A South Kolkata pandal-hopping route: Kalighat to Gariahat
The south is where the biggest theme pujas are. Two clusters, a short walk apart, from Kalighat metro.
South Kolkata has the biggest theