One day trip to Chandannagar - A French protectorate

With the winter season and Jagadhatri Puja round the corner, many of you must be definitely planning for a day outing to a nice place close to Kolkata. If you are really, then we would suggest Chandannagar to be the place for your next day outing. You can easily plan a one day trip to Chandannagar either during the festival or during any upcoming weekends as well.

Why a one day trip to Chandannagar ?

We went there during the day of Saptami during the Durga Puja Festival.

Well there can be various reasons why we chose to visit this place during the Durga Puja and why we are suggesting you to add to your bucket list also. They are :

– Because of its rich culture heritage
– Because its quite close to Kolkata and perfect for a day outing
– Because of its peace and tranquility
– Because of its natural beauty and majestic European architecture

History of Chandannagar

Chandannagar, situated on the bank of the river Hooghly was a French colony in earlier times. This beautiful town for a period of 300 years has a unique blend of culture and heritage which is a rich era in the history of Bengal during colonial rule.

It was also one of the main centers for trade for European merchants . Although the rest of India was under British Rule for many years, Chandannagar was under the French rule. On 2 October 1955, Chandannagar was added into West Bengal and also became a part of India after the independence.

Louis Bonnaud a famous European also known as the founder of Indigo was from Chandannagar region.

How to reach Chandannagar from Kolkata

Although the most popular route to reach Chandannagar is to take a direct local train from Howrah Railway station and getting down at Chandannagar, but we took a different route altogether this time around.

We chose this route as it was much closer to Kolkata and the communication was easier compared to reaching Howrah from Kolkata.

So how did we plan it ?

We took a metro from Kolkata and got down in Dumdum metro station. From there we took a local train and got down in Shyamnagar railway station. You will get direct auto to the Jagaddal Ghat . And just opposite to the Ghaat, you can enter the Chandannagar town within 5 minutes by Ferry.

Why we chose this route was mainly because this was budget friendly and it saved a lot of time for us.

The total cost was

– Dum dum to Shyamnagar local train to and fro – Rs 10 *2 = 20

– Shyamnagar to Jagaddal ghat auto to and fro – Rs 15 *2 = 30

– Jagaddhal ghat to Chandannagar stand to and fro – Rs 9*2 = 18

Total Rs 68/person for both side

You can also get down near Jagaddal railway station instead of Shyamnagar, but not all trains stop at this station. So before boarding the train, ask people or check the route map.

If you want to start from Sealdah, you can do that now, chances of getting a seat to seat through out the journey will be higher.

Places to visit during your one day trip to Chandannagar

Once you get down near Chandannagar strand, you would stand in awe with the sheer beauty of this place. The Chandannagar strand is supposedly one of the most happening place in the town. This long strand stretches over 1 km overlooking the majestic Hooghly river with all the major administrative buildings situated on the banks.

This strand has a similar resemblance with the beautiful Promenade beach situated in Pondicherry. If you haven’t read that blog yet, would suggest you to go through it once, as winter is coming and Pondicherry can definitely be on your bucket list during the year end break.

Once you get down near the strand, there is a beautiful houseboat restaurant located beside the bank which is run by the West Bengal Govt, called Jolosree. Do try their food, and provide us the review in comments.

If you continue to walk towards your left from where you got down you can see multiple French architecture buildings along the way.

The first you would spot is the beautiful Sri Aurobindo Vidyamandir school. Just beside is a I love Chandannagar signage where you can stand and can click a picture of your self.

Beside this, is the Chandanagar Police station, again a beautiful architecture displayed on the strand. Photography is not allowed.

Same goes with the court premises as well, we could not get inside it as it was close due to durga puja.

If you walk down further, you can witness the famous and beautiful architecture of Chandanagar College. Probably it was established in 1860’s by the missionaries as ‘Ecole de Sainte Marie’ and is one of the oldest college in Hooghly district. It was renamed and was called Dupleix College in 1901.

Famous revolutionary professor Charuchandra Ray was associated with this college during the independence movement. This college was finally renamed as Chandannagaore college after the Indian independence

This college currently offers undergraduate courses in arts, commerce, and sciences.

Just opposite to it towards the banks a little further you would find the famous Durgacharan Rakshit Ghat which was built in 1920. Durgacharan Rakshit was a writer and was the first Indian to be awarded the Legion d’honneur by the French. With his vision, the small town of Chandannagar got transformed from a sleepy, suburban area to an economic success area.

This beautiful pavilion still stands tall and is one of the most well known tourist destination for visitors.

If you walk further you would get the Church road towards your right where the famous Sacred Heart Catholic Church is located. This church was built by Father Goethals on 27 January 1884. The church still stands for over two centuries to mark the beauty of French architecture and is currently a good place to visit for the historians and for the tourists. It is known that the church was designed by French Architect Jacques Duchatz. We could not enter as the church was closed during our visit.

Coming back again to the strand road you can also enter the famous Chandannagar museum. This museum has a collection of French artifacts, and few collection of Duplex, the then French Governor of Chandannagar.

After visiting the museum, we took an auto from there to visit the famous Nandadulal Mandir. This temple houses beautiful sculpture of Radha Krishna inside it. It is a finest specimen of Do chaala Temple and terracotta architecture.

It is said that the Nandadulal temple was built by Indranarayan Chowdhury in 1739. It suffered quite a lot of consequences and attacks during the war with the British during the 1750’s.

The temple has a total of five entrances and has undergone renovation a number of times. The occasion of Dolyatra and Janmastami are the main festivals celebrated in this temple.

From there we continued with the auto to reach near the gates of Nityagopal smriti mandir. It is also popularly known as Chandannagar library.

If you look at it closely you can see that the building is influenced by European architecture. The massive dome structure with its pillars supporting the building is truly a neoclassical example of French architecture. Again as it was closed we could only take pictures from outside.

From there we went to the famous Bose Bari Durga Puja. This durga puja completed their 515 th year and upon speaking with the residence we got to know that the Puja is still being done at the exact same place where it used to happen 515 years back. This was quite remarkable.

This puja was started by Karunamoy Basu and on the left of the dalan or courtyard you can see the list of people who have actually provided donations to set up this beautiful historical place.

Conclusion

Given the shortage of time, we could only cover these many places during our one day trip to Chandannagar, but if you start early you can also cover lot of other places of interest as well, they are :

– The Patal Bari

– KMDA Park

– Bhasha Shahid Smarak

We returned at around 6pm as it was getting dark, so would request everyone to return by then. If possible start as early as possible in the morning.

You can also go to Bandel from there to visit the other tourist attractions of that region like Bandel Church, Hangseshwari temple, Imambara etc. Or you can visit Srerampore as well which is close to Chandannagar, read our blog to know more

For other weekend outings visit our blogs section to know more.