Bengal Tourism: Things to do in Kolkata

There are plenty of things to do in Kolkata and almost all travellers will be planning a visit to the famous ancient Kalighat temple and Tagore house, a shrine-like museum to India’s greatest modern poet. We look beyond the guidebooks to find out what else you should do in this vibrant city.

Take part in a night-long celebration in one of the biggest Indian festivals, go tiger spotting in the world’s largest mangrove swamp, spend a day at the race course. October’s great time to travel to Kolkata.

Durga Puja

This is the most important event in Kolkata’s festival calendar. It celebrates Mother goddess Durga. Life comes to a standstill in the city for four days. The atmosphere is like a carnival with all-night crowds, live music sessions, open-air theatre, literary fairs, poetry readings, and lots of food.

Kolkata-durga-puja

Elaborate structures called pandals are constructed all over Kolkata and the idol of the goddess is kept inside these. Go pandal hopping and check out the different styles of Durga idols.

Eid ul Zuha (Bakri Eid)

Celebrate Eid ul Zuha which falls in October with delicious haleem (meat cooked with lentils) at New Aliya restaurant in central Kolkata or with biryani from Arsalan, located at the Park Circus crossing.

Enjoy a city walk

The mild October weather is conducive to long walks around Kolkata. A good place to hang out is Park Street. You can spend the whole day here. Start with the old auction houses that sell old curios. Browse the books at Oxford Book Store. Have cakes and tea at the famous Flury’s cafe. Pick up delicately embroidered bed linen at Good Companions on adjacent Russell Street.

Fun-in-the-streets-of-Kolkata

Play some games

Good weather also means Kolkata’s ardent street chess and carrom players will begin coming out of the woodwork.

Kolkata-chess

Join in and play a game by the roadside, with strangers. Head to Gariahat flyover after sunset for a game of chess.

Mangroves and tigers

Take a trip to the Sundarbans mangrove, home of a number of endangered species including the Royal Bengal Tiger. The mangroves are open to visitors from October, after the monsoon is truly over.

Kolkata-mangroves

The creeks are home to the estuarine crocodile, salvator lizard, water monitor, dolphin and a host of birds like kingfishers, herons, egrets, sandpipers, whimbrels and plover. Foreign nationals have to get a permit in Kolkata from the Wildlife Department or the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) office.There are a number of cruise options for sightseeing on the mangroves.

Other 10 Things to do in Kolkata

1. Cruise down the Hooghly

It is said that great rivers spawn great civilizations. The Hooghly is a perfect example and a cruide down this tributary of the Ganga is great way to see the many influences Bengal has had down the ages. You will come across several pilgrimage spots like Dakhineshwar and Belur (set up in 1899 by Swami Vivekananda, it is the headquarters of Ramkrishna Math and Mission); as well as European colonial towns like Bandel, Plassey and Chandannagore. So get to Millenium Park, buy a ticket for one the many water taxis and embark on a cruise down the river. You can take your pick from long and short cruises.

2. Art matters

Check out an art show at the Centre for International Modern Art (CIMA). They have a shop selling some interesting stuff from prints, art on t-shirts and coasters, as well as some clothing, jewellery and accessories.

3. Idol walks

Spend an afternoon walking around the narrow lanes of potters townships – Kumartuli and Potuapara. Here the potua (potters) community can be seen making idols of various gods and goddesses throughout the year. The lanes come alive in August-September, the months before Durga Puja, Kolkata’s biggest festival. Hundreds of idols in different sizes, and stages with half finished heads and arms and bodies present a rather surreal picture. A lot of the idols are exported to countries abroad.

Kolkata-potters-village

4. High tea at Flurys

Flurys is a Kolkata institution that is a must-do. If you are in the Park Street area between four and five in the evening, head down to Flurys for a cup of Darjeeling tea. Have it with their excellent and iconic Baba pastry, a concoction made of almonds, cashews and cherries that dates back to the days when butter was Re 1 a kilo. It belongs to the ‘heritage category’ of the menu at Flurys. Or ask for their dessert platter. Also recommended are their excellent Englsih tea sandwiches.

