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What You Will Do
What's Included?
- Tea / Coffee at the Indian Coffee House and Bottled water
- Customised Private Tour of your choice in Air-conditioned Vehicle along with English Speaking Driver
- Lunch Break (Cost not Included)
- Hotel Pickup and Drop-off
- All Fees & Taxes as per the Itinerary, including Guide Fees, Fuel Surcharge, Parking & Toll Charges.
- Idol Making in Kumartuli
What's Not Included?
- Gratuities
- Cost of Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, anything else unless specified.
- Entry fee for the Victoria Memorial is not covered. Guests can purchase the ticket on arrival.
Cancellation Policy
Itinerary
Meeting Point
Malik Ghat Flower Market
Malik Ghat Flower Market is the largest flower markets in Asia and located near the famous Howrah Bridge on the Hooghly River at the Mallik Ghat. The Flower Market was built in the year 1855. Starting as early as 03:30 am in the morning. Here you will see a picture of vigour, life, vibrancy.
Howrah Bridge
Howrah Bridge commissioned in 1943 over the Hooghly River. The bridge was originally named the New Howrah Bridge, because it replaced a pontoon bridge at the same location linking the two cities of Howrah and Kolkata (Calcutta). On 14 June 1965 it was renamed Rabindra Setu after the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, who was the first Indian and Asian Nobel laureate. The bridge is one of four on the Hooghly River and is a famous symbol of Kolkata and West Bengal. It is the busiest cantilever bridge in the world. The third-longest cantilever bridge at the time of its construction, the Howrah Bridge is currently the sixth-longest bridge of its type in the world. The bridge does not have nuts and bolts, but was formed by riveting the whole structure. It consumed 26,500 tons of steel, out of which 23,000 tons of high-tensile alloy steel, known as Tiscrom, were supplied by Tata Steel. It is still popularly known as the Howrah Bridge.
Mother House
Mother House is a holy place and reverence for those who are searching for a more meaningful existence. It was established by the Blessed Mother Teresa in 1950 with the purpose of selfless service to mankind and to uplift the plagued humanity towards the path of salvation. After Mother Teresa left her mortal body in 1997, she was laid to rest in a tomb inside the house where she lived and served. The site of the tomb is very simple yet it exudes enormous amount of benign and pure vibration that fills the heart with gratitude and peace. Situated amidst noise and crowd, Mothers tomb is a true reflection of her life which contemplated the example of soulful and mindful meditation. Attached with the building, a small museum named ‘Mother Teresa’s Life, Spirit and Message’ displays Mother Teresa’s worn sandals, battered enamel dinner-bowl, sari, crucifix, rosary, a few handwritten letters and spiritual exhortations. The ‘Mother’s room’ is preserved in all its simplicity with a crown-of-thorns above her modest camp-bed.
Parashnath Jain Temple
Parshwanath Temple is a Jain temple at Badridas Temple Street and a major tourist attraction in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. The temple was built by a Jain named Rai Badridas Bahadoor Mookim in 1867. The temple is dedicated to Parshwanath, who was the 23rd Jain Tirthankar, and he is worshipped by the Jains, and this is one of the most important Jain temples in Kolkata. The deity of Lord Shitalnathji is seated in the sanctum sanctorum, and his diamond-studded forehead is a major attraction for the visitors. There is a lamp, which burns with ghee inside the sanctum sanctorum, which has been continuously burning ever since the initiation of the temple since 1867. The lamp bears silent testimony to the contemporary world since ages and it is wonderful to acknowledge the mysticism associated with. The Temple has displays of exquisite designs and it is an impressive structure consisting of mirror-inlaid pillars and windows that have made of stained glass. The interiors of the temple are splendidly beautiful, along with the outdoors, which are surrounded with many beautifully colored flower gardens and fountains. There is a small stream flowing through it, which also has amazing variety of flowers all around it. The fountains look brilliant when water gushes out of them in perfect harmonization. A well-maintained reservoir, adds up to the surrounding beauty. Colorful fishes swarm the surface of the glistening water at the slightest hint of food grains. The floor of the temple is elaborately paved with marble that gives it a solemn look and also a mark of purity. The temple exhibits extraordinary artistic tendencies that are visible in the whole pattern of the decoration of the interiors and the exteriors. One can also find the paintings of renowned painter Ganesh Muskare, adorning the walls, which enthralls the visitor. Chandeliers or Jhar Battis are another feature that makes the interiors sparkle and lends the extra shimmer to the serenity of the temple. The interiors of the temple are lavishly decorated with high quality mirrors and glasses. The quintessential Jain temple chandeliers (Jhar Battis) decorate the ceilings adding beauty to the top. The floor is intricately paved with marble and embellished with exquisite floral designs that provide a classy look to this colossal architecture. The Temple gateway is splendidly eye-catching.
