Things to Do in Kolkata

Built in 1926, the Nakhoda Mosque is Kolkata’s principal and biggest mosque, capable of holding 10,000 worshippers. Located in the Chitpur area of Kolkata, this enormous red-sandstone edifice echoes India’s Fatehpur Sikri-style of architecture, with its ornate exterior and green-roofed domes, minars (Indian turrets), and minarets.

Bharat Sevashram Sangha, a Hindu charitable organization founded in 1917, operates ashrams throughout the world, but their headquarters are in Kolkata. Visitors to the temple and ashram in Ganga Sagar can learn about the organization’s humanitarian efforts, including disaster relief, healthcare, education, tribal welfare, vocational training programs and spiritual outreach.

While not as religiously significant as Kapil Muni Temple (also in Ganga Sagar), the Bharat Sevashram Sangha Temple is actually larger, comprising three giant towers built in 1979.

More than 2 million people cross the Howrah Bridge each day, earning it the title of the busiest cantilever bridge in the world. The 2,313 foot (705 meter) expanse of steel girders hanging over the water connect Howrah and Kolkata with eight lanes of chaotic auto rickshaws, scooters, bikes, cars, animals and pedestrian traffic.

If you're looking for a place to escape the heat of Kolkata, Aquatica Water Park will deliver. This giant park and conference center features a variety of waterslides for visitors of all ages, including a lazy river and a family pool with gentle waves and water features, plus a smattering of fast-paced slides for daring visitors.

Dating back to the end of the 18th century, St. John's Church was the first Anglican cathedral in India. It was one of the earliest buildings set up by the East India Company, its construction funded largely by public lottery. The church served as the seat of the Anglican Church until the 1847 construction of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Named after the gardens that lay beyond it, Eden Gardens is a cricket ground in Kolkata that’s home to the Bengal cricket team and the Kolkata Knight Riders. It’s also the venue for international cricket matches and is the largest cricket stadium in India in terms of seating capacity.

Established in 1864, Eden Gardens has since become one of the most iconic cricket stadiums in the world. Following renovations for the Cricket World Cup in 2011, the stadium seats over 90,000 spectators (a capacity actually lower than before the upgrade).

Within the grounds, the gardens themselves feature a picturesque lake with a tiny Burmese pagoda at its center. It’s a peaceful spot that’s well worth a stroll around on a visit to the stadium.

Considered one of Kolkata’s most important Jain temples, the Pareshnath Temple is also one of the city’s most extravagant. Composed of four temples located in ornamental gardens, the complex is dedicated to Pareshnath, a Jain tirthankar (spiritual teacher), and attracts thousands of Jain followers and non-Jain visitors each year.

Built in 1875, the Tagore House was the ancestral home of India’s greatest modern poet, Rabindranath Tagore—a native of Kolkata. The first non-European to obtain the Nobel Prize for Literature, the poet was born (1861) and died (1941) in this vast house, which is now a museum honoring his life and works.

In 1953, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute was founded in Darjeeling to celebrate sherpa Tenzing Norgay’s trip to the summit of Mount Everest alongside Edmund Hillary. The institute opened as a training school for mountaineers, and Tenzing served as the first director.

Today, the institute has become somewhat of a pilgrimage site for climbers, who come from around the globe to train in the boarding school or visit the Mountaineering Museum, which chronicles the history of mountaineering with an interesting collection of artifacts from early Everest expeditions. One of the more interesting displays is a powerful telescope, used to see detail in the Kanchenjunga range, which was a gift from Adolf Hitler to Maharaja Judh Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal and eventually passed down to the institute.

Travelers looking to develop new mountain climbing skills can enroll in one of 16 courses scheduled at the institute each year, including basic and advanced mountaineering (28 days each).

Ganga Sagar (Sagar Island), the largest village on Sagar Island 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Kolkata, has long been in important pilgrimage site for Hindus. Each January on Makar Sankranti, pilgrims from around the country gather in the town to take a ceremonial bath in the waters where the holy River Ganga meets the Bay of Bengal, one of the largest gatherings of people in the world.

Kapil Muni Temple, one of the most important religious sites on the island, is dedicated to the mythological sage Kapil Muni, believed to be an incarnation of the god Vishnu. Throughout the year, but especially during festival time, people from around India and the world come to the temple to offer puja.

Apart from its religious significance, Ganga Sagar also has a beach, a marine park and a lighthouse with excellent sunrise and sunset views over the beach and port.

Gangtok, the largest town and capital of the Indian state of Sikkim, got its start as a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the mid-nineteenth century, but today, it’s better known as a jumping off point for treks in the surrounding Himalayan mountains.

Much like Darjeeling, Gangtok descends in steep tiers down a mountain ridge, with views of towering Khangchendzonga to the West. At first glance, there isn’t much to the city as far as attractions go, but visitors often find themselves lingering, entranced by the laid-back vibe and local culture of the very clean and very well laid out town.

Most of Gangtok’s notable sites are of the religious variety, including the Enchey Monastery, the Rumtek Monastery (one of Buddhism’s most sacred), the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology and the Thakurbari Temple, a Hindu temple dedicated to Ganpati and Hanuman.

Darjeeling has a large Tibetan community, and its Ghum Monastery(Yiga Choeling Monastery) is one of the city's most popular sights. With its traditional architecture and golden exterior detailing, the monastery itself is a sight to behold, but the monastery’s 15-foot-tall (4.6-meter-tall) Maitreya Buddha statue and the views of the surrounding hills are what bring many visitors here.

The seat of the Diocese of Calcutta of the Church of North India, St. Paul's Cathedral was built in 1847, effectively shifting the hub of Anglicanism in the city from St. John's Cathedral. Though its main function is as a house of worship, the imposing cathedral also features a decent library with numerous books on theology and general interest.

The Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, often referred to as simply the Darjeeling Zoo, was founded in 1958 to help conserve the unique fauna of the Himalayan range. The 68-acre (27-hectare) zoo, considered among the best in India, houses animals like clouded leopards, Himalayan bears, Tibetan wolves and red pandas.

As a conservation organization, the zoo specializes in captive breeding programs for Himalayan megafauna. Thanks to the success of the snow leopard breeding center, the Darjeeling Zoo is now home to the largest captive population of the endangered species.