Join RALF to share your own tips and traps
Tips & Traps
Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
- TipA place or a move worth it
- TrapWhat to avoid, and how
- Every post is checked before it goes live
Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
Join RALF to share your own tips and traps
New this weekPicks from our Local GurusCommunity picksrefreshed every Monday
Share a tip, or warn travelers about a trap. Every post makes your profile easier to find.
New post13 posts foundnewest first
Sudder Street near the Esplanade is Kolkata's classic budget base, with many guesthouses in colonial-era buildings and New Market a short walk away. The heritage Elgin Fairlawn at the corner of Madge Lane has stood in a building from 1783 and is filled with antiques. Its own site mentions a planned restoration, so…
New Market, officially Sir Stuart Hogg Market, opened in 1874 on Lindsay Street near Dharmatala and still holds well over a thousand stalls under one roof for clothes, accessories, spices and more. Reach it from the Esplanade side, compare prices at several stalls and expect to bargain. Many shops close on Sundays…
Dakshinapan is an open-air complex on Gariahat Road with around 140 shops, mostly state emporiums selling handloom, handicrafts and textiles from across India. Look for Bengal weaves such as jamdani, kantha and taant saris. Ask whether a jamdani is handloom or jacquard, because they use different techniques and the…
Kolkata's international film festival is organized by the West Bengal Information and Cultural Affairs Department and runs late in the year, with recent announcements placing it in the winter months. Nandan, the state film centre on AJC Bose Road, is its main centre, so base yourself nearby and drop into screenings…
Kali Puja is celebrated around Diwali and worship in Kolkata continues around the clock, with pandals to visit and crowded lanes. Choose a handful of famous pandals plus a few neighborhood ones rather than chasing them all. Agree a meeting landmark with your group, because phone networks struggle in crowds, and keep…
Every January Kolkata hosts the Dover Lane Music Conference, which began in 1952 as a three-night program by music lovers in the Dover Lane area. It is usually held in the third week of the month, and the organizers say it draws more than 4,000 listeners each night. Expect leading maestros and percussionists in Indian…
Trams are one of the city's signature rides, and only a couple of routes still run, mostly from the Esplanade terminus. Sit by a window and let the traffic crawl past for a slow tour. Check at the Esplanade terminus which routes are running that day, since services have shrunk over the years. When you get off, look at…
At Howrah Station, touts may tell you the ticket office is closed or your train is full and steer you to a private agency. Walk to the official Indian Railways counter inside the station, or book ahead on IRCTC. For a taxi, use the prepaid booth run by the Howrah police, which issues a prepaid slip, or an app cab…
Prinsep Ghat is a colonial-era riverside ghat on the Hooghly with a white columned memorial porch, and it looks across to Vidyasagar Setu and Howrah Bridge. Arrive just before sunset, when the two bridges light up, then stroll the riverfront promenade towards Babughat. Weekend evenings are the busiest, with food…
Mullick Ghat flower market sits right beside Howrah Bridge, and you can walk down to it by the stairs at the end of the bridge. It runs all day but peaks at sunrise, when wholesalers arrive with cut flowers from nearby farms, so go early for garland makers, porters and the bridge overhead. The lanes are crowded and…
Jorasanko Thakur Bari is the ancestral home of the Tagore family and now the Rabindra Bharati Museum, with galleries on the Bengal Renaissance and on Rabindranath Tagore's life and travels. It is closed on Mondays and public holidays, and the university adds a few extra closing days, so check before you cross the…
Marble Palace is a mansion of the old Mullick family that opens its halls of paintings and sculpture to visitors at no charge. It is closed on Mondays, so build your North Kolkata day around that. Two guides say visitors need a free permit from the West Bengal Tourism Information Bureau at least a day ahead, though…
Kolkata's phuchka is a crisp shell filled with spiced mashed potato, and the sweet and sour tamarind water is what sets it apart from pani puri elsewhere. Stalls add chutney, mint and a squeeze of lime. Ask for extra teekha pani if you want the water spicier. Locals send you to Southern Avenue, Gariahat and…
Showing 13 of 13
