West Bengal travel guide

This east Indian state can offer up such a diverse mix of experiences to travellers, it’s surprising that it’s not visited more. Kolkata is its hub, the city at the centre of the Independence Movement and regarded as India’s intellectual and cultural capital, but beyond lies the wildlife rich wetlands around the Bay of Bengal and the lofty tea plantations of Darjeeling, in the cool Himalayan foothills. Find out more in our West Bengal travel guide.

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West Bengal travel guide

West Bengal doesn’t feature on as many Indian tours as it perhaps should. It’s regularly eclipsed by the Golden Triangle, Rajasthan and Kerala, yet this eastern state is a richly woven tapestry of landscapes, faiths and history. From the Ganges Delta where tigers roam, and unforgettable Kolkata, where colonial past and contemporary culture co-exist, to the foothills of the Himalayas, made green by tea plantations and towered over by mighty Kanchenjunga, West Bengal offers a fascinating mix of experiences and sights, all in a state roughly the size of Portugal.

Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries, Himalayan foothills and the Ganges Delta, tea, tigers and cultural Kolkata – West Bengal rewards visitors with an array of riches.

Culture, hustle and Hinduism characterise Kolkata and the densely populated southern lowlands of West Bengal, bordered by Bangladesh, while up north the state is cooler and quieter, with tea plantations and the colonial era hill station of Darjeeling tucked below the Himalayas and bordering remote Sikkim. If India is strongly associated with spice, then West Bengal serves up sacksful of the tastiest spice of all – variety. Find out more in our West Bengal travel guide.

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West Bengal is…

a bit of an unsung hero, where you can enjoy everything from tea to tigers, with Kolkata its cultural and historic hub.

West Bengal isn’t…

huge, but it stretches from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south, so the landscapes and climate are diverse.

Things to do in West Bengal…

The former capital of British India, then Calcutta, Kolkata is India’s third largest city and is very much the place where England and India, the past and the future, collide. You’ll find grand colonial architecture and busy suburbs peppered with air conditioned shopping malls, and the city manages to be both cultured and chaotic, forward looking and decayed. You’ll find poverty, but also a growing middle class and a developing hipster culture here – Kolkata is India’s intellectual, artistic and cultural capital. There’s lots to see, including Mother Theresa’s house, markets and lots of grand Raj-era buildings, so allow a few days to explore and acclimatise. Head to the hills. In fact, not just the hills, the Himalayas. West Bengal boasts both the Ganges Delta and the towering Himalayan range, so it’s easy to pack a variety of landscapes into a single trip. Explore the tea plantations, historic railways and monasteries of Darjeeling, and perhaps head out for a hike, too. Central India may be the country’s most famous location for tiger spotting, but Bengal tigers aren’t so named for nothing; West Bengal also has its share of these endangered predators. Around 100 live in the Sundarbans, a wetland region around the Ganges Delta, home also to crocodiles, dolphins, wild pigs, monkeys and spotted deer. Wildlife enthusiasts can team the Sundabans with Kaziranga National Park in Assam in a single trip, where a thriving one horned rhino population lives.

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Things not to do in West Bengal…

You can absorb so much (literally) about a place through its food, so don’t play it safe and stick to Westernised dishes in dull hotel restaurants. Your guide can steer you to the best local cafes and street food vendors, where the food is healthy, fresh and bursting with the combination of sweet and spicy flavours Bengali cuisine is famous for. Tuck into Mughal biryani, and as this is ‘the land of fish and rice’ try the hilsa, a much loved oily fish, and bhetki, West Bengal’s answer to sea bass. Don’t stay in one state. If you’ve made it to Darjeeling, you’re a short hop from Sikkim, which borders West Bengal, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. This remote state is a fascinating contrast to bustling Kolkata in the south. Many organised tours to West Bengal travel into Sikkim, visiting its pretty state capital Gangtok, nicknamed ‘the kingdom in the cloud’, trekking in the mountains, and meeting its indigenous Bhutia people on a village homestay. You’ll see more of West Bengal and its surrounding states in less time if you use a range of transportation, and while a private car is a comfy inclusion on some tailor made trips, don’t rule out other modes of transport. Riding the ‘toy train’ in Darjeeling is a fun way to enjoy hill country, while India’s train network will whisk you further afield, with overnight services between Kolkata and New Jalpaiguri a great way to access northern West Bengal.

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Written by Joanna Simmons

West Bengal travel guide