Kolkata Sightseeing Tours
& Weekend Trips from Kolkata

A private tour is the route run for your party alone, in your own vehicle, starting when you like and changing as you go. It is sold to the party rather than by the seat, so the per-person price falls as the party grows: the full-day city tour is ₹11,400 each for two, ₹8,050 for three to six, ₹6,050 for eight and ₹4,400 for eleven. A scheduled departure is one you buy individual seats on, and ours are deliberately small — never more than six travellers, in a car or an SUV rather than a coach, with a set route and a set start time, from ₹3,900 a seat. Below three travellers the seat is clearly cheaper; from about six upward private costs little more and is the better day. Every tour on this page is available both ways.

Never more than six. That is a deliberate cap, not a vehicle limit — we would rather run a car with four people in it than a coach with sixteen, because the second is a different holiday. The vehicle follows the numbers: up to three travellers a sedan, four or five an SUV, six a tempo traveller. A departure runs with a minimum of three; if one does not reach that number you are told at least 48 hours ahead and either moved to another date or refunded in full.

The Kolkata City Sightseeing Tour if you are choosing one thing — it is the full day across the whole city and the product we sell most of. Add Dakshineswar and Belur if the river temples matter to you, or Bawali Rajbari if you would rather spend the afternoon out of the city in a restored zamindar estate. Take the half day if your time is short, Temple Darshan if you are here for darshan rather than sightseeing, and the two-day tour if you want Kolkata without rushing it.

Taken privately, the full-day Kolkata City Sightseeing Tour is ₹22,750 for one traveller, ₹11,400 each for two, ₹8,050 each for three to six, ₹6,050 for eight and ₹4,400 for eleven, with entry fees, the vehicle, the driver and a guide included in every figure and meals at your own cost. A half day privately runs from ₹2,500 to ₹12,850 a head on the same scale. If there are only one or two of you, a seat on a scheduled departure is ₹3,900 for the half day and ₹6,950 for the full day, and a solo traveller simply buys one. Trips out of Kolkata start at ₹3,350 a head for a day trip and ₹6,050 for a night away, both at eleven travellers.

On private tours, yes — anywhere in Kolkata, Salt Lake, New Town or Howrah, at no extra charge. Scheduled departures board at Karunamoyee in Salt Lake, and we collect from hotels in Salt Lake and New Town at no extra cost — give us the hotel name when you book. If you are staying elsewhere in the city, make your way to Karunamoyee or take the tour privately, where we collect from your door. On trips out of the city the group vehicle works from the same point.

The vehicle and driver with fuel, tolls and parking; a guide; and monument entry fees. Meals are not included on any tour — we build a stop into the day at a place we would eat ourselves, and you settle your own bill. On trips out of Kolkata the price also covers accommodation on a twin-sharing basis with breakfast, and the boat or ferry wherever the route uses one. Not included: flights and trains to Kolkata, all meals, camera fees at a small number of monuments, personal spending, tips and travel insurance.

Group departures for city sightseeing can often be joined with two or three days’ notice outside the peak months. Trips out of Kolkata need longer — a week is comfortable, two is better, because the hotels on the coast and in Birbhum are the constraint rather than the vehicle. From November to February and around the festivals, book as early as you reasonably can.

October to March, and November if you can choose. The city tours run year round; the trips out of Kolkata are at their best from October to February, when the coast is pleasant and the Rarh country is dry. April to June is genuinely hot and we shorten the outdoor sections rather than pretend otherwise. The monsoon from late June to September brings heavy rain in bursts, but the Sundarbans and Purulia are at their greenest and the rates are the lowest of the year.

A group departure runs to a published route, because everyone on board booked that route. What we can do is add a themed tour before or after it, arrange a different pick-up point, or handle dietary requirements — all of that is routine. If you want the route itself changed, take the tour privately; there is no charge for planning and no limit on revisions.

Yes, with a conversation first. Tell us if anyone in your party cannot manage stairs, cannot stand for long, or needs a slower pace, and we will tell you honestly which stops work and which we would swap out. Kumartuli and the bonedi bari involve narrow lanes and uneven ground; the temples involve queues and bare feet. Children are welcome on every tour and travel at a reduced rate under twelve.

Yes, and it is what we are best known for. Durga Puja is a separate operation with its own packages, crowd-smart pandal routes and hotel inventory held months ahead, all of it on our Durga Puja page. Standard city sightseeing still runs during the festival, but the routes, timings and prices change because the city itself changes, so we quote festival dates separately.

Send an enquiry with your dates and the tour you have in mind. We reply within 24 hours — usually the same day, and always from a named person rather than a template — with the next available departures and a costed plan. Day tours are confirmed on full payment; trips with a night away take a 40% deposit with the balance due before departure. We accept INR, USD, EUR and GBP, and nothing is payable until the plan is right.

