The capital of West Bengal sprawls shapelessly along the eastern bank of the Hooghly River. Once the glorious capital of British India, its urban horror story of squalor and starvation only began with Partition and a resulting massive influx of refugees. This plucky city, however, is keen to promote itself as the 'City of Joy' and, given half a chance, it reveals itself to be one of the country's most fascinating and congenial cities, the intellectual capital of the nation, and a thriving political and arts arena.

Some welcome space is provided by the Maidan, an enormous open expanse used by Calcuttans for recreation, cricket and football matches, political assemblies, yoga sessions, and grazing flocks. The area is large enough to engulf the massive Fort William, still in use today, although visitors are only allowed inside with special permission (rarely granted). At the southern end of the Maidan stands the huge white-marble Victoria Memorial, fronted by a statue of a frumpy Queen Victoria, which holds an extensive collection of British-Indian historical objects.

Calcutta's administrative centre is BBD Bagh (Dalhousie Square). The square holds both the whimsical and the brutal: on one side is the Writers' Building where 'writers' (a quaint euphimism for clerks) beaver away in the Kafkaesque labyrinth of corridors and vast chambers while quintuplicate forms and carbon copies pile up along the walls; on the other side is the GPO which was built on the site of the legendary 'black hole of Calcutta'. It was here that, on an uncomfortably humid night in 1756, over 140 British inhabitants were forced into an underground cellar causing many to die overnight of suffocation.

According to legend, when Siva's wife's corpse was cut up, one of her fingers fell at the site of what is now the Kali Temple and it remains a spectacularly grubby place of pilgrimage. In the morning, goats have their throats slit here to satisfy the goddess' bloodlust. The city's other attractions include: the excellent Indian Museum, the largest and probably the best museum in the country (but dusty and worse for wear due to lack of funds); the Botanical Gardens, home to a 200-year-old banyan tree, claimed to have the second-largest canopy in the world (the largest is in Andhra Pradesh); and the iconic, cantilevered Howrah Bridge, considered to be the busiest bridge in the world.

Budget accommodation, cheap eateries and bars are thick on the ground in Chowringhee, south of the Howrah Bridge. Sudder St, off Chowringhee Rd, is the focal point for budget travellers. There are also lots of cinemas in this area, screening Calcuttan arthouse fare, new release Hollywood movies and their Bollywood cousins. Calcutta is no shopper's paradise, especially since a clean-up campaign has forced hawkers off the pavements, but New Market, north of Sudder St, is a good place for arguing the price of goods from clothing to caneware.

Calcutta is on the international loop and you can sometimes pick up cut price tickets at the airlines offices around Chowringhee. Calcutta's Indian Airlines offers frequent domestic flights to major Indian destinations including Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, and Lucknow. Generally speaking, it's better to travel by train rather than bus but if it's a bus you're after, you'll be looking at catching the dubiously named 'Rocket Service' from the Esplanade bus stand. For outbound trains, go to either Howrah station on the west bank of the Hooghly river which handles trains going to the city, or Sealdah station on the opposite side which takes you in the direction of Darjeeling and other northern regions.

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