5. Take a ride on a tram

Boarding at the Esplanade, crawl through the green canopies of the Maidan, head north on Bidhan Sarani. You’ll have enough time to take in sights as the tram literally crawls through traffic and stops frequently.

Kolkata-tram

6. Take a bibliophile’s tour of Kolkata

When in Bengal, do as Bengalis do – hang out with a book at one of the bookstores and stalls in the city. Visit the excellent Seagull Book Store in Bhowanipore; the old College Street book lanes (though they have somewhat lost their sheen with most selling only adcademic books); and Oxford Book Store on Part Street which also has a cha bar serving great tea.

7. Sample chimney soup at Chinatown

Kolkata used to have a sizeable Chinese community at one time. It has dwindled somewhat but the city still has the only Chinatown in India at Tangra where, for the past 50 years, restaurants owned by mostly Hakka people (a Chinese community tracing its origins to the Han ethnic group) have served up delicious Chinese food. At the shops here, you can also pick up momo steamers, jasmine tea, shiitake mushrooms and Chinese sauces from shops in the area. If you are an early riser, try the morning breakfast fare of dumplings, noodles, and soups on weekends.

8. Get a taste of decadent Kolkata

Marble Palace, the home of the Mullick family, houses a strange and kitschy mish-mash of sculpture, Victorian furniture, and paintings by European and Indian artists, large chandeliers, clocks, and busts of kings and queens. The collection is supposed to have two paintings by Rubens and works by John Opie. In his book Calcutta, Geoffrey Moorhouse says it looks “as if they had been scavenged from job lots on the Portobello Road on a series of damp Saturday afternoons.”

Kolkata-marble-palace

9. Try a sambusa at Nahoum’s

Take a side trip to this Jewish bakery in New Market. The Nahoum family came to Kolkata from Baghdad bringing the cheese-filled delight to the shores of Kolkata.

Sambusa-in-Kolkata

10. Watch the sunset at Princep Ghat

Your images from Kolkata will be incomplete without an iconic shot of the sunset and Howrah Bridge from Princep Ghat on Strand Road. It was built in 1841 as a memorial is a memorial to James Princep, a scholar who was the secretary of The Asiatic Society.

Kolkata-howrah-bridge

West Bengal Tourism: Things to do in Darjeeling

Kanchendzonga, clouds, fragrant cups of tea and sumptuous food. Head to Darjeeling and live in the clouds for a while, literally.

Darjeeling-Valley-View

This quaint hill station is located about 2150m above sea level and clouds tend to come down often enveloping you. The British loved the misty, mild-to-chilly climate of Darjeeling. So much so that they annexed it from Nepal and made it into their own special summer retreat to escape the heat of the plains. Among other things, they set up the tea plantations that today are responsible for the world-famous Darjeeling tea.

Here’s a list of things to do in Darjeeling:

1. Take a tea tour

Take a tea estate tour or stay on a plantation. On a tea tour, you will get to see what goes into making that perfect cuppa – you will go tea plucking with workers, get a round of the factory where leaves are processed and indulge in tea tasting.

Darjeeling-Tea-Gardens

The delicate flavour of Darjeeling tea is dependent on the climate and environment and the flavour and aroma of tea differs from hillside to hillside. Recommended is a tour of the Makaibari estate. Founded in the late 1850s, its tea fetches some of the highest prices in the world.

2. Visit a monastery

You can also go on a monastery tour. Darjeeling has several beautiful monasteries and temples. The Ghum Monastery (situated 8 km from Darjeeling in the town of Ghum) follows the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. It has a 15ft statue of Maitreya Buddha.

Darjeeling-Flags-at-Monastery

The Bhutia Busty monastery is in Darjeeling town, near Chowrasta. It belongs to the Red Sect of Buddhist Lamas and is credited with the origin of the name of the town, Darjeeling. The monastery used to be known as Dorje Ling and was originally located on Observatory Hill before the Nepalese destroyed it in 1815. It was later rebuilt on the present site. A must-see at the monasteries are the gorgeous wall murals made with colours derived from powdered stones.

