How much does a trip to Kolkata cost?

What Kolkata costs

Kolkata is the cheapest major city in India to visit, and not by a small margin. Accommodation, food and transport all run 20–40% below Delhi or Mumbai, the metro starts at ₹5, and the city's greatest assets — its streets, its coffee houses, its river and its Durga Puja — cost nothing. A realistic daily budget is ₹1,500–2,500 shoestring, ₹4,000–7,000 mid-range, ₹10,000+ luxury.

🎟️ Sightseeing

• Victoria Memorial — museum ₹30 Indian / ₹100 SAARC / ₹500 foreign; the gardens are a separate ticket at about ₹20–30 for everyone. Budget ₹50 for both as an Indian visitor. 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, closed Mondays and national holidays. The gardens open separately from 5:30 AM to 6:00 PM, every day. School students up to Class XII in uniform with ID are free; so are differently-abled visitors with a U.D.I.D. card, and army, paramilitary and police personnel with families.
• Victoria Memorial light and sound show — ₹100 (₹200 for foreigners at some counters), Tuesday to Sunday, tickets from the East Gate counter on Cathedral Road from 5:30 PM. Free for children under three.
• Indian Museum — ₹20 Indian / ₹500 foreign. Asia's oldest and largest museum, founded 1814, with Egyptian mummies, Gandhara sculpture and a serious natural history collection. Allow 1.5–2 hours. At ₹20 for an Indian visitor this is the best value museum ticket in the country.
• Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu) — free, and walking it at dawn is a genuine experience
• College Street and the Indian Coffee House — free, with ₹30 coffee that has been the price of an argument for decades
• Kumartuli, the potters' quarter where Durga Puja idols are made — free
• Marble Palace, Princep Ghat, the Maidan, the Hooghly ghats, St Paul's Cathedral, Park Street cemetery — free or nominal
• Belur Math — free, and reached by the Belur Ghat ferry
• Science City — paid entry, a family option

A foreign visitor doing the Victoria Memorial and the Indian Museum pays ₹1,000; an Indian visitor pays ₹50. That 20-fold gap is the widest of any major Indian city and it is worth knowing before you budget.

🛏️ Where you sleep

• Hostel dorm, Sudder Street or Park Street — ₹400–900. Sudder Street is the historic budget-traveller lane, off Esplanade.
• Budget hotel, Sudder Street or Ballygunge — ₹900–2,000
• Mid-range, Park Street or Ballygunge — ₹2,500–6,000
• Heritage and luxury (The Oberoi Grand on Chowringhee, Taj Bengal, ITC Royal Bengal, ITC Sonar) — ₹10,000–35,000

Stay on or near Park Street, or in the Ballygunge–Gariahat belt. Both are central, walkable, have the best restaurants and are on the metro. Sudder Street is cheapest but the immediate area is rough after dark.

October to March is the season. Durga Puja (usually October) is both the best and the most difficult week of the year — hotels book out months ahead, prices spike, and the city is impassable by vehicle. Decide in advance whether you want that. April to June is hot and humid, and July to September brings monsoon flooding and the lowest prices.

🍛 Food

• Phuchka — ₹20–40 a plate. Kolkata's version of pani puri, larger, with a potato and tamarind filling, and widely considered the best in India. Eaten standing at a street stall, six to a plate, made to order.
• Kathi roll at Nizam's in New Market — ₹60–120. Nizam's invented the kathi roll, and the original counter is still there.
• Fish fry on Park Street — ₹80–150
• Mishti doi and rosogolla at K.C. Das or Balaram Mullick — ₹20–60. Two of the most famous sweet names in Bengal.
• Coffee at the Indian Coffee House — ₹30
• Jhal muri and telebhaja from a street vendor — ₹10–30
• Mughlai paratha — ₹60–120, the deep-fried egg-stuffed version that is a Kolkata original
• Bengali thali at 6 Ballygunge Place — ₹500–900, and the reference for a proper Bengali meal served in sequence
• Biryani at Arsalan or Aminia on Park Street — ₹200–400. Kolkata biryani contains a whole potato, which is not a mistake.
• Chowringhee and Park Street restaurants — ₹600–1,500 for two

Kolkata is the only major Indian city where the food is genuinely split between Bengali and Mughlai traditions, and both are excellent. Fish and mustard oil on one side, biryani and kebabs on the other. Eat across both.

🚕 Transport

• Metro — ₹5–25. The cheapest in India. Tourist card ₹250/day, ₹550/3 days.
• Yellow taxi — about ₹30 for 2 km then ₹3 per 200 m; a 6 km trip is roughly ₹90
• Tram — ₹10–20
• Auto on a fixed route — ₹10–30
• Hooghly ferry — from ₹6
• Uber/Ola — ₹150–600
• Airport to Park Street — ₹380–550 by app at base rates

A full day of Kolkata transport costs under ₹150 if you use the metro, tram and ferry. There is no city in India where moving around is this cheap.

💰 Three daily budgets

Shoestring — ₹1,200–2,200. Sudder Street hostel ₹400–800, phuchka and kathi rolls and a biryani ₹250–500, metro tram and ferry ₹50–120, Victoria Memorial and the Indian Museum ₹50, College Street and the ghats free.

Mid-range — ₹4,000–7,000. Park Street hotel ₹3,000–5,000 between two, 6 Ballygunge Place thali and a Park Street dinner ₹1,200–2,000, taxis ₹400–800, sights ₹1,000–1,100 for two foreigners.

Comfort — ₹15,000+. The Oberoi Grand or ITC Royal Bengal, fine dining on Park Street, a private car ₹2,500–4,000, a heritage walk guide.

💳 Money

UPI is universally accepted, including for ₹30 coffee and ₹20 phuchka. Foreign cards work in hotels and restaurants but not at street stalls. ATMs are everywhere on Park Street, Chowringhee and in Gariahat.

Carry ₹1,000 in small notes — ₹10 and ₹20 for phuchka, jhal muri, trams and ferries. Much of the best of Kolkata is bought in ₹20 increments.

Tipping is light in Kolkata: ₹20–50 for a taxi driver who helps with bags, 10% in a restaurant if no service charge appears. Do not tip in yellow taxis on a metered fare.

Kolkata rewards long stays disproportionately. A four-day trip costs barely more than a two-day one in Delhi, because the marginal day is mostly free walking, ₹5 metro rides and ₹30 coffee.

For getting between all of these, see the Kolkata transport guide.

Next on the circuit: Varanasi.