India Hotels and Tours

Tours to Kolkatta - "The City of Joy..."

The capital of West Bengal, India, Kolkata is famous for the legendary Chowringee Lane and Maidan, Kolkata boasts of being India's first 'metro rail' city.

The land where Mother Teresa worked for the impoverished, Kolkata is an interesting amalgamation of modernization and ethnic Bengali culture with a generous sprinkling of colonial English ways.

History

Tours to Kolkatta in the Vedic ages was a part of a region called 'Vanga'. Kolkata as it exists today was created by the British colonial government by bringing together three villages - Gobindapur, Sutanuti and Kalikata, on the banks of River Hoogly.

Kolkata is not an ancient city like Delhi, with its impressive relics of the past. In fact, it's largely a British creation which dates back only some 300 years and was the capital of British India until the beginning of this century.

In 1686, the British abandoned Hooghly, their trading post 38km up the Hooghly River from present-day Kolkata, and moved downriver to there small villages - Sutanati, Govindpur and Kailkata. Kolkata takes its name from the last of those three tiny settlements.

Much of the Kolkata's most enduring development took place between 1780 and 1820. Latter in the 19th century, Bengal became an important centre in the struggle for Indian independence, and this was a major reason for the decision to transfer the capital to Delhi in 1911. Loss of political power did not alter Kolkata's economic control, and the city continued to prosper until after WW11.

Once the then Mughal Emperor granted revenue collection rights to the East India Company, the region began to flourish and gradually became a happening.

British Colonial settlement. Kolkatta Tours or Calcutta as the English called it, remained the capital of British India for many years.

Tourist Attractions

Tourist attractions in Tours to Kolkatta, India engage your attention with their magnetic charm. See the imposing Victoria Memorial and tour museums such as the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Rabindrabharati Museum, Ashutosh Museum of Art and Nehru Children's Museum.

Drive across the Howrah Bridge, explore the Marble Palace, Kumartuli, Fort William, Academy of Fine Arts, Shantiniketan, Nirmal Hriday, Science City, Birla Mandir and the Nalban Boating Complex.

Kolkatta Tours also has several places of religious interest that are definitely worth visiting. See the Dakhineshwar Temple, Belur Math, Paresnath Temple, Portuguese Cathedral, St. Paul's Church and the Nakhoda Mosque.

Kolkata retains much of the splendour of yesteryears, with a presence that is at once regal, imposing and memorable, a city worthy of admiration and love. Welcome to Job Charnock's 'chance-directed, chance-erected city, Lapierre's City of Joy'. Kolkata was born in August 1690, following the midday halt of Job Charnock, Chief of the British East India Company, on the eastern banks of the River Hooghly, overlooking the bustling village of Sutanati.Over the next 250 years, Kolkata grew into the leading city, east of Suez, and the second city of the British Empire.

Tour Itineraries for Kolkata :

* Jules Verne's Tour of India
* Northeast Experience - Asaam & Meghalaya

Magical India Tours offers online reservation for tours to Kolkata, West Bengal, India. For details please fill up the form given below.