Must see attractions in Kolkata (Calcutta)

The incredible Victoria Memorial is a vast, beautifully proportioned festival of white marble: think US Capitol meets Taj Mahal. Had it been built for a…

Despite being an awkward journey by public transport, Kolkata’s lovely 109-hectare Botanical Gardens makes for a great place to escape from the city’s…

Set very attractively amid palms and manicured lawns, this large religious centre is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission, inspired by 19th-century…

Countless clay effigies of deities and demons immersed in the Hooghly during Kolkata’s colourful pujas (offering or prayers) are created in specialist…

Built in 1835 by a raja from the prosperous Mallick family, this resplendent mansion is as grand as it is curious. Its marble-draped halls are overstuffed…

The stately 1784 family mansion of Rabindranath Tagore has become a shrine-like museum to India’s greatest modern poet. Even if his personal effects don’t…

India's biggest and oldest major museum celebrated its bicentenary in February 2014. It's mostly a lovably old-fashioned place that fills a large…

A vast expanse of green in the heart of the city's brick-and-mortar matrix, the Maidan is where Kolkata's residents congregate for walks, spirited cricket…

Marked by a distinctive red-brick clocktower, this enormous warren of market halls dates to 1874, but was substantially rebuilt after a 1980s fire. By day…

Howrah Bridge is a 705m-long abstraction of shiny steel cantilevers and rivets, which serves as a carriageway of nonstop human and motorised traffic…

This stone-spired 1787 church is ringed by columns and contains a small, portrait-draped room once used as an office by Warren Hastings, India’s first…

The lakes here prettily reflect hazy sunrises, while middle-class Kolkatans jog, row and meditate around the tree-shaded parkland that was once the site…

Arguably Kolkata's most iconic Gothic superstructure, decorated with a central crenellated tower, St Paul’s would look quite at home in Cambridgeshire but…

Active from 1767 to about 1840, this historic cemetery remains a wonderful oasis of calm, featuring surreal mossy Raj-era graves from rotundas to soaring…

A hidden island of tranquillity in the heart of Kolkata, this delightful garden complex offers visitors an opportunity to acquaint themselves with…

Near the southeast end of Howrah Bridge, this flower market is fascinatingly colourful virtually 24 hours a day. However, if you visit at daybreak, you'll…

The centrepiece of the Ramakrishna Mission complex at Belur Math is the huge 1938 Ramakrishna Mandir, which somehow manages to look like a cathedral,…

This ancient Kali temple is Kolkata’s holiest spot for Hindus, and possibly the source of the city’s name. Today’s version is the 1809 rebuild, with…

Loosely styled on Sanchi’s iconic Buddhist stupa, this 1962 planetarium presents slow-moving, half-hour audiovisual programs on the wonders of the…

Literally meaning 'House of God', this atmospheric synagogue's front facade looks a little like a 1930s cinema. Within the building (dating back to 1856),…