Kolkata: Getting there & around

Kolkata is a good centre for competitive airfares to other parts of Asia, Europe and the USA's east coast. Air India is the national carrier, but state-owned Indian Airlines also has international flights from Kolkata to Bangkok, Dhaka, Kathmandu and Yangon. Private airlines Jet, Air Sahara and Kingfisher offer generally more reliable services around India. Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is 17km (10.5mi) northeast of BBD Bagh. It's often called Dum Dum, as it sits on the site where explosive dum-dum bullets were once made. A public minibus runs from BBD Bagh to Dum Dum, but you must take a rickshaw for the last 1km (0.6mi); a taxi is usually easier. The efficient Metro also stops short of the airport in Dum Dum, but a shuttle bus runs from the station to the airport terminal. If you're after a taxi from the airport, it's cheaper and more reliable to go to the prepaid taxi booth (after you clear customs), where you'll be assigned one.

Because of the urban sprawl, few people bother to travel from Kolkata by bus, though there are direct international bus services from Kolkata to Dhaka and Phuentsholing in Bhutan, and buses to most large towns in West Bengal, leaving from the Esplanade bus station. It's generally quicker and more comfortable to travel by train. Kolkata has two major train stations, both of them frenetic (beware - they're a pickpocket's paradise). Howrah station, on the west side of the Hooghly, handles most trains to the south and west, while Sealdah station on the east side of the river is for trains heading north of Kolkata to Siliguri, Darjeeling and the northeast. There are also boats from Kolkata to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Kolkata buses are packed monsters that travel at frightening speeds, jostling for space on the roads with trams and taxis. Routes are varied and confusing - the little red minibuses that leave from BBD Bagh have signboards in English. Fares are dirt cheap. Perhaps the most characterful way to travel around the city is by tram; from the Maidan terminus, narrow tin trams run north to Belgachia and south to Tollygunge, but they can be like sardine tins in rush hour. Although pollution-free, the trams face an uncertain future as politicians blame them for Kolkata's notorious traffic congestion. The Kolkata Metro, India's first underground railway, is calm, clean and efficient. There are two types of taxis in Kolkata: yellow taxis have permits to travel all over Kolkata and West Bengal, while black-and-yellow taxis are restricted to Kolkata. Metered fares are very reasonable, but you have to strenuously insist that the driver uses the meter. Kolkata is also the last real bastion of the human-powered rickshaw (cycle-rickshaws never really caught on in the rutted, tram-lined streets). Although slow, they come into their own in the monsoon when the streets flood, and fares - predictably - go through the roof. Fares are invariably elevated for foreigners, but you will be supporting someone's livelihood. Ferries are a quick and pleasant way to get along and across the Hooghly, as well as offering the best views of the Howrah Bridge.