Kolkata Getting There & Around

Getting Their and Around

Getting There

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

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.

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.

Getting Around

Kolkata buses are packed monsters that travel at frightening speeds, jostling for space on the roads with trams and taxis. Routes are varied and confusing - the little red minibuses that leave from BBD Bagh have signboards in English. Fares are dirt cheap. Perhaps the most characterful way to travel around the city is by tram; from the Maidan terminus, narrow tin trams run north to Belgachia and south to Tollygunge, but they can be like sardine tins in rush hour. Although pollution-free, the trams face an uncertain future as politicians blame them for Kolkata's notorious traffic congestion. The Kolkata Metro, India's first underground railway, is calm, clean and efficient. There are two types of taxis in Kolkata: yellow taxis have permits to travel all over Kolkata and West Bengal, while black-and-yellow taxis are restricted to Kolkata. Metered fares are very reasonable, but you have to strenuously insist that the driver uses the meter. Kolkata is also the last real bastion of the human-powered rickshaw (cycle-rickshaws never really caught on in the rutted, tram-lined streets). Although slow, they come into their own in the monsoon when the streets flood, and fares - predictably - go through the roof. Fares are invariably elevated for foreigners, but you will be supporting someone's livelihood. Ferries are a quick and pleasant way to get along and across the Hooghly, as well as offering the best views of the Howrah Bridge.

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