Kolkata (Calcutta) Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

Esplanade bus stand is the departure point for destinations within West Bengal. Buses to Malda (Rs 400, nine hours) leave at 9.30am, 8.30pm and 10pm. For Darjeeling or Sikkim take one of many night buses to Siliguri (Rs 400 to 650, 12 hours), departing between 6pm and 8pm.

From Babughat bus stand beside Eden Gardens commuter train station, many overnight services run to Ranchi, Puri and Bhubaneswar (all from Rs 160, 12 hours) departing between 5pm and 8pm. Whiteliners (24444444) has aircon buses (Rs 450).

For Dhaka (Bangladesh) direct buses depart Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Karunamoyee, Salt Lake City, operated by Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC; 21/A Mirza Ghalib St). Various private services, including Shyamoli Paribahan (22520802; 6/1 Marquis St), run daily (Rs 550, 13 hours), but involve changing vehicles at the Benapol border.

Train

Check carefully whether your train departs from Howrah (Haora; HWH) or Sealdah stations (SDAH). Both have trains to Delhi and Guwahati, though most longer distance services use Howrah.

Buying tickets is usually easier by internet, through Sudder St agencies or from city-centre booking offices. Indian Railways’ Foreign Tourist Bureau (22224206; 6 Fairlie Pl; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat, 10am-2pm Sun) has a tourist quota for most trains ex-Kolkata, but there’s usually a queue and you must show foreign-exchange receipts or else pay US dollars, British pounds or euros. Next door and also one block south there are computerised booking offices (22227282; 14 Strand Rd South & 6 Fairlie Pl; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 8am-2pm Sun) offering tickets on the wider train network, but you can’t access the tourist quota here. Plan ahead. Other computerised booking offices (8am-2pm Mon-Sat) include one just north of Tollygunge Metro station

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Boat

Ten days before departure, ferry tickets for Port Blair (Andaman Islands) go on sale at the Shipping Corporation of India (info 22482354, ticketing 22482141; Hare Rd; 10.30am-1pm). The ferries depart from Kidderpore Docks , 3km southwest of the centre. Enter at Gate 3, right opposite Kidderpore commuter train station.

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Air

Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Bose International Airport (NSBIA; 25118787) offers handy connections to Europe (London, Frankfurt) and several Asian cities. Arrive very early for international flights as security checks can take hours. On strike days (remarkably common) all road transport, including taxis, stops completely between 6am and 6pm, so consider sleeping within walking distance of the terminal before an important flight. Airline offices are generally open from 9.30am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm Monday to Friday, give or take 15 minutes. A few also open on Saturday.

International

International airlines flying out of Kolkata:

Air India (22822356/59; 50 Chowringhee Rd)

Biman Bangladesh Airlines (22276001; 55B Mirza Ghalib St)

British Airways (9831377470)

Cosmic Air (21121344/39538660; www.cosmicair.com; Room 207/208, 2nd Fl, 25 Black Burn Lane)

Druk Air (22902429; 3rd fl, block B Tivoli Court, 1A Ballygunge Circular Rd) Thrice-weekly flights to Bhutan and Bangkok. Tickets from RCPL Travels .

Emirates (40099555, 1-800-2332030; Trinity Tower, 83 Topsia Rd South)

GMG Airlines (30283030; 12 Park St) Flies to Chittagong and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Gulf Air (22837996; Chitrakoot Bldg, 230A AJC Bose Rd)

Lufthansa (22299365; 8th fl, IBM Tower, Information Technology Park, DN62, Sector 5, Salt Lake City)

Singapore Airlines (22809898; 2nd fl, 1 Lee Rd)

Thai Airways International (22838865; 8th fl, Crescent Towers, 229 AJC Bose Rd)

Domestic

Domestic airlines flying out of Kolkata:

Air Sahara (S2; 22826118; 2A Shakespeare Sarani)

Indian Airlines (IC; 22114433; 39 Chittaranjan Ave)

IndiGo (6E; book.goindigo.in)

Jet Airways (9W; 22292227; www.jetairways.com; 18D Park St)

Kingfisher (IT; www.flykingfisher.com)

spiceJet (SG; book.spiceJet.com)

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