A city with one foot in its 300 year old heritage and a richly mixed culture, and the other forward to grab the best of today, Kolkata warmly embraces all who come to her. Kolkata tends to be a city that delights – with stunning glimpses into a rich history, with amazing oasis of natural beauty in the heart of the city, with laughter in its amusement parks, amazement on young faces in its science museums and planetariums and the tasty delights of its varied food. A family vacation to Kolkata is always woven full of rich experiences, fun and a good times - true to its name ‘the City of Joy’.
The spirit of survival against extreme humid weather, traffic conditions on the road, and earning livelihood on day to day basis for common man on the street of Kolkata brin
+ more about KolkataA city with one foot in its 300 year old heritage and a richly mixed culture, and the other forward to grab the best of today, Kolkata warmly embraces all who come to her. Kolkata tends to be a city that delights – with stunning glimpses into a rich history, with amazing oasis of natural beauty in the heart of the city, with laughter in its amusement parks, amazement on young faces in its science museums and planetariums and the tasty delights of its varied food. A family vacation to Kolkata is always woven full of rich experiences, fun and a good times - true to its name ‘the City of Joy’.
The spirit of survival against extreme humid weather, traffic conditions on the road, and earning livelihood on day to day basis for common man on the street of Kolkata brings out the best. The City of Joy, signifies the undying spirit of human endurance.
Kolkata presents a totally different picture underground inside the metro. One gets to travel faster without smoke pollution, traffic hindrance and reaches their destination virtually in a jiffy. The automatic door closure, announcement and low fare makes Metro travel real affordable. The ticketing system is advanced with swipe card facility, with one way travel. The metro is more refined to handle the volume with less staff. Checking by security is at the entrance itself, photography is restricted.
The other common mode of local travel in Kokata are yellow taxis. Kolkatta is the HQ of the famous Birla Ambassador car. Yellow taxis are seen all over Kolkata. The charge around Rs 8 per km, with traffic jams long distance meter is hiked by waiting charges at signals and traffic jams. Metro train is the most convenient and quickest means of travel in the city. Apart from these Tramway, Local buses, cycle rikshaws, etc are other popular means of travel.
Park Street, Mirza Ismail Street, Kyde Street and J.N. Road are the ideal places for tourists to stay in Kolkata. The area is commonly known as the Esplande area. Chowringhee Lane, Shakespeare Sarin, New Market, Shahid Minar are all in the vicinity of the Esplande. There are plenty of options for tourists in terms of accommodation starting with YMCA, Peerless Inn, Kennelworth, Empress DEE and multitude of budget accommodation too.
Majority of the tourist destinations such as Shahid Minar, Indian Museum, Birla Planetarium, St. Pauls Cathedral, Ravindra Sadan, Netaji Museum are all located in close proximity, literally walking distance from each other. On Mondays all these spots are closed for tourists, so choose your day to sightsee carefully. Sight seeing trips are arranged by West Bengal tourism @ Rs. 200 per pax, from 8.30 am to 6.30 pm, which begins from Dalhousie. Taxis would charge Rs. 600 to 800 per day depending on the number of spots to be covered.
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