My first trip to Kolkata wasn’t planned months in advance — it came together in a week, over a winter break, because a few close friends who’d moved there kept telling me to just come see it for myself. I packed light, boarded a train, and five hours later stepped into a city that felt like nothing I’d visited before.
Arriving at Howrah Station
Nothing prepares you for Howrah Station the first time. It’s one of the busiest railway stations in India, and the sheer scale of it — the crowds, the noise, the constant movement — was overwhelming for a few minutes until my friend found me on the platform. We caught a bus straight to his flat, and that ride alone was its own introduction to the city: narrow lanes opening into wide colonial-era boulevards, trams sharing the road with buses and yellow taxis.
Park Street Lit Up for Christmas
I’d landed in Kolkata during Christmas week, which turned out to be the best possible timing. After dinner that first night, we headed out to Park Street, and I genuinely wasn’t ready for it — the entire stretch was strung with lights, restaurants had decorated their fronts, and the street was full of people dressed up and out enjoying the evening. Kolkata has a large, old Christian community and takes the season seriously; it’s one of the few places in India where Christmas feels like a citywide event rather than a private one.
Victoria Memorial and the Old Colonial Core
That same night we walked past Victoria Memorial and a few of the old colonial-era buildings near it, including the former British administrative headquarters. Kolkata was the capital of British India before Delhi, and it shows — the architecture around this part of the city is some of the best-preserved colonial-era construction anywhere in the country, and it’s lit beautifully after dark.
Street Food That’s Ridiculously Affordable
The next morning was entirely about food. Kolkata’s street food is cheap even by Indian metro standards, and the variety caught me off guard — we worked through kathi rolls, puchka, and plate after plate of sweets before I finally tried an authentic rosogolla, which is genuinely a different experience from the packaged version most people know. If you’re visiting, don’t stick to one neighborhood; the food changes character block by block.
The Tram Ride That Feels Like Time Travel
Kolkata is the only city left in India where trams still run, and riding one is worth doing at least once even if it’s not the fastest way to get anywhere. Combined with the number of buildings in the city that still carry their original early-20th-century design, parts of Kolkata genuinely feel frozen a few decades back — in a good way.
Would I Go Back?
Without hesitation. It’s one of the most memorable short trips I’ve taken, and it’s easy to see why people call Kolkata the City of Joy — the warmth isn’t a marketing line, it’s just how the city runs. If you want the fuller story behind that nickname, we’ve written about why Kolkata is called the City of Joy here on the site.