Kumartuli
Kumartuli is a traditional potters’ quarter in northern Kolkata. The city is renowned for its sculpting prowess, which not only manufactures clay idols for various festivals but also regularly exports them. Most of the artisans living in the north Kolkata neighbourhoods dwindled in numbers or even vanished, as they were pushed out of the area in the late nineteenth century by the invasion from Burrabazar. In addition, Marwari businessmen virtually flushed out others from many north Kolkata localities. The potters of Kumortuli, who fashioned the clay from the river beside their home into pots to be sold at Sutanuti Bazar (later Burrabazar), managed to survive in the area. Gradually they took to making the images of gods and goddesses, worshipped in large numbers in the mansions all around and later at community pujas in the city and beyond.
College Street (Boi Para)
College Street is a 1.5 km long street in central Kolkata. Its name derives from the presence of many schools and colleges (Calcutta University, Presidency University, The Sanskrit College, Hindu School, Hare School to name a few). Housing many centres of intellectual activity especially the Indian Coffee House, a café that has attracted the city's intelligentsia for decades. Kolkata’s historic College Street is India’s largest book market, lending it the endearing nickname Boi Para–”Book Town.” The College Street is most famous for its small and big bookstores, which gives it the nickname Boi Para (Colony of Books). People from whole city and different parts of the state gathers here for their books. The street is also dotted with countless very small book kiosks which sell new and old books. An article in the journal Smithsonian described College Street as a half-mile of bookshops and bookstalls spilling over onto the pavement, carrying first editions, pamphlets, paperbacks in every Indian language, with more than a fair smattering of books in and out of print from France, Germany, Russia and England. One can buy rare books at throw-away prices and extensive bargaining take place.
St. John's Church
St. John's Church, originally a cathedral, was among the first public buildings erected by the East India Company after Kolkata became the effective capital of British India. It is located at the North-Western corner of Raj Bhavan, and served as the Anglican Cathedral of Calcutta till 1847, when the see was transferred to St. Paul's Cathedral. Construction of the building, modelled on St Martin-in-the-Fields of London, started in 1784 and was completed in 1787. It is the third oldest church in the city, next to the Armenian and the Old Mission Church. The land for the St. John's Church was donated by the Maharaja Nabo Kishen Bahadur, the founder of the Shovabazar Raj Family. The foundation stone was laid by Warren Hastings, the Governor General of India on 6 April 1784. Two marble plaques at the entrance mark the two historic events. The church is a large square structure in the Neoclassical architectural style. A stone spire 174 ft tall is its most distinctive feature. The spire holds a giant clock, which is wound every day.
Maghen David synagogue
The synagogue was built in 1884 by Elias David Ezra in memory of his father David Joseph Ezra. The synagogue is built in the Italian Renaissance style with a brick red finish. This is approached through an arched door, containing the hexagonal "Star of David" and Hebrew inscription. The two side walls contains memorial plaques dedicated to the well known Jews of Calcutta. The chequered marble floor, gleaming chandeliers, stained glass windows and ornate floral pillars shipped from Paris enhance its Continental look. The ark of the Magen David Synagogue is set into the walls of an apse. The star-studded half dome of the apse represents the heavens. The large plaque above the middle section of the ark contains the Ten Commandments. It also contains several other Hebrew inscription along with several other items of Jewish Iconography, including the seven branched lamp stand of the menorah. At the centre of the hall is the bimah, the raised platform from which the Torah was read.
