Hotels in Calcutta

Hi everyone,

Any suggestions for good places to stay in Calcutta ? I'm landing in Calcutta and will be travelling to Darjeeling, Sikkim, Nepal, Varanasi, Kanha NP, and back to Calcutta.

Thx for your help !

Isabelle

It depends on what you want to spend. I try to stay at the Salvation Army or the Modern Lodge; both are extremely inexpensive, clean, full of friendly backpackers and volunteers, and are close to the places I want to get to in Kolkata.

Namaste

Welcome to Kolkata.

There are a variety of options for you to stay in Calcutta.
Suggestions can only be made once your budget for stay
is known.
If you would stay near the airport, there are a number of good hotels there.
Central Kolkata near Park Street also offers many delightful accommodations.

Heya ... sorry to hijack this thread but I need to also find a nice area to stay in in Kolkata ( .. 1st time visitor) and am looking at a per night budget of around 50 usd for a triple sharing. I would appreciate any suggestions including that of areas that I should go to when I arrive and am looking to find suitable accomodations.

Thanks ....

Try out
(1) Broadway hotel at GC Avenue........
(2) Hotel Heera International, Park Street
(3) Great Eastern Hotel, BBD Bagh
at these hotels you will be able to get decent rooms
within your budget.
The places you should visit will include
The National Museum, The Belur Math, The Dakshineshwar Temple and if you are ready to venture a little out do visit
Shantiniketan and Bishnupur.
To enjoy the night life visit Park Street.

does any one know of free pick up service arranged by any budget G-House from Kalkota/airport to Sudder ,guessing arriving at 1am.
Thanks for your time.and the useful advise.

I haven't heard of any hotel-arranged pickups in Calcutta, but maybe our Bengali members know some tricks for this!

Trick ? is it tricky

Hi Isabelle, Mickey and 7 carlos,
Welcome to Kolkata . There are hundreds of hotels just like all major metros. A few options are already given by other IMers. I am fortunate to experience 3 IM meetups in Kolkata they stayed at following hotels and none of them had major complain (at least it was not mentioned during meetups). The type of hotels you are referring do not have pickup facility (so far I know, may be someone else from Kolkata give you better idea). The nearest hotel that I can recommend is Hotel Host International at VIP Road. It takes 10-15 mins to reach from airport. Please refer to the following thread for a piece of info ( Budget hotel in Kolkata ). But my suggestion is, please try to contact with the IMers who can give you first hand info before you take any decision. The links are given bellow:

1. TQ
Hotel Hindusthan International, http://www.hindusthan.com/contact.htm
( http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=9142 )

2. RENE
Fairlawn hotel, http://www.fairlawnhotel.com/index.html
( http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=11826 )

3. BIGZERO
Park Hotel, http://www.theparkhotels.com/contactus.htm
( http://www.indiamike.com/india/showthread.php?t=12809 )

Cheers,
Somnath

Somnath, what about airport pickups? Or, how does one get into Calcutta from DumDum? (Do they still call it that?)

I don't know about pick-ups but there's a pre-paid taxi both just inside the terminal ie you pass it just before you leave the terminal. When I was there in Feb a taxi from the airport to Sudder St was Rs170...check the price on the receipt as the guy in the booth tried to charge me Rs200! Once you leave the terminal you will be directed to a taxi. Hang on to your copy of the receipt until the taxi has taken you where you want to go - the driver won't get paid without it.

hi
yes many hotels do have airport pick up and drop services maybe they charge u extra depending on the hotel, u will have to request them for a pick up.
Mickey u can try Hotel Senator on camac street , its a new hotel and its seems good, prime location and u will get rooms at USD 50.

best of luck and hope u all have a good time in cal

Hi all,

Yes, we stayed at the Hindustan and I should write a review on it for the hotel forum sometime. I really can't recommend it to be honest. It's clean, comfortable and reasonably efficient, but certainly overpriced for the quality of service. We found that the staff were at pains to remind us that "this is a five star hotel", whilst fussing around unecessarily just to get a tip. The room fittings were rather shabby. The restaurant was ok but nothing special for the price. The cashier who exchanged some travellers cheques for me, assumed the change was his - things like that. I'm sure there are better hotels for less money in Kolkatta, where the service is not (at the same time) ostentatious and tip-hungry.

Have a great time, we wish we could have stayed longer in Kolkatta, and certainly will do next time we go.

Kind regards
TQ

sorry i i know finding a hotel is never a problem ,however i didnt mention that i'm looking for a budget Hotel near the Airport or Sudder, Just to get somewhere to crash for a night, as i'm arriving at wee hour" 1am.!!!!Salvation sounds best,but unfort. no pick up,or a least having theire E -mail ,in order to place a booking a bed or room. (i dont need theire phone number)
Thank you all.
I

Hi wonderwomanusa,
Honestly speaking, I do not have much info regarding services provided or closely related to Airport as I do not travel by air. Yes it is still DumDum airport to the people of Calcutta but a few citizens of Kolkata call it “Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport”.

Carols, you are right, this timing (1:00 am) cannot be ignored. Considering the worst case, there is Airport hotel (http://hotels-of-india.com/airport-hotels-kolkata.html). It may be very helpful for the travelers reaching at such inconvenient time. They can book the said hotel online for 1 day and shift to the suitable one on the next day.

This could be a very helpful feature if we share our hotel / lodge experience in the respective section of IM wherever we stay. Generally it is very tough to recommend any hotel unless you have personal experience, so the hotel review (including the e-mail ID / phone no / exact location) could be a value addition on IM. Just taking the experience of TQ. HHI looks impressive from outside and my personal experience for their banquet service for the corporate clients was also good. But this is impossible to experience how they behave with their guests. Thank you TQ for sharing your experience regarding HHI.

Thanks,
Somnath

As per my knowledge & experience


The taxi will cost Rs125/- (minimum) from airport to sudder street . So for a pick up service it will cost the service provider minimum Rs 300/-. ( parking & haltage etc) . So is it possible for any budget G house / Hotel to provide such service at free of cost & at 1AM ? Just think logically. It will be better if you ask the airport / airline authority to drop you at the city centre, near Indian Museum / lindsay street ;( they run free bus srevice from airport to city & vice-versa) . Sudder Street is just few minutes walk from these point . Kolkata is much safe city (till now) than Delhi , you can easily find a hotel in this area as per your choice.