West Bengal Travel Guide: Places to Visit, Seasons and Planning

The state has three different landscapes. The south has Kolkata and the Sundarbans delta, the plains between have the temple towns, palaces and the university town of Santiniketan, and the north has the Darjeeling hills and the Dooars forests below them. West Bengal Tourism lists attractions district by district; these are the places that repay the travel.

Kolkata

The state capital on the Hooghly has the Victoria Memorial, Howrah Bridge, the Indian Museum, the book market of College Street and a long line of river ghats. It is also the stage for Durga Puja, which UNESCO lists. Most visitors arrive here first. Our Kolkata travel guide covers the sights, the Metro and the seasons.

Darjeeling

A tea-growing hill town at about 2,000 metres, Darjeeling is the base for sunrise at Tiger Hill, the Batasia Loop and a ride on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, which UNESCO lists. The Tea Board says 87 estates hold Darjeeling Tea status, and Kolkata is the main auction centre. Read our Darjeeling travel guide for the sights and the clear months.

Kalimpong

West Bengal Tourism describes Kalimpong as a hilltop town east of the river Teesta, at a lower altitude than Darjeeling, with milder weather, views of Kangchenjunga and colonial-era schools. It lists white-water rafting on the Teesta among its activities. Neora Valley National Park, of about 88 sq km, lies near Lava and is bordered by the forests of Sikkim on one side and Bhutan on the other. It can be paired with Darjeeling.

The Sundarbans

The delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra is the world's largest area of mangrove forest, and UNESCO inscribed the Sundarbans National Park in 1987. Inside the Sundarban Tiger Reserve you travel only by boat: visitors need a permit, may enter only on a registered tourist boat and must carry the reserve's eco-guide. Tigers are rarely seen; the creeks, birds and crocodiles are the reward. Read our Sundarbans travel guide.

Santiniketan

About 212 km north of Kolkata, Santiniketan began as an ashram founded by Debendranath Tagore in 1863. Rabindranath Tagore established the school there in 1901 and founded Visva-Bharati University in 1921. UNESCO inscribed Santiniketan as a World Heritage Site in 2023, as a residential school and art centre with open-air classrooms. West Bengal Tourism also lists the Poush Mela among the district's festivals.

Bishnupur

In Bankura district, about 132 km from Kolkata, Bishnupur is known for its terracotta temples, its Gharana music tradition and its Baluchari saris, according to West Bengal Tourism. Its best-known temples include Madan Mohan and Shyam Roy. The town hosts the Bishnupur Mela, a classical dance and music festival, every year, and the district's best-known craft is the Bankura horse, made in terracotta.

Murshidabad

Before the British arrived, Murshidabad was the capital of Bengal. In 1757 the British defeated Siraj ud Daula at Plassey, and Murshidabad remained a seat of administration for some time. West Bengal Tourism says the city still holds the remnants of the Nawabs, among them the Hazarduari Palace, the Palace of a Thousand Doors, and Moti Jhil, the Pearl Lake. The Bhagirathi runs by it, and the district is known for silk.

Jaldapara and Gorumara

In the Dooars, below the Himalaya, Jaldapara covers 216 sq km and was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1941 to protect the Indian one-horned rhinoceros, becoming a national park in 2012. Bison, hog deer, sambar and Asian elephants live there. Gorumara, of about 80 sq km, was made a national park in 1994 and also shelters the rhinoceros. Malbazar is a base for Gorumara, and Gajoldoba, a dam over the Teesta, draws migratory water birds.

Buxa and Chilapata

In Alipurduar district, the gateway to Bhutan and the north-east, the Buxa Tiger Reserve covers the forested Buxa hills. Buxa Fort, at about 2,600 feet, was used by the British as a high-security prison and is the starting point for walking trails. Chilapata Forest is the main corridor that elephants use between Jaldapara and Buxa, and offers angling, birding and safaris.

Gangasagar

Gangasagar, or Sagar Island, lies about 100 km south of Kolkata where the Ganga meets the Bay of Bengal. It is one of the great Hindu pilgrimage places, and each year at Makar Sankranti in mid-January pilgrims bathe at the confluence and offer puja at the Kapil Muni temple. The Gangasagar Mela held then is one of the biggest fairs in West Bengal.

IMD divides the year into winter (December to February), a hot pre-monsoon season (March to May), the southwest monsoon (June to the middle of September) and a post-monsoon season from the second half of September to November. It adds that the hilly regions are comparatively less uncomfortable in the hot season.

• Kolkata and the plains: November to February is the comfortable season, with January days of about 26°C and little rain; May averages 35°C by day. The monsoon brings about three-quarters of Kolkata's rain.
• Darjeeling and the hills: October to December is the driest, clearest spell, with March also clear. IMD's observatory records 785 mm of rain in July and 3 mm in December.
• The Sundarbans: our safari page gives roughly October to March as the main season. The Sundarban reserve notes that the Bay of Bengal's cyclones form in the pre-monsoon season.
• Festivals: Durga Puja falls in September or October, by UNESCO's description, and Gangasagar's fair at Makar Sankranti in mid-January.