Kolkata

Kolkata (Calcutta) was India's capital under the British Raj until 1911 and remains the country's cultural and intellectual heart — the city of Rabindranath Tagore (India's first Nobel laureate), Satyajit Ray (Oscar-winning filmmaker), and the world's largest community Durga Puja festival (October). For travellers, the city offers the Victoria Memorial (white-marble museum-monument set in a 64-acre park), Howrah Bridge (India's most iconic cantilever bridge, never closed since 1943), the colonial Park Street, the Marble Palace mansion, the Kalighat Kali temple, and the unique tram system (the only one still operating in India). For vegetarian travellers, Kolkata's Bengali vegetarian tradition is rich — try the Marwari-influenced kachori-jalebi at Tewari Brothers, the Bengali vegetarian thali (luchi, aloo dum, cholar dal, payesh) at Kewpie's Kitchen, and above all the legendary Bengali sweet shops: Balaram Mullick (rasgulla), KC Das (sandesh), and Ganguram (mishti doi — set yoghurt sweetened with palm jaggery). October to February is the comfortable window; the summer (April-June) is brutally humid.