Dakshineswar Kali Temple
Dakshineswar Kali Temple is a Hindu navaratna temple in Dakshineswar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Situated on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, the presiding deity of the temple is Bhavatarini (Kali), a form of Mahadevi or Parashakti Adya Kali, otherwise known as Adishakti Kalika. The temple was built in 1855 by Rani Rashmoni, a Zamindar, philanthropist and a devotee of Kali Maa. The temple is known for its association with Ramakrishna and Ma Sarada Devi, mystics of 19th century Bengal. The temple compound, apart from the nine-spired main temple, contains a large courtyard surrounding the temple, with rooms along the boundary walls. There are twelve shrines dedicated to Shiva, Kali's consort, along the riverfront, a temple to Radha–Krishna, a bathing ghat on the river, a shrine dedicated to Rani Rashmoni. 'Nahabat', the chamber in the northwestern corner just beyond the last of the Shiva temples, is where Ramakrishna and Maa Sarada spent a considerable part of their lives.
Belur Math
Belur Math is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda and located in Belur, West Bengal, India on the west bank of Hooghly River. The temple is the heart of the Ramakrishna movement. It is notable for its architecture that fuses Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, and Christian art and motifs as a symbol of unity of all religions.
Victoria Memorial Hall
The Victoria Memorial is a large marble building in Kolkata which was built between 1906 and 1921. It is dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria (1819–1901) and is now a museum and tourist destination under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture. The memorial lies on the Maidan (grounds) by the bank of the Hooghly River. The Prince of Wales, later King George V, laid the foundation stone on 4 January 1906, and it was formally opened to the public in 1921.
Writers' Building
The Writers' Building, often shortened to just Writers', is the secretariat building of the State Government of West Bengal in India. It originally served as the principal administrative office for writers (junior clerks) of the British East India Company. Designed by Thomas Lyon in 1777, the Writers' Building has gone through several extensions over the years. In 1821 a 128 ft-long verandah with Ionic columns, each 32 ft high, were added on the first and second floors. From 1889 to 1906 two new blocks were added, approached by iron staircases that are still in use. Writers' acquired its Greco-Roman look, complete with the portico in the central bay and the red surface of exposed brick. The parapet was put in place and the statues sculpted by William Fredric Woodington in 1883, that line the terrace, were installed. Since India's independence in 1947, it housed the office of the Chief Minister of West Bengal until 4 October 2013. The majority of government departments were subsequently moved out to another building named Nabanna in Howrah on a temporary basis for facilitating renovation.
Race Course
Race Course in Kolkata is the largest horse race venue in India. It was built in 1820 and is maintained by the Royal Calcutta Turf Club. The races are held from the month of July to September, and again from November to March. The races are usually held on Saturdays, and also on other public holidays.
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. It is one of the three High Courts in India established at the Presidency Towns by Letters patent granted by Queen Victoria, bearing date 26 June 1862. Despite the name of the city having officially changed from Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001, the Court, as an institution retained the old name. The bill to rename it as Kolkata High Court was approved by the Cabinet on 5 July 2016 along with the renaming of its two other counterparts in Chennai and Mumbai. However, the High Court still retains the old name.
Town Hall
Town Hall was built in 1813 in Roman Doric style by the architect and engineer Maj. Gen. John Garstin with a fund of Rs. 7,00,000 raised from a lottery to provide the Europeans with a place for social gatherings. During the Second World War, the government temporarily opened a Rationing Office in the Hall. At first, the hall was placed under a committee, which allowed the public to use the hall under such terms and conditions as were fixed by the Government. The public could visit the ground floor hall to see statues and large size portrait paintings but they were not allowed indiscriminate access to the upper storey. Applications for the use of the upper storey were to be made to the committee. In 1867 Town Hall came under the management of the municipal authority, the Justices of Peace for the improvement of the town of Kolkata (later on the Calcutta Corporation). In the 1870s, at the time of the Chief Justice Richard Couch, when the present building of the High Court was being built, the Town Hall was temporarily used for judicial purposes. In 1871, one of the Puisne Judges, Sir John Paxton Norman was assassinated by a fanatic Muslim of the Wahabi sect, while coming down the steps of the Town Hall. In the year of 1897 the Town Hall had been renovated at a cost of about Rs. 1.126 million. In 1914 almost all the marble statues except the statue of Ramanath Tagore have been shifted to Victoria Memorial. After the introduction of the Dyarchy in 1919, the Town Hall was used as the council chamber of the Bengal Legislative Council. The interior of the Hall was remodeled to suit the needs of the Council. The President of the Council had his chamber in the Town Hall. Subsequently, the Legislative Council moved to its new building in 1931.
