Discover Kolkata

After welcoming you on arrival at Kolkata Airport, drive to Glenburn Penthouse in the very heart of the city, facing Victoria Memorial and the Hastings.
If you arrive in the afternoon, you may have time to enjoy the home-made afternoon tea, with a selectin of tea from Glenburn Tea Estate (Darjeeling and Assam).
Check in for 3 nights. Dinner, at leisure

Your guide will meet you at the hotel (after a light breakfast), the earlier the better to beat the heat: it is the nicest time to walk through the city. The great River Hooghly is where locals perform their early morning rituals to cleanse and purify themselves. We start our day from the colourful riverside flower market where all the city’s religious flowers originate; actually this is really where it all began: the battles of Europe from the 17th to the 19th century; the Armenian and Portuguese churches, the Jewish synagogues, the British Raj in India, Dalhousie Square. From a "Black Hole", it transformed itself into a City of Palaces. We walk to the famous Writers’ Building – the former HQ of the infamous East India Company -, the magnificent Governor’s House and the almost forgotten Charnock Mausoleum – Here lay the administrative, judicial and political heart of an Empire that stretched from Aden to Burma.
“The Park Street Cemetery and Victoria Memorial” – Two great institutions left behind by the British. The almost forgotten cemetery dates back a few centuries with poignant images of its early society; and the majestic Memorial that was embarked upon and completed just as the same conquerors abandoned their majestic capital to build another in Delhi. We go for lunch at Bomti’s; an art collector and socialite, delighted to welcome visitors to his charming flat in perhaps the most interesting heritage building on historic Chowringhee. Authentic and home-cooked Bengali cuisine served up with hot cups of fresh Darjeeling tea.
Boat cruise up the River Hoogly in a private river boat, to discover a hitherto unseen side of Kolkata, with a ring-side view of the myriad happenings on the river’s Ghats. You will sail past Belur Math, headquarters of The Ramakrishna Mission, as the city’s two huge and famous bridges, Howrah and Vidyasagar Setu pass overhead. Drop back to the hotel after 6pm to relax and free evening.

This morning we travel to North Calcutta – “The Black Town”, where a parallel culture heavily influenced by the Europeans, flourished among the pioneering families of Bengal. The Jain Temple Complex of 4 ornate temples is unique with its shimmering mirrors, ceramic tiles and chandeliers brought over to India by rich merchants from lands as far away as Persia, Japan and Europe. The Marble Palace is perhaps the most bizarre of the Bengali mansions of this area. Built in 1835 by Raja Rajendra Mullick, a wealthy Bengali merchant with a passion for collecting works of art, it houses a kitsch collection of paintings, marble sculptures and Belgian glass. In the grounds of the mansion you will find remnants of the first Indian zoo, and exotic Indian birds including peacocks, hornbills, pelicans and several species of deer.
We then proceed to the calm, intellectual heart of the Bengali Quarter, the bastion of Bengali culture, and home of the multi-talented poet, novelist, musician, painter and playwright, the famous Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. His grandfather Dwarkanath Tagore built this grand mansion in the 18th century, and the museum showcases the life of the family in 19th century Bengal, and their involvement in the Bengali Renaissance, the Brahmo Samaj movement and finally the Freedom Struggle of India.
Lunch at a lovely little Bengali Restaurant. In the afternoon we visit Kumartuli or the Potters’ Market, where giant life-like religious idols are created for the city’s numerous festivals out of river clay, bamboo and straw, and then adorned with elaborate jewellery and clothes, with beautifully painted features. On the way back into town we can visit the Motherhouse, Mother Theresa’s home and the centre of her Missionaries of Charity. Her modest tomb and the Spartan room where she lived and died, embodies her life’s work, with its simplicity and dedication to only helping the poor and needy.
Back to the hotel enjoy the rest of the day at the property

After breakfast and depending on your flight time, a driver will drop you at the airport.