Kolkata River Cruise – if you are planning to spend a nice evening with your family or only with your partner then this blog is for you. Dont worry, we are not telling you to go to the Victoria Memorial or the same old Princep Ghat or an evening stroll in Park Street this time around. This would be a totally new and exciting experience which you will surely cherish forever. We are talking about the Kolkata Heritage River Cruise, which starts from the Kolkata Millennium Park Jetty along the Eastern Bank of the Hooghly river and then takes a U turn along the western Bank before returning to the jetty once again. This 90 minute journey along the Hooghly river will definitely cover some Hidden Gems and places and it will only cost you Rs 169. Want to know more about this ? Let’s continue to read more..
Kolkata River Cruise – Introduction
Kolkata Heritage river cruise is run by the West Bengal tourist Corporation Limited. The Cruise can carry 150 passengers and it starts from The Millennium Park Jetty and travels past the Armenian Ghat, Nimtala Ghat, Eastern Railway headquarters and many historical places. Along the traditional Bengali music on board, the guests can have a comfort of a small Cruise Cafe which can serve tea, coffee and light snacks for refreshments. We were amazed by the hospitality of the cruise members and the brilliant services they are offering to passengers day in and day out.
Kolkata River Cruise – Location
The location of the place is quite easy to find. You need to take a cab or a bus which goes towards Dalhousie and which will help you to get down near Fairley place or Millennium Park Gate. As soon as you enter the the Millennium park, you would be able to see counter of the Kolkata heritage river cruise in front of it.
Kolkata River Cruise – Timing
The cruise timings are :
Monday to Friday – 6 pm
Saturday, Sunday & Holidays – 5 pm and 6:45 pm
Make sure you reach at least 30-40 minutes before, if you are planning for this over the weekend as tickets gets sold out quickly. The cruise members will allow passengers to board 15 minutes prior to the journey, so as soon as you buy your tickets stand in the queue to get the best seat in the cruise. This cruise is a double-decker vessel and the passengers can sit on both upper and lower decks. The upper deck is meant for people who would like to enjoy live music while moving along.
Kolkata River Cruise – Tickets
There is no online booking option for this cruise ride. So make sure you reach the location early and on time to book it directly from the ticket counter. The cost of per ticket for this 90 minutes of mesmerizing journey is only Rs 169 per person. Payments to be made by Cash only while purchasing tickets, cards are not accepted.
Kolkata River Cruise – The Journey
We went to enjoy this ride on a weekend and we chose to cover the 5pm ride this time around, because we wanted to watch the beautiful sunset along the banks of the Hooghly river while moving along. 15 minutes prior to the journey we were allowed to enter the vessel to take our respective places inside it. We were more interested on the journey and the historical places to see, than the live music played on the upper deck. Hence we chose to take our places in the lower deck.
Inside The Cruise you will have relaxing chairs where you can sit and enjoy the beautiful view as you move along the Hooghly river. On the way you would see many historical places on both side of the banks of the river. On one side you can see heritage places and monuments of Kolkata and on the other you would see the Howrah District and the notable places.
During weekends there is a huge rush for this ride, so availablilibilty of tickets are an issue. Hence we suggest you to reach early.
The Cruise leaves sharp at 5 p.m.
As we went along, it was slowly getting dark and it was time of sunset. It is one of the best time to take this cruise ride because the sunset is mesmerizing and you don’t want to miss this experience for sure.
The Cruise slowly moved towards the gigantic Howrah Bridge and it passed underneath this Mammoth structure.
This bridge was commissioned in the year 1943 and was initially called the New Howrah Bridge since it had earlier replaced the pontoon bridge. It links two cities- of Kolkata and Howrah. In 1965, it was renamed as Rabindra Setu and this name was kept in honor of the renowned Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. But today it is popularly known as the Howrah Bridge.
Our cruise continued its journey till Ahiritola ghat and then slowly it took a U turn towards the Hooghly Setu. While returning backwards we witnessed the beautiful flood lights of the Eden Gardens on the left and we could also hear the crowd cheering during an IPL match which was being played on the very same day. Slowly we crossed the Princep Ghat and continued our journey now towards the Hooghly Setu.
Hooghly Setu or the Vidyasagar Setu was opened to the public in the year 1992 and is an example of the finest product of modern architecture and Technology it is connected with cities of Kolkata and Howrah by a series of over bridge and situated around 1.5 kms southwards of Rabindra Setu.
They were many passengers on board who were purchasing tea/coffee and snacks from the onboard Cafe and enjoying every sip of it while looking at this beautiful view of the sparkling waters of the Hooghly river.
If you are in a large group would suggest you to sit in the upper deck and enjoy the live music and you can dance as well with the band members along the way. But if you want to click nice pictures and enjoy the sunset and the view then would suggest you to sit in the lower deck to get a more beautiful sight.
As it went darker we slowly return back once again to The Millennium Park Jetty to end this ride.
Kolkata River Cruise – Conclusion
To conclude we would like to thank the West Bengal Government to take this lovely initiative to make this Cruise Ride an affordable and popular experience for the youth and also for the elderly people. The beautiful sunset, the pass underneath Howrah Bridge, the glimpse of the heritage places on the banks of the river and the small cafe with live music adds a cherry on the top of the cake.
If you want to go for a day trip in nearby places of Kolkata do read the blog of Chandannagar and Srerampore visit. You can also visit our blogs section to read more blogs on other places to visit.
View our image gallery for the places we visited earlier.
Few things to keep in mind
- We saw many passengers onboard are having food and snacks on the journey and throwing plastics on the river. This should be banned and should be fined if done so. If you are reading this blog, please dont throw litters on the river adding to more pollution.
- We also saw few people smoking cigarettes secretly and throwing gutkha spit on the river. If you see something, please immediately inform the authority.
- Payments to be made by Cash only while purchasing tickets, cards are not accepted.
- Please be careful while clicking pictures on the cruise, we saw many young people leaning dangerously to take a snap.
- Consumption of alcohol is strictly prohibited.
