Map

Everything, plotted

Every heritage site, neighbourhood, ghat and station on this site, pinned at its real WGS84 coordinates on an OpenStreetMap base. Zoom in and the street is right there.

Bounds
22.505–22.67° N
Base
OpenStreetMap
Kolkata Skyline

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Hover or tap a point.

52 points · pinch or use + / − to zoom

Route planner

Work out a day

Pick stops and the order is solved by proximity from your first choice. It is a nearest-neighbour walk rather than an optimal one, which is also how people actually plan.

Build a route

Pick your stops

Choose anything. The order is worked out by proximity from your first pick, so start with whichever end of the city you are staying in.

Stops

3

Straight line

5.1km

Allow

2h08

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  1. 1
    Howrah Bridge

    Cantilever steel truss

  2. 2
    College Street2.2 km

    Books, coffee and argument

  3. 3
    Kumartuli2.9 km

    Clay idol makers

Distances are straight-line. Kolkata’s streets are not, and the real walk is usually a third longer. Take the Metro for anything over three kilometres.

How to read it

What to look for

  • The Hooghly

    The river along the western edge, a distributary of the Ganga. The city sits on the east bank because the water there was deep enough for ships and the marshes made it defensible.

  • The wetlands

    The patchwork of water to the east. A Ramsar site where sunlight and algae treat a large share of the city's sewage for nothing, and produce ten thousand tonnes of fish a year.

  • The Maidan

    Cleared in 1758 to give the guns of Fort William a field of fire, never built on, and now a thousand acres of grass in the middle of the city.

  • The pins

    Terracotta for heritage, marigold for neighbourhoods, verdigris for the river and indigo for stations. Hover or tap one for a note and a link.