A North Kolkata pandal-hopping route, on foot from Shyambazar
Bagbazar, Kumartuli, Ahiritola, the Sovabazar Rajbari and Hatibagan: the old city’s best pujas in one walk, with the Blue Line at both ends.
North Kolkata is where the city’s Durga Puja began, and it is still the best part of town to see the whole range of it in one walk: a traditional sarbojanin puja, the idol-makers’ quarter, a rajbari puja in a family thakur dalan, and some of the most adventurous theme pandals in the city. The pujas sit close together and the Blue Line runs right through them.
Start: Shyambazar metro
Get off at Shyambazar on the Blue Line. Bagbazar Sarbojanin is a short walk west, towards the river.
The route
1. Bagbazar Sarbojanin
One of the oldest community pujas in the city, and deliberately not a theme puja: a traditional ekchala idol, all the figures under one arch, dressed in white daker saj. Come for the idol and the mela around it. On Dashami, Bagbazar has the city’s best-known sindoor khela.
2. Kumartuli Park and Kumartuli Sarbojanin
Walk south along the river side into Kumartuli, the neighbourhood where most of the city’s idols are made. The two big pujas here are a few minutes apart. Kumartuli Park’s 2026 theme follows the Ganga from the Gangotri glacier to the sea, fitting for a puja a street from the river. Kumartuli Sarbojanin’s theme, “Mon Diye Dekhun”, asks visitors to slow down and look.
3. Ahiritola
Carry on south to Ahiritola, where Ahiritola Sarbojanin and Ahiritola Jubak Brinda are usually seen together. Both are known for carefully art-directed pandals and detailed idols.
4. Sovabazar Rajbari
Turn east to Sovabazar and the Rajbari of the Deb family, the most famous of the city’s bonedi bari (old family) pujas, held in its courtyard thakur dalan with an ekchala idol. It is a family home: be quiet, follow any instructions about where to stand, and ask before photographing rituals. Sovabazar Sarbojanin is right beside it.
5. Hatibagan
From Sovabazar it is a short walk east to the Hatibagan cluster, where several of north Kolkata’s strongest theme pujas sit within a few lanes of each other. Hatibagan Sarbojanin’s 2026 theme, “Chhandachhara Chhannachhara” (rhythmless, orderless), is an abstract structure about chaos. Hatibagan Nabin Pally, one of the early theme pujas, is close by, and so is Nalin Sarkar Street, whose theme this year is “Jollipi”, on protecting the Ganga. Sikdar Bagan, among the oldest community pujas of the area, is on the way.
6. Jagat Mukherjee Park
Finish at Jagat Mukherjee Park near Girish Park, a puja that helped start the theme-pandal era. Reports this year describe a 90th-year pandal built around manuscripts and the history of the painted and written page. Girish Park metro station is close by for the journey home.
How long it takes
The walk itself is only a few kilometres, but with queues at Bagbazar, Kumartuli and Hatibagan allow four to six hours on a peak night, less in the afternoon or after 1 am. Roads in the area close to traffic from the afternoon, and Strand Road along the river runs one-way, so do not plan on hopping in a cab between stops.
- Put these pandals on the Pujo map
- North Kolkata guide, with every puja in the area
- Bagbazar Sarbojanin
- Kumartuli Park
- Hatibagan Sarbojanin
If you have more time
Two more north Kolkata clusters are a metro stop or two away. From Belgachhia station you can walk to Tala Prattoy, known for art-installation pandals, and Tala Barowari. Further out, Sreebhumi Sporting Club at Lake Town, this year a replica of Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal, draws some of the longest queues in the city, so go very early or very late.