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Kolkata · Bazaars
College Street
Book Street
The kilometre-long Boi Para book market, Asia's largest: stalls to the horizon and the Indian Coffee House, arguing since 1942.
Boi Para is the world's largest book market: a kilometre of stalls holding everything from textbooks to first-edition Tagore. Above the rows stand Presidency College and the legendary Indian Coffee House, where half of Bengali culture was born over endless tea. Bargain for books and eavesdrop on adda, the Calcutta art of conversation.
Who it suits
the book mile the Coffee House student Calcutta
Staying here
Nowhere to stay: come for half a day of books and adda.
In the evening
Stalls fold by evening; the Coffee House hums till eight.
Getting there
Ⓜ MG Road · Central (Blue)
Where to eat
Indian Coffee HouseA living monument of Kolkata's intellectual and coffee-house culture since 1942.
Kalika MukhorochakIconic, high-turnover telebhaja and chaat counter frying fresh to order; a safe, vegetarian street-snack classic near College Street.
Putiram SweetsThe classic vegetarian Bengali breakfast (radhaballavi and kochuri) in the heart of College Street.
Shopping
Dasgupta & Co.Since 1886: thirty-four books grown into the anchor of the world's biggest book district
Other areas of Kolkata
BBD Bagh (Dalhousie)Park StreetThe Maidan & VictoriaShobhabazarKumartuliKalighatDakshineswar & Belur
Areas on the map
In the app: the city's areas on the map, the places inside and a route.
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