West Bengal Tourism
Capital : Kolkatta
Language : Bengali and English
Airport : Calcutta, Bagdogra(Siliguri)
Tourist season : October to March.
Climate : Winter 14° C - 34° C; Summer 25°
C - 36° C
West Bengal is the gateway to the east having special
blend of the ancient and the modern. It's landscape is a variety of hills,
plains and coastal areas. The state is long and narrow and is made up
of the delta of the lower Ganges and the other rivers in the south and
the mountainous region in the north. The state is home to some of the
finest poets, writers and film makers
Tourist Attraction of West Bengal
CALCUTTA : the human city
The Ganges (called the Hooghly in Calcutta) is still the inspiration,
as it was to Job Charnok, East India Company agent, who reached the shores
in August 1690, to found the city. Calcutta, after London, was the British
Empire’s second city.
Calcutta is a city of baffling paradoxes, a city that leaves its stamp
on one's mind ... forever.
Darjeeling
Darjeeling, centre of India's most celebrated tea growing district, has
possibly the most picturesque views among all Indian hill resorts. Outside
the monsoon season (June to September), the views across the snowy peak
of Kanchenjunga and other mountains down to the
swollen rivers in the
valley are, simply magnificent. Darjeeling has the unique feature of a
toy train, which takes you from Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling through the steep
mountainsides.
Sunderbans National Park & Tiger Reserve
Located in the Ganga delta in West Bengal, spanning the Hooghly in the
west and Teulia river in the east, Sunderbans was declared a National
Park in 1984. Sunderbans is home to the magnificent Royal Bengal tiger,
the park holding more tigers than any other tiger reserve. More than 400
tigers were recorded during the mid-1980s. Crocodiles and the Gangetic
dolphin are to be found aplenty in the Raimgangal river. The Sajnakhali
sanctuary, famous for its rich avian population, is regarded as a part
of the Sunderbans National Park.
Digha
187 km south east of Calcutta on the coast of the Bay of Bengal, Digha
is a popular beach resort with a 6 km long beach. Fringed by graceful
casuarina trees, Digha offers an enchanting view of the sunrise and sunset.
The sea is calm and shallow for about a mile from the beach, making it
quite safe for swimmers.
Bakkhali
132 km from Calcutta, quiet Bakkhali is the second popular sea resort
of West Bengal.
Sagar
Site of the Gangasagar Mela, the largest fair in West Bengal, held on
the occasion of Makara Sankranti, it draws lakhs of pilgrims from all
over India. Sagar is 100 km from Calcutta.
Shantiniketan
Perhaps the only university of this kind in the world, Shantiniketan was
the brain child of the great genius Rabindranath Tagore. This open air
International University has emerged as a universal centre of excellence
for scholars and students of Oriental culture. Despite a distinct slant
towards humanities and performing arts, the university also has an excellent
faculty for post graduate and research studies in science. Shantiniketan
is 136 km from Calcutta.
