EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Airlines, domestic Indian Airlines 39 Chittaranjan Ave tel 033/236 0810 or 236 0870 (24hr with a tourist counter); also at Hotel Hindusthan International , 235/1 AJC Bose Rd tel 033/247 2394 and Great Eastern Hotel , 1 Old Court House St tel 033/248 2311; airport office enquiries tel 033/511 9846, flight enquiries: general tel 141, recorded tel 140, arrival tel 142, departure tel 143. Jet Airways 18D Park St tel 033/229 2227 & 229 2237; airport enquiries tel 033/5511 9894; Sahara Indian Airlines 2A Shakespeare Sarani tel 033/282 7686.

Airlines, international * International airlines with flights in and out of Calcutta . Airline/flight enquiries: tel 033/511 8787 & 511 9721; Aeroflot 58 Chowringhee Rd tel 033/282 3765*; Air Canada Chitrakoot Bldg, 230A AJC Bose Rd tel 033/247 7783; Air France 41 Chowringhee Rd tel 033/240 8646 & 242 6161;

Air India 50 Chowringhee Rd tel 033/242 2356*; Air Lanka East Anglia House, 3C Camac St tel 033/229 2092; Alitalia 228 AJC Bose Rd tel 033/280 5695; American Airlines Chitrakoot Bldg, 230 AJC Bose Rd tel 033/280 1335; Austrian Airlines Vasundhara Bldg, 2/7 Sarat Bose Rd tel 033/474 5091; Bangladesh Biman 30C Chowringhee Rd tel 033/229 2843*; British Airways 41 Chowringhee Rd tel 033/288 3451*; Canadian Pacific IGAT, Vasundhara, 2/7 Sarat Bose Rd tel 033/475 0226; Cathay Pacific 1 Middleton St tel 033/240 3211; Continental Airlines Stic Travels, East Anglia House, 3C Camac St tel 033/229 2092; Druk Air Tivoli Court, 1A Ballygunge Circular Rd tel 033/240 2419*; Gulf Air Chitrakoot Bldg, 230A AJC Bose Rd tel 033/247 7783; Japan Airlines 35A Chowringhee Rd tel 033/246 8363; KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 1 Middleton St, Jeevan Deep tel 033/240 3151*; Kuwait Airlines Chitrakoot Bldg, 230 AJC Bose Rd tel 033/247 4697; Lufthansa Airlines 30A/B Chowringhee Rd tel 033/229 9365; Malaysian Airlines Stic Travels, East Anglia House, 3C Camac St tel 033/229 2092; North West Airlines 1 Middleton St, Jeevan Deep tel 033/240 3151; Qantas 58 Chitrakoot Bldg, 230 AJC Bose Rd tel 033/247 0718; Royal Brunei East Anglia House, 3C Camac St tel 033/229 2092*; Royal Jordanian Airlines Vasudhara Building, 2/7 Sarat Bose Rd tel 033/475 1261*; Royal Nepal Airlines 41 Chowringhee Rd tel 033/288 8534*; SAS Landmark Building, 228A AJC Bose Rd tel 033/240 5178; Singapore Airlines 1 Lee Rd tel 033/280 9898; Swissair 46C Chowringhee Rd tel 033/288 4643; Tarom Romanian Landmark Building, 2/7 Sarat Bose Rd tel 033/240 3171*; Thai Airways International 8th floor, Crescent Tower, 229 AJC Bose Rd tel 033/280 1630*.

Ambulance Ambulance services are provided by Dhanwantary Clinic, 1 National Library Ave (tel 033/479 2290) and Emergency Doctors' Service, A 165 Lake Gardens (tel 033/473 0604).