By air into Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at Dum Dum, which has direct flights from every major Indian city and from Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai, Doha and Kuala Lumpur among others. The airport sits about 17 km north-east of the centre, which is 45 minutes to an hour by road depending on traffic. By rail, long-distance trains arrive at Howrah, Sealdah or Kolkata Chitpur — Howrah is the largest and is across the river from the centre. If you tell us your arrival time we will tell you honestly which tour works that day and which does not.

One well-planned day covers the landmarks. Two is what we recommend to most people, and it is the difference between photographing the Indian Coffee House and sitting down in it. Three nights is right if you want the city and one day out of it. Beyond four nights you are better served adding the Sundarbans, Shantiniketan or the Bengal coast than staying in the city.

It is the least expensive of India’s major cities for food and travel, and mid-range for hotels. Monument entry is modest — the Victoria Memorial galleries cost ₹50 for Indian nationals and ₹500 for other foreign nationals, and several of the best stops, including Marble Palace, are free. All entry fees on our tours are inside the price you see. Where Kolkata does cost money is good Bengali food, and that is money well spent.

Kolkata is consistently among the safest large cities in India, and solo women travellers make up a meaningful share of our city bookings. The centre, Park Street and the areas our tours cover are busy and well lit into the late evening. Our guides are long-standing and vetted, the vehicles are ours or from operators we have used for years, and you have a named coordinator reachable throughout. Ordinary city sense applies as it would anywhere.

The full-day Kolkata City Sightseeing Tour is ₹8,050 per person for a party of four, against ₹11,400 per person for two and ₹22,750 for one — the vehicle, the guide and the driver cost the same whoever is in the car and are simply divided by more people. At eight it is ₹6,050 each and at eleven ₹4,400. The one place the fall pauses is from three to six: the party moves from a sedan to an SUV and then to a tempo traveller, each costing more to put on the road. Rather than charge a larger party more per head, we hold the same ₹8,050 across all four sizes. Every tour and every trip on this page has its full price scale printed on the card, so you can read off the figure for your own party size before you ask us anything. Trips beyond about thirty kilometres from the city carry a small premium at one, two and three travellers, because a longer day on the road costs the same to run whether two people are in the vehicle or twelve.

Yes, and on a published curve rather than on negotiation. A private tour is sold to the party: you are buying a vehicle, a driver and a guide once and dividing them between however many of you there are, while entry fees and hotel rooms are bought per head and do not divide. That is why a day tour falls by well over half between two travellers and twelve, while a trip with hotel nights falls by about thirty per cent over the same range. The scale on each card shows exactly where your party lands and which vehicle it puts you in.

Below four travellers, the scheduled departure is cheaper — you are buying seats rather than a vehicle. From about six travellers upward the private price lands on the group seat price for the same tour, and above that private is both cheaper and better, because you also get your own start time and your own route. We will tell you which side of that line you are on when you write to us, including when it means selling you the cheaper thing.

There is a full distance table on this page covering fifty-seven destinations, from Dakshineswar at fifteen kilometres to Darjeeling at six hundred and twenty, with driving times and an honest note on whether each one works as a day trip, a night away or two. The short answer for the popular ones: Mandarmani 155 km, Digha 180 km, Shantiniketan 160 km, Mayapur 130 km, Bishnupur 140 km, Tarapith 210 km, the Sundarbans jetty at Godkhali 100 km, and Ajodhya Hills 300 km.

For a first weekend out of the city, the coast at Mandarmani and Tajpur — 155 kilometres, four and a half hours, and you are on the sand by lunchtime. For a second, Shantiniketan. If you have three days rather than two, Bankura and Bishnupur for the terracotta temples, or Purulia and the Ajodhya Hills if you want the landscape to change completely. If you have one day only, Mayapur and Nabadwip or the Bawali Rajbari are the two that genuinely work without a night away.

On request. We do not publish a fixed calendar, because a tempo traveller sitting half empty helps nobody — instead you tell us your dates and we confirm the departure against them, usually the same day. City sightseeing can often be arranged at two or three days’ notice outside the peak months; trips out of Kolkata want a week or more, because the hotels are the constraint rather than the vehicle. A departure runs with a minimum of three travellers and is capped at six, and if one does not reach three you are told at least 48 hours ahead and either moved or refunded in full.

Under 3 travel free, with no seat and no ticket of their own. Children from 3 to 11 pay 75% of the adult price on a scheduled seat. On a private tour a child counts as a full traveller, because the vehicle and the entry tickets do not get cheaper — the party-size price already falls as the party grows. From 12 the full price applies. Car seats and booster seats can be arranged if you ask when booking.

Yes. On a day tour you simply buy one seat, and solo travellers, including solo women, make up a meaningful share of our city bookings. On a scheduled trip with a night away we do not sell single rooms: you either share, or take the trip privately, where the one-traveller price already carries the room. We would rather say that plainly than quote you a single supplement and then fail to find you a room in season.