Kolkata was the capital of British India until 1911, and the city still carries the architecture of that century — the Victoria Memorial, the colonnaded offices of Dalhousie Square, the clubs — alongside the intellectual tradition that made it India's centre of letters, cinema and argument.
It is the most literary city in the country and behaves like it: coffee houses that have hosted the same debates for decades, a Nobel laureate's family home open as a museum, a tram network that still rattles through neighbourhoods where nothing else has changed either.
And it is, by a distance, the best eating city in India. Bengali cooking — mustard, freshwater fish, an entire grammar of sweets — plus the street classics of kathi rolls and puchka. In Kumartuli, whole lanes of sculptors build the clay idols for Durga PujaPujaAn act of Hindu worship — offerings of flowers, food, light or water made to a deity at a temple or a household shrine.Read in the glossary by hand, every year, then watch them dissolve in the river.
Signature Experiences
- ◆Victoria Memorial and the Raj architecture of Dalhousie Square
- ◆Tagore House, the family home of India's first Nobel laureate
- ◆Kumartuli, where the Durga Puja idols are sculpted in clay by hand
Optional, By Arrangement
- ◆Heritage tram ride through the old neighbourhoods
- ◆Bengali cooking demonstration — the mustard fish grammar
- ◆Flower market at Mullick Ghat before dawn
Where We Place Our Guests
- The Lalit Great EasternKolkata's oldest hotel — built in 1840 as the Auckland Hotel, run down under state ownership, and restored and reopened by The Lalit in 2013.
The Table
- Bengali mustard fish
- Kathi rolls and puchka on the street
- The sweet-shop trail — rosogolla and sandesh
Curator's Advisory
October to March. If Durga Puja in late September or October appeals, book many months ahead — the city fills entirely and it is among the great festivals anywhere. Kolkata is best walked, and best walked early.
In & Around Kolkata
Attractions
Journeys Through Kolkata
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