Banks and currency exchange Calcutta Airport has a 24hr branch of the State Bank of India, as well as Thomas Cook at the international terminal. Major banks, concentrated either in the vicinity of BBD Bagh or scattered around Chowringhee Road, include Bank of America, 8 India Exchange Place; Bank of Tokyo, 2 Brabourne Rd; Banque Nationale de Paris, 4a BBD Bagh East; Citibank, 43 Chowringhee Rd; Hong Kong & Shanghai, 8 Netaji Subhas Rd (24hr service); Standard Chartered, 4 Netaji Subhas Rd; State Bank of India, Middleton Street and Calcutta airport; and Standard Chartered Grindlays, 41 Chowringhee Rd and 19 Netaji Subhas Rd (Rs200 per exchange transaction). The ATM machines at some banks (such as most Standard Chartered and Grindlays as well as HSBC and the Citibank at 43 Chowringhee Rd) take Mastercard and Visa. Other currency exchange bureaus include: Thomas Cook, Chitrakoot Building, 230 AJC Bose Rd (tel 033/247 5378) and American Express, 21 Old Court House St near the West Bengal Tourist Office (tel 033/248 8464). Private foreign exchange bureaus offer the convenience of longer hours and less bureaucracy despite their slightly poorer rates. There are several along Sudder Street; a convenient one in Hotel Lindsay opposite the New Market; Maneek Lal Sen in New Market, RR Sen, 18 Chowringhee Rd; LKP Forex, 41-A Park Mansions, Mirza Ghalib Street (Free School Street) just off Park Street; and American Express at Tata Finance, 75C Park St, near the post office.

Car rental Car Cab, 2 Manook Lane (off Ezra Street) tel 033/235 3535; Car Rent Services, 233-4A AJC Bose Rd tel 033/441285; Durgapur Automobiles, 113 Park St tel 033/294044; Europcar, Vins Overseas India Ltd, 4th Floor, ITC Centre, 4 Russel St tel 033/245 4910; New Lakshmi Travels, 296 Rashbehari Ave tel 033/440 5317; Sona International, 17 Surya Sen St tel 033/241 6186; Wentz International, Airport tel 033/511 8783 & 219 Kamalalaya Centre, 56a Lenin Sarani tel 033/247 9345; 24hr.

Consulates Australia, 19 Netaji Subhas Rd tel 033/220 8346; Bangladesh, 9 Circus Ave tel 033/247 5208; Indonesia, Mukti Chambers, Ground Floor, 4 Clive Row tel 033/210 2653; Nepal, 1 National Library Ave, Alipore tel 033/479 1224; Philippines, Industry House, 19th Floor, 10 Camac Street tel 033/242 4721; Singapore, 7/1 Lord Sinha Rd tel 033/282 4106; Sri Lanka, Nicco House, 2 Hare St tel 033/248 5102; Thailand, 12B Mandeville Gardens tel 033/440 7836; UK, 1 Ho Chi Minh Sarani tel 033/242 5171 & 288 5172; USA, 5/1 Ho Chi Minh Sarani tel 033/282 3611.

Cultural centres Cultural representatives of overseas countries in Calcutta, typically with reading rooms and facilities for performances and film shows, include: the British Council, 5 Shakespeare Sarani tel 033/242 5370 & 282 5944; the Russian Gorky Sadan, Gorky Terrace, near Minto Park; and the German Max Mueller Bhavan, 8 Pramathesh Barua Sarani tel 033/475 9398. Similar facilities can be found at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture in Gol Park, and USIS, American Centre, 38A Chowringhee Rd tel 033/245 1221.

Hospitals Cheap, government-run hospitals (notoriously mismanaged) include Calcutta Hospital & Medical Research Institute, 7-2 Diamond Harbour Rd tel 033/456 2674; Medical College Hospital, 88 College St tel 033/241 4091; SSKM Hospital, 244 AJC Bose Rd tel 033/223 6242. Private medical care, if expensive by comparison, is infinitely superior to the service at government hospitals. Try the Belle Vue Clinic, 9 Dr UN Brahmachari St tel 033/247 2321; Tibetan Medical & Astro Institute, 9 East Rd, Jadavpur; Metropolitan Laboratory and Nursing Home, 18 Shakespeare Sarani tel 033/432487; Park Nursing Home, 4 Victoria Terrace tel 033/244 3586; and Woodlands Nursing Home, 8/5 Alipore Rd tel 033/456 7075. ARMS (Asia Rescue & Medical Services), 42B Park Mansions, 57 Park Street (Free School Street tel 033/229 2922), targeted at foreign visitors, offers 24hr medical assistance through a well-equipped surgery but at a price designed for travel insurance claims.

Internet Internet access (from Rs30 an hour) is easily available but the smaller hole-in-the-wall places do not always have fast leased lines or ISDN; in some cases their connections are also suspect. The British Council library, 5 Shakespeare Sarani, is the most reliable and The Amazone, 8 Bowbazar St, with its rainforest theme, is friendly with free tea and coffee. Of the many around Sudder Street, try the Hotel Palace on Chowringhee Lane, while Hotel Maria is one of the best. Around the corner on Free School Street, near the Kyd Street intersection, try Cyber World. A little further, BQ's, 53D Free School Street, has a lot more elbowroom above a popular new pool hall. The Junction is a well-run chain with several cybercafés including ones at 22A Royd St, 20 Park St and Gariahat Phari. Others include The Emerge , 59B Park St, and Dishnet, Park Plaza, 71 Park St.

