Tourism

Vidyasagar Setu

Vidyasagar Setu, also known as the Second Hooghly Bridge, is a toll bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India, linking the cities of Kolkata & Howrah.

With a total length of 823 metres, Vidyasagar Setu is the longest cable–stayed bridge in India. It was the second bridge to be built across the Hooghly River; the first, the Howrah Bridge 3.7 kilometres to the north, was completed in 1943.

Kali Temple

Kalighat Kali Temple is a Hindu temple in West Bengal, India dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali. It is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas.

Kalighat was a Ghat sacred to Kali on the old course of the Hooghly river (Bhāgirathi) in the city of Calcutta. The name Calcutta is said to have been derived from the word Kalighat.

Sundarbans

The Sundarbans is a natural region comprising southern Bangladesh and a part in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. The Sundarbans covers approximately 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) most of which is in Bangladesh with the remainder in India. The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Dakshineswar

Dakshineswar Kali Temple is a Hindu temple located in Dakshineswar near Kolkata. Situated on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, the presiding deity of the temple is Bhavatarini, an aspect of Kali, meaning, 'She who liberates Her devotees from the ocean of existence i.e. Saṃsāra'. The temple was built in 1855 by Rani Rashmoni, a philanthropist and a devotee of Kali. The temple is famous for its association with Ramakrishna, a mystic of 19th Century Bengal.

Eden Gardens

Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata, India. It is the home of the Bengal cricket team and the IPL's Kolkata Knight Riders, as well as being a venue for Test, ODI and T20I matches. With a seating capacity of 66,000, it is the largest cricket stadium in India, and the second-largest cricket stadium in the world behind the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Eden Gardens has been called "cricket's answer to the Colosseum" and is widely acknowledged to be one of the most iconic cricket stadiums in the world.

Science City

Science City, Kolkata is the largest science centre in the Indian subcontinent under National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is at the crossing of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and J B S Haldane avenue, Kolkata. It is considered by some people as the most distinguished landmark in post-independence Kolkata.

Gorumara National Park

Gorumara National Park is a National Park in northern West Bengal, India. Located in the Terai region of the Himalayan foothills, it is a medium-sized park with grasslands and forests. It is primarily known for its population of Indian rhinoceros. The park has been declared as the best among the protected areas in India by the Ministry of Environment and Forests for the year 2009.

Birla Mandir

Birla Mandir in Kolkata, India, is a Hindu temple on Asutosh Chowdhury Avenue, Ballygunge, built by the industrialist Birla family. This temple is open in the morning from 5.30 A.M. to 11 A.M. and in the evening from 4 .30 P.M. to 9 P.M. On Janmashtami, the birthday of Krishna, devotees come from far away places to pay their respect to the deities.

Birla Industrial & Technological Museum

Birla Industrial & Technological Museum (BITM), a unit under National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is at Gurusaday Road, Kolkata.

Birla Planetarium

The Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, is a single-storeyed circular structure designed in the typical Indian style, whose architecture is loosely styled on the Buddhist Stupa at Sanchi. Situated at Chowringhee Road adjacent to the Victoria Memorial, Kolkata, it is the largest planetarium in Asia and the second largest planetarium in the world.

Botanical Garden

The Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden is situated in Shibpur, Howrah near Kolkata. They are commonly known as the Calcutta Botanical Garden, and previously as the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta. The gardens exhibit a wide variety of rare plants and a total collection of over 12,000 specimens spread over 109 hectares. It is under Botanical Survey of India (BSI) of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

Salt Lake Stadium

Salt Lake Stadium is a multipurpose stadium in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, West Bengal, with a current capacity of 68,000. It is the largest stadium in India by capacity. Before its renovation in 2011, it was the second largest football stadium in the world, having a seating capacity of 120,000. Prior to the construction and opening of Rungrado May Day Stadium in 1989, it was the largest football stadium in the world.

Alipore Zoo

The Alipore Zoological Gardens (also informally called the Alipore Zoo or Calcutta Zoo) is India's oldest formally stated zoological park and a big tourist attraction in Kolkata, West Bengal. It has been open as a zoo since 1876, and covers 46.5 acres. It is probably best known as the home of the now expired Aldabra giant tortoise Adwaita, which was reputed to have been over 250 years old when it died in 2006.

Nandan

Nandan is a government-sponsored film and cultural centre in Kolkata, India. The primary aim of the cultural hub is to encourage and facilitate cinematic awareness in society. It includes a few comparatively large screens housed in an impressively architectured building.

Rabindra Sadan

The foundation stone of Rabindra Sadan was laid by the then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru on 5 August 1961. The construction work of the auditorium ended in October 1967. It is noted for its large stage which is a prime venue for Bengali theatre and Kolkata Film Festival.

Tollygunge Club

The Tollygunge Club, popularly called Tolly, is one of the premier country clubs of India, located in Tollygunge in south Kolkata.