Eden Gardens
Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata and was established in 1864. It is the oldest cricket stadium in India. It is the second largest cricket stadium in India after the newly built Sardar Patel Stadium and third in the world after Sardar Patel Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground. The stadium gets its name from the Eden Gardens, one of the oldest parks in Kolkata, adjacent to the stadium, designed in 1841 and named after the Eden sisters of Lord Auckland, the then Governor-General of India. Initially it was named 'Auckland Circus Gardens' but later changed to 'Eden Gardens' by its makers inspired by Garden of Eden in the Bible. According to popular culture, Babu Rajchandra Das, the then zamindar(landlord) of Kolkata, had gifted one of his biggest gardens besides river Hooghly, to Viceroy Lord Auckland Eden and his sister Emily Eden after they helped him by saving his 3rd daughter from a fatal disease. From then onwards the garden's name was changed from Mar Bagan to Eden Gardens. The cricket grounds were built between Babughat and Fort William.
Raj Bhavan
Raj Bhavan is the official residence of the Governor of West Bengal, located in the capital city Kolkata. Built in 1803, it was known as Government House before the independence of India. After the transfer of power from the East India Company to the British Crown in 1858, it became the official residence of the Viceroy of India, shifting here from the Belvedere Estate. With the shifting of capital to Delhi in 1911 it became the official residence of Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. Since independence in 1947 it serves as the official residence of the Governor of West Bengal and came to be known as the Raj Bhavan, a name it shares with the official residences of other states' governors. In the early nineteenth century Kolkata was at the height of its golden age. Known as the City of Palaces or St. Petersburg of the East, Calcutta was the richest, largest and the most elegant colonial cities of India. It was during this time that one of Calcutta's finest colonial structures, Government House (later Raj Bhavan), was constructed. Before 1799, the Governor-General resided in a rented house, called Bukimham House, located in the same location. The land belonged to Mohammad Reza Khan, a Nawab of Chitpur.[3] It was in 1799 that the then Governor-General of India, The 1st Marquess Wellesley, took the initiative of building a palace, because he believed that India should be ruled from a palace and not from a country house. Lord Wellesley wanted to make a statement to the imperial authority and power and so the building was done on a grand scale. After four years' construction it was completed at a colossal cost of £63,291 (about £3.8 million in today’s estimate). Wellesley was charged for misusing of East India Company’s fund and was finally recalled back to England in 1805. Although Wellesley lost his job, he does have the credit of giving Kolkata one of its finest colonial mansions. In 1892, the Otis Elevator Company installed the first elevator in India at the Raj Bhavan.
St. Andrew's Church
St Andrew's Church is the only Scottish church in Kolkata and also known as the Kirk. The foundation stone was laid on November 30, 1815 by Marquis of Hastings and was opened to the public on March 8, 1818. The Countess of Moira and the Countess of Loudon attended the stone laying ceremony. The clock fitted to the tower in 1835. It was designed by M/s Burn, Currie & Co. It was also known as "laat sahib ka girja" (the church of the Governor). Probably the name derived from the fact that the foundation stone was laid by the wife of the Governor General, Marquis of Hastings.
