Alipore Zoological Garden

India's oldest formal zoo opened to the public in 1876 and still occupies more than eighteen hectares of Alipore, stocked in its early decades by gifts from maharajas and Calcutta's great houses. Royal Bengal tigers, elephants, giraffes and a large reptile house draw the crowds, and in winter the lawns fill with picnicking families, a seasonal ritual as much as an outing. Tickets are sold online as well as at the gate. Weekday mornings are the manageable version; the Jail Museum and the Agri-Horticultural garden are both a short walk away.

Open since 1876, and a Kolkata winter picnic tradition as much as a zoo