3. Take a walk around town

Take some time to go for long walks around town. Get to know Darjeeling up close – take a guided tour with the folks at Darjeeling Heritage Walks. They’ll show you a Darjeeling that very few people get to see. You may find yourself taking part in prayer ceremonies at a Tibetan monastery, sipping hot cups of butter tea, meeting legendary sherpas, sampling the best local foods, visiting lesser-known treasures like Crookety, Russian artist Nicholas Roerich’s house in nearby Kalimpong, or being regaled with real-life stories from Darjeeling about Afghan princes and spies in monks’ clothing that will put a Bond thriller to shame.

4. View mountain peaks

Play a game of hide ‘n seek with the Kanchendzonga, the third-highest peak in the world. It is right there behind the mist, its snow-capped proximity like an invisible presence.

Kanchenjunga-Range-from-Darjeeling

Sometimes it can remain resolutely, tantalisingly hidden. And then, sometimes you get lucky as the clouds lift like a theatre curtain. “Sometimes a tourist has waited 22 days and then been obliged to go away without a sight of it,” wrote Mark Twain from Darjeeling in 1896.
Tiger Hill is best known for the view of the dazzling sunrise over Kanchenjunga. On a clear day you can even see Mt Everest from here.

5. Ride the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Take a ride on the Lilliputian Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), a 60 cm narrow-gauge railway that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 becoming only the second railway in the world to have this honour. It goes up to a height of 2,286 metres.

Batasia_Loop_of_Darjeeling_Himalayan_Railway

Mark Twain described his trip on the railway in 1896 as “the most enjoyable day I have spent on the earth”. Among much-repeated stories about the DHR, one goes like this: A telegram sent from the line to headquarters in Calcutta during Mark Twain’s time allegedly said: “Tiger eating station master on front porch. Telegraph instructions.” Check out the website of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society which has more than 800 members in 24 countries.

6. Go book shopping

Browse and pick up a book on Darjeeling at Oxford Book & Stationery in Chowrasta. This specialises in books on Darjeeling, Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal and the Himalayas.

7. Buy tea, tea sets and Himalayan honey

Sit down with your book and a cup of Darjeeling tea and watch the sunset at Nathmulls Lounge in Chowrasta. They are the oldest and the largest tea merchants here specializing in Darjeeling tea and source over 50 varieties of tea both from tea auction as well as directly from tea estates. They also stock an amazing variety of tea pots from miniature enamelled ones to intricately carved silver tea sets.

Darjeeling-Tea

Pick up some excellent Himalayan Honey at the lovely little shop Life & Leaf on Chowrasta. They work with small farmers and local artisans and sell a variety of products. They stock tea sourced directly from farmers as opposed to the other shops that sell tea by the big companies. The advantage? Part of the profits is channelled back to farmers. They also stock bamboo products, earthenware, woven stoles and embroidered tea cosies and mats.

Hang out at the uber cool Gatty’s Café in the evenings and listen to some of the best live music India has to offer. Darjeeling is known for its music and local talent.

Interesting facts about Darjeeling

• Darjeeling derives its name from Tibetan words ‘dorjé’ (thunderbolt) and ‘ling’ (place), and translates to Land of the Thunderbolt.
• Nestled in the Mahabharat Range (or Lesser Himalayas) at an elevation of 6,710 ft, the town was taken from Nepal by the British in the mid-19th century and, because of its temperate climate, used as a sanatorium to escape the heat of the plains.
• The man credited with building Darjeeling is Arthur Campbell, a surgeon with the East India Company.
• The British gradually set up tea plantations and developed distinctive hybrids of black tea, created new fermenting techniques. Today Darjeeling tea is known as the champagne of teas.
• Writer Mark Twain was 61 years of age when he came here in February, 1896. And became a huge fan. Here’s what he said of the town: “The one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once even by a glimpse would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the world combined”.