Hooghly and Howrah

Hooghly and Howrah are a pair of districts of West Bengal with common cultural heritage. These two districts cover the western part of Greater Kolkata.

Cities

Hooghly

• 1 Hugli-Chinsurah — historic port city, home to Bandel Church

• 2 Arambagh —

• 3 Bansberia —

• 4 Chandannagar — a former French colony, famous for Jagaddhatri Puja and the immersion rally

• 5 Guptipara —

• 6 Kamarpukur — birthplace of Sri Ramakrishna

• 7 Pandua (Pundooah) —

• 8 Serampore and Uttarpara — Serampore is a former Danish colony, while Uttarpara was once a leading automobile hub in India

• 9 Tarakeswar — the "City of Shiva", Tarakeswar is a popular pilgrimage spot

Howrah

• 10 Howrah — Kolkata's twin city, the second-largest in the state, with the largest railway complex in India

• 11 Deulti — A picnic spot, known for the residence of Bengali writer Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

• 12 Gadiara — A mervalous picnic spot with zoo and park.

Understand

Bandel Church, Hugli-Chinsurah

Hooghly and Howrah have thousands of years of rich heritage as part of the Bengali kingdom of Bhurshut, also known as Bhurishrestha.

The historical triple cities of Chandannagar, Hugli-Chinsurah and Serampore in Hooghly district are called the "Little Europe of India" as the cities have their own fragrance of history and culture and they were colonies of France, Holland/Portugal and Denmark respectively.

Both Hooghly and Howrah boast of a huge industrial area along the Hooghly River. There are a number of industrial complexes, including one of the largest car-making plants in India, the Hindustan Motors plant in Uttarpara. The once-flourishing manufacturing belt still has some units working well, but the industrial area is no longer in the pink of health and is often in the news for the wrong reasons.

Get in

By train

Hooghly and Howrah is home to Howrah Junction railway station, some of the busiest railway stations in India. Other major railheads in the region include Hooghly (Bandel Junction) and Tarakeswar.

By car

The NH 19 (formerly NH 2), also known as the Durgapur Expressway, terminates at Dankuni, near Howrah. The highway is part of the Golden Quadrilateral that connects four megacities of India. The NH 19 is also part of the Asian Highway 1 (AH 1) that continues further east to Bangladesh and eventually to Japan.