India Tour Package

A city of love and warmth, sorrow and despair, dreams and hopes, poverty and squalor, grandeur and glory. Kolkata is compelling , effervescent, teeming with life and traditions - a medley of moods, styles, cultures, politics, industry and commerce. More than 300 years ago, Job Charnock, an English tradesman set up a trading post on the banks of the Ganga along the three-village nucleus. Gradually Europeans started setting up business and trade establishments, the moneyed class taking interest in banking and usury. The East India Company steadily encroached into matters of state. The fate of the Nawabi rule was sealed in the Battle of Plassey and the English went ahead to seize power, a grip which loosened only 250 years later when power was transferred from the British Empire to the Indians. Independent India has crossed 50 years and these five decades have seen many miracles.Kolkata has grown, remains a city of contrasts, a mix-up of light and shade, a strange medley of ancient and modern, skyscrapers and Victorian edifices, haven of the rich and the poor as seldom found anywhere in the world.

Facts and Figures

Area	187 Sq km
Altitude	5.8 metres above sea level.
Temperature	Summer: Max 41.7 °C,Min 38.1 °C. Winter : Max 36.3 °C, Min 9.6 °C.
Language	Bengali
STD Code	33
Rainfall	158 cm

Kolkata History

Kolkata is not an ancient city like Delhi, with its impressive relics of the past. In fact, it's largely a British creation which dates back only some 300 years and was the capital of British India until the beginning of this century.
In 1686, the British abandoned Hooghly, their trading post 38km up the Hooghly River from present-day Kolkata, and moved downriver to there small villages - Sutanati, Govindpur and Kolkata. Kolkata takes its name from the last of those three tiny settlements.
Much of the Kolkata's most enduring development took place between 1780 and 1820. Latter in the 19th century, Bengal became an important centre in the struggle for Indian independence, and this was a major reason for the decision to transfer the capital to Delhi in 1911. Loss of political power did not alter Kolkata's economic control, and the city continued to prosper until after WW11.

Tourist Attraction In Kolkata :-

Botanical Garden
The Botanical gardens at Shibpur lie 10 km south of Howrah Station on the west bank of the River Hooghly. The gardens were create in 1786 to develop strains of indian tea. They are populated by countless birds species such as cranes, waders, storks. Their single most feature is the world's largest Banyan Tree, 24.5 m high & 420m in circumference.

Daksheneshwar Temple, Kolkata Daksheneshwar Temple
At the outermost edge of Kolkata, 20 km north of Esplanae on the east bank of the river, the popular temple of Dakshineshwar stands in the shadow of Bally Bridge. It was built in 1855 by Bengali Renaissance. It preserves the personal effects of the philosopher Ramakrishna, who once officiated here.

Victoria Memorial
The dramatic Victoria Memorial at the southern end of the Maidan, with its formal gardens & water courses, continues to be Kolkata's pride and joy. It was constructed by Lord Curzon to commemorate the empire at its peak. Designed by Sir William Emerson, it was completed in 1921.This is a extraordinary hybrid building, with italian statues over its entrances, Moghul domes in its corners and tall elegant open colonnades along its sides.

Kali Ghat, Kolkata Kali Ghat
Kolkata's most important temple Kalighat is 5km south of Park Street along Ashutosh Mukherjee Road. It was rebuilt in 1809, is dedicated to Kali- the black goddess and the form of shakti. There is a image of terrible goddess in the basement, with her huge eyes & bloody tounge.

St. Paul's Cathedral. Kolkata St. Paul's Cathedral
The gothic St Paul's Cathedral, a little way along from the Victoria Memorial, was erected by Major W.N. Forbes in 1847. Measuring 75m by 24m, its iron-trussed roof was then the longest span in existence. The most outstanding of the many well-preserved memorials and plaques to long-perish imperialist is the stained glass of west window by Sir Edwar Burne Jones in 1880 to honour Lord Mayo.

How to Reach Kolkata

Air: Kolkata is connected by air with Jorhat, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Port Blair, Ranchi, Silchar, Tezpur, Visakhapatnam, Amritsar, Delhi and Leh.

Rail: Kolkata is connected by rail with all major cities of the country.

Road: Kolkata is well connected by road with all major parts of the country.

Best Season to Visit Kolkata

You must not miss Kolkata in the month of October for the colourful festivities and people in complete high due to the Durga Puja as well as Kali Puja that take place one after the other.

However, the period remains filled with joy upto the month of March as some event or the other keeps taking place, be it cultural or sports related.

Kolkata Festivals

Like any other cosmopolitan metropolis, Kolkata too celebrates several festivals and occasions like Diwali, Christmas, Bakr-Id (Id ul zoha), Rath Yatra, Guru Nanak's Birthday, Buddha Purnima, Doljatra (Holi), Mahavir Jayanti, Nabobarsha (Bengali New Year), Rabindra Jayanti, Kali Puja, New Year's Day and Republic Day. Each festival or celebration has its own characteristic - the fireworks of Diwali or Kali Puja, the colors of Holi, the chiming church bells of Christmas, the picnics of New Year's Day, the melodious Rabindra sangeet on Rabindra Jayanti and the parades of the Republic Day. While many festivals celebrate joy, the Muharram is a period when Muslims observe a period of mourning , in memory of the tragedy of 680 AD. when Hazrat Imam Hussain, the grandson of Muhammad the Prophet was martyred in the battle of Karbala. The tenth day, called Ashura, is observed as the day for a public expression of their grief and Taziahs are taken out. Id-ul-Fitr is observed to mark the end the holy month of Ramazan. Of all the festivals if there is one festival that is synonymous with Kolkata, then it is the Durga Puja festival.