Sir William Cruikshank established the club as an equestrian sports facility in the year 1895 to "promote all manner of sports". It is spread over a 100 acres (400,000 m2), with a clubhouse that is over 200 years old.

Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court building's design is based on the Cloth Hall, Ypres, in Belgium.

Jorasanko Thakur Bari

Jorasanko Thakur Bari in Jorasanko, north of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, is the ancestral home of the Tagore family. It is currently located on the Rabindra Bharati University campus at 6/4 Dwarakanath Tagore Lane Jorasanko, Kolkata 700007. It is the house in which the poet and first non-European Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore was born. It is also the place where he spent most of his childhood and died on 7 August 1941.

Raj Bhavan

Raj Bhavan is the official residence of the Governor of West Bengal, located in the state' capital city Kolkata. Built in 1803, it was known as the Government House in the pre-independence days.

Howrah station

Howrah Junction railway station is the oldest station and largest railway complex in India with maximum number of platforms in the entire railway system of India, 23 platforms. It is one of the four intercity railway stations serving the city of Kolkata, the others being Sealdah Station, Shalimar Station and Kolkata railway station. The terminal station is located on the west bank of the Hooghly River, linked to Kolkata by Howrah Bridge. With 23 platforms, it has the highest train-handling capacity of any railway station in India; and is top ranked first busiest railway stations in terms of passenger volume per day.

Mohun Bagan Athletic Club

Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The club was established in 1889 by Bhupendra Nath Bose and is the oldest existing football club in India. Mohun Bagan were given the title of the National Club of India in 1989, by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, during the club's centenary celebration and in commemoration of the club's famous victory over East Yorkshire Regiment during the 1911 IFA Shield Final, which made them the first Indian club to defeat a British club to lift the prestigious title.

Park Street

In the 1970s and 1980s much of Kolkata's night life took place at Park Street. Many noted musicians had played at popular night spots such as Trinca's, Blue Fox, Mocambo and Moulin Rouge. Even before that, in the 1940s, 50s and 60s Kolkata's prolific night life was centred on Park Street. The Park Hotel chain started with the opening of its first hotel, the 150 room, The Park on the fashionable Park Street on November 1, 1967.

Calcutta Medical College

Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, more commonly referred to as Calcutta Medical College. It was established 1835 as a Medical College. It was the second college to teach European medicine in Asia & the first to teach in English. The hospital associated with the college is one of the largest hospitals in Kolkata.

Presidency University

Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal. The college was established in 1817 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Radhakanta Deb, David Hare, Justice Sir Edward Hyde East, Baidyanath Mukhopadhya and Rasamay Dutt.

Babughat

The ghat has a tall colonial structure, which is the landing berth of the ghat. It is a fine Doric-Greek style pavilion with huge pillars. The ghat, originally known was Baboo Raj Chandra Ghat, is now only known by first words Baboo-ghat or Babu-ghat. Babu / Baboo in Bengali means Sahib or gentleman. The ghat is named after Babu Raj Chandra Das, husband of Rani Rashmoni and zamindar of Janbazar, who built it in 1830, in memory of her late husband.

Digha

Digha is a seaside resort town in the state of West Bengal, India. It lies in East Midnapore district and at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal. It has a low gradient with a shallow sand beach with gentle waves extending up to 7 km (4.3 mi) in length. It is the most popular sea resort in the West Bengal.

Trams

The Kolkata tram is a tram system in Kolkata, India, run by the Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC). It is currently the only operating tram network in India and the oldest operating electric tram in Asia, running since 1902.

Mayapur

Mayapur is located on the banks of the Ganges river, at the point of its confluence with the Jalangi, near Nabadwip, West Bengal, India, 130 km north of Kolkata (Calcutta). The headquarters of ISKCON are situated in Mayapur and it is considered a holy place by a number of other traditions within Hinduism, but is of special significance to followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism as the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, regarded as a special incarnation of Krishna in the mood of Radha. It is visited by over a million pilgrims annually.

Bengali cuisine

Bengali cuisine is a culinary style originating in Bengal, a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, which is now divided between Bangladesh and West Bengal. With an emphasis on fish, vegetables and lentils are served with rice as a staple diet. Bengali cuisine is known for its subtle (yet sometimes fiery) flavours, and its spread of confectioneries and desserts. It also has the only traditionally developed multi-course tradition from the subcontinent that is analogous in structure to the modern service à la russe style of French cuisine, with food served course-wise rather than all at once.

Durga Puja Of Bengal

Durga Puja also referred to as Durgotsava or Sharadotsav is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi, Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami, and Vijayadashami.

Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. Thus, Durga Puja festival epitomises the victory of Good over Evil. In Bengal, Durga is worshipped as Durgotinashini, the destroyer of evil and the protector of her devotees.