Fort William
Fort William is a fort in Kolkata, built during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It sits on the eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the River Ganges. One of Kolkata's most enduring Raj-era edifices, it extends over an area of 70.9 hectares. The fort was named after King William III. In front of the Fort is the Maidan, the largest park in the city. An internal guard room became the Black Hole of Calcutta. There are two Fort Williams. The original fort was built in the year 1696 by the British East India Company under the orders of Sir John Goldsborough which took a decade to complete. The permission was granted by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Sir Charles Eyre started construction near the bank of the Hooghly River with the South East Bastion and the adjacent walls. It was named after King William III in 1700. John Beard, Eyre's successor, added the North-East Bastion in 1701 and in 1702 started the construction of the Government House at the centre of the fort. Construction ended in 1706. The original building had two stories and projecting wings. In 1756, the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj Ud Daulah, attacked the Fort, temporarily conquered the city, and changed its name to Alinagar. This led the British to build a new fort in the Maidan. Robert Clive started rebuilding the fort in 1758, after the Battle of Plassey (1757); construction was completed in 1781 at a cost of approximately two million pounds. The area around the Fort was cleared, and the Maidan became "the Lungs of Kolkata". It stretches for around 3 km in the north-south direction and is around 1 km wide. The Old Fort was repaired and used as a customs house from 1766 onwards. Much of Fort William is unchanged, but St Peter's Church, which used to serve as a chaplaincy centre for the British citizens of Kolkata, is now a library for the troops of HQ Eastern Command. Today Fort William is the property of Indian Army. The headquarters of Eastern Command is based there, with provisions for accommodating 10,000 army personnel. The Army guards it heavily, and civilian entry is restricted.
General Post Office
The General Post Office is the central post office of the city of Kolkata, and the chief post office of West Bengal. The post office handles most of the city's inbound and outbound mail and parcels. Situated in the B.B.D. Bagh area, the imposing structure of the GPO is one of the landmarks in the city. The site where the GPO is located was actually the site of the first Fort William. An alley beside the post office was the site of the guardhouse that housed the infamous 1756 Black Hole of Calcutta (1756). The General Post Office was designed in 1864 by Walter B. Grenville, who acted as consulting architect to the government of India from 1863 to 1868. The staircase at the eastern side of the GPO features a brass plate, which marks the eastern end of the Old Fort William. This is probably the only remaining of the ancient fort of Calcutta. Recently a marble plaque has been installed on the Eastern walls of GPO, which highlight the Brass Plate.
Shaheed Minar
The Shaheed Minar (Martyrs' Monument), formerly known as the Ochterlony Monument, is a monument in Kolkata that was erected in 1828 in memory of Major Ggeneral Sir David Ochterlony, commander of the British East India Company, to commemorate both his successful defense of Delhi against the Marathas in 1804 and the victory of the East India Company’s armed forces over the Gurkhas in the Anglo-Nepalese War. The monument was constructed in his memory. It was designed by J. P. Parker and paid for from public funds. On 9 August 1969 it was rededicated to the memory of the martyrs of the Indian freedom movement and renamed the "Shaheed Minar," which means "Martyrs' Monument" in both Bengali and Hindi, by the then United Front Government in memory of the martyrs of the Indian independence movement.
Maidan
The Maidan (literally, open field) is the largest urban park in Kolkata. It is a vast stretch of field that includes numerous play grounds, including the famous cricketing venue Eden Gardens, several football stadiums, and the Kolkata Race Course. The Maidan is dotted with statues and architectural works, the most notable being the Victoria Memorial. Due to the freshness and greenery it provides to the metropolis, it has been referred to as the "lungs of Kolkata". The property of the Indian Army, the Maidan hosts the army's Eastern zone high command in Fort William. The Maidan stretches from the Raj Bhavan building on the Esplanade in the north to the National Library on Belvedere Road in Alipore in the south. The wide field stretches from the Hoogly River in the west to the Victoria Memorial in the east. It is a historical and cultural center of Kolkata as well as a center of leisure and entertainment for Calcuttans. In 1758, one year after their decisive win in Battle of Plassey, the British East India Company commenced construction of the new Fort William in the center of the village Gobindapur. The inhabitants of the village were compensated and provided with land in Taltala, Kumartuli and Shovabazar. The fort was completed in 1773. The tiger-haunted jungle which cut off the village of Chowringhee from the river was cleared, and gave way to the wide grassy stretch of the Maidan of which Calcutta is so proud. The formation of this airy expanse and the filling up of the creek which had cut off the settlement in the south, led the European inhabitants to gradually forsake the narrow limits of the old palisades. The movement towards Chowringhee had already been noticeable as early as 1746.
Additional Information
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Guide Options
- Guide - English
- Printed Guide - English