into practice in a real, practical and human way.

After dinner, we climbed back into the coach for the ride through Vadodara. What happened next became one of the most memorable moments of the tour.

The coach ride home

As we drove back through Vadodara, we passed through the night bazaar, with the city alive around us. Inside the coach, the group was laughing, the party lights were glowing, and Frock Hudson and Di Wali were sitting among us as if this were the most normal end-of-night transfer in the world.

Outside, people began to notice.

Some smiled. Some waved. Some laughed with curiosity and delight. As we travelled through the busy streets and night market, more and more people started moving alongside the coach, phones out, taking photos and reacting to the group. The traffic was already significant, but the energy around the coach seemed to build as we moved through town.

By the time we arrived back at the hotel, some of the motorbike riders had pulled up outside too, keen to have photographs with our drag guests. A small group gathered, and the moment spilled from the coach into the street in the most spontaneous, warm and unforgettable way.

On board with us were our local hosts from Soul of India, including the company director and his business partners Manu and Mel. They were delighted by the response, watching the whole thing unfold with the same excitement as the rest of us.

There was no stage. No spotlight. No scheduled performance.

Just a group of travellers, a city at night, two fabulous drag queens, and a shared sense that something joyful had happened.

What hosted LGBT+ travel can be

For us, this is what hosted LGBT+ travel can be at its best.

Yes, Prince & Palaces includes palaces, heritage hotels, temples, culture, food and carefully planned touring. Those things matter, and they are part of what makes the journey so compelling.

But the soul of the experience often lives in the moments between the itinerary highlights.

The conversations. The shared meals. The laughter. The unexpected encounters. The chance to meet people doing important community work. The opportunity for one guest to try drag for the first time. The sight of locals smiling, waving, taking photos and joining the energy as a coach full of very happy travellers makes its way through Vadodara at night.

That is our “gay layer” in action. Not forced. Not manufactured. Not added as decoration.

It is the careful creation of a space where people can connect, be curious, feel supported and experience something they may never have found on their own.

Our final night in Vadodara captured that beautifully.

A royal visit to QueerBagh. A remarkable café. A first drag moment. A coach ride through the night bazaar. Motorbikes following alongside us. Photos at the hotel. A group laughing together at the end of an extraordinary day.

Some travel memories are not just seen.

They are felt.