Libraries Asiatic Society Library, 1 Park St; British Council Library, 5 Shakespeare Sarani (Rs100 for a month - borrow books, use the reference section and enjoy cheap internet rates); National Library, 1 Belvedere Rd; Ramakrishna Mission Library, Gol Park; University of Calcutta library, College Square.

Opticians Lawrence & Mayo, 20E Park St tel 033/229 8310 and 11 Government Place East tel 033/248 1818 same-day delivery service); Stephens Opticians, 23 Chowringhee Rd tel 033/291895.

Permits The Foreigners' Registration Office is at 237 AJC Bose Rd (tel 033/247 3300). Apply here for permits if you plan to go to the Andaman Islands by boat.

Pharmacies Blue Print, 1 Old Court House St; Dey's Medical Stores, 20A Nelly Sengupta Sarani and 55 Gariahat Rd; King & Co (Homeopath), 29 Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rd; Singh & Roy, 4-1 Sambhunath Pandit St (daily, 24hr Wed-Sun); Sterling & Co (Homeopath), 91-C Elliot Rd; Welmed, 4-1 Sambhunath Pandit St (daily, 24hr Mon & Tues).

Photography Camera Craft, Park Centre, 1st floor, 24 Park St, for camera repairs; Narains's Photo Cine Centre, 20H Park St; North East Colour Photo, 14 Sudder St near New Market, offers one-hour processing. Madan Street between SN Banerji Road and Dharamtala is good for all kinds of film, but non-refrigerated.

Police tel 100. The central police station is on Lal Bazaar Street, BBD Bagh tel 033/235 3024).

Postal services Calcutta's imposing GPO, on the west side of BBD Bagh, houses the poste restante and has a philatelic department. The Central Telegraph Exchange is nearby at 8 Red Cross Place, close to Telephone Bhavan, the headquarters for Calcutta Telephones. If you're staying in the Sudder Street area, the New Market Post Office, Mirza Ghalib Street, is much more convenient. Sending parcels is easiest from the large and friendly post office on Park Street, where enterprising individuals will handle the entire process for you for a negotiable fee.

State tourist offices The most useful of the many tourist offices representing other states in Calcutta are those that cover the northeastern states, and issue whichever permits may be necessary, and that of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Andaman and Nicobar, 3A Auckland Place tel 033/247 5084; Arunachal Pradesh, 41B Chowringhee Place tel 033/228 6500; Assam, 8 Russell St tel 033/229 5094; Manipur, 26 Rowland Rd tel 033/474 7087; Meghalaya, 9 Russell St tel 033/229 0797; Mizoram, 24 Old Ballygunge Rd tel 033/475 7887 & 475 7034; Nagaland, 11 Shakespeare Sarani tel 033/242 5269 & 282 5247; Orissa, 41 Lenin Sarani tel 033/216 4556; Sikkim, 5/2 Russell St tel 033/246 7516 & 246 8983; Tripura, 1 Pretoria St tel 033/242 5703.

Telephones Overseas phone calls can easily be made from the city's numerous STD/ISD booths and some also have fax facilities; most are now digitalized with LED monitors showing the duration and charge of each call. Inland calls can be made from the same booths but getting a line can take forever, especially after 7pm when rates become cheaper.

Travel agents American Express Travel Related Services, 21 Court House St (tel 033/248 9584) and Thomas Cook, Chitrakoot Building, 230 AJC Bose Rd (tel 033/247 5378) deal with inbound tours and international flights. Miles' n' More opposite Blue Sky Café, 2/1 Sudder St (tel 033/246 4991) and Star Travels, 10 Sudder St (tel 033/245 1655) book domestic and international flights. Travel Media, 40H Mirza Ghalib St (tel 033/244 8353) is a multi-purpose shop selling international and domestic airline tickets as well as making railway bookings. Warren Travels, 31 Chowringhee Rd (tel 033/226 6178) is a well-established service dealing with international and domestic flights, hotel bookings, group tours, and travel documents; so is Sita World Travels, 3B Camac St (tel 033/247 5420).