Travel
information in Calcutta
Air
There are many international flights to Calcutta. GSA Jet Air, 230A Acharya J C Bose Rd., handles booking for several airlines such as Gulf Air, TWA, Philippine Airlines, and Kuwait Airways. From Calcutta you can fly to many cities in India.
Calcutta is a good place to get cheap tickets to other parts of Asia. You can get a cheap ticket to Kathmandu or Bangkok from here. Many times it will be cheaper than from Delhi.
The Indian Airlines office, on Chittaranjan Rd, has a counter for tourists. This means you can finish your work quickly.
If you are getting a taxi downtown from the airport, it is usually best to go to the prepaid taxi stand, as the fare will be cheaper. The price will be about higher on the ride back to the airport. There is an Indian Airlines bus that goes downtown to Chowringhee Rd. The airport is about a 30-minute ride north of the downtown.
From Calcutta there are flights to Bangalore, Bhubaneswara, Bombay, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Madras, and Visakhapatnam.
The Calcutta Airport has retiring rooms. You can change money in the international terminal.
Train
There are two train stations in Calcutta- Howrah and Sealdah. Most trains depart from Howrah, while some trains going north depart from Sealdah.
Tourist quota reservations are made at 6 Fairlie Place, near BBD Bagh. It is open Monday to Saturday. You can book from here trains that do not depart from Calcutta if you have an Indrail pass.
If you do not have a pass and need to book a train from another station, go to the other tourist quota office at 14 Strand Rd. You can purchase tickets from there that go to or from Bombay, Madras, and Delhi. You can book trains from there up to 60 days before departure, except Shatabdi Express, which can be booked only 15 days before departure.
There is another computerized booking at Tollygunge metro station. The rail reservation office at the airport has a quota for air-travellers for same day next day trains.
The fastest train to Delhi is the fully A/C Rajdhani Express, which departs from Howrah daily, expect Wednesday and Saturdays. The Poorva Express and the Kalka Mail are two good trains to Delhi. The Poorva Exp departing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays goes to Varanasi and then arrives in Delhi the next morning. The fastest train to Bombay is the Gitanjali Express. For Madras the best train is the Coramandel Express, which leaves Howrah, and arrives at Bhubaneswara and at Madras the next day. Trains much longer to get to Madras during the monsoon, as the railway can be serverly flooded in Andhra Pradesh.
The Puri Exp (10hours) to get to Puri. There are nine trains daily to Bhubaneswara. There are also trains to Ahmedabad, Nasik, Bombay, Haridwar, Lucknow, and Gaya.
Trains to Krishnanagar depart from Sealdah train station and trains to Navadvipa leave from Howrah. The Darjeeling Mail departs from Sealdah and arrives in New Jalpalguri. From there you can then get the "Toy Train" or a bus (4 hr) to Darjeeling.
Howrah train station is one of the worst places in the world for pickpockets and other such people, so you should be totally alert.One person had fiberglass dropped down his shirt. When he dropped his bags to try to get it out, his bags disappeared. Another person had his money belt cut off by a man who had a razor blade glued on his finger nail. He caught the guy.
Bus
It is usually best to travel by train to and from Calcutta, as bus service is not very good. Long-distance public buses depart from the Esplanade Bus Stand on Chowringhee Rd, at the north end of the Maidan. Private bus companies have their own stands. You get long-distance buses to the south at Babu Ghat Bus Stand, by Fort William on the east bank of the river.
There is a direct bus to Mayapur in the morning from the Esplanade Bus Stand. To Vishnupur (5 hr) there are three buses in the morning and another one at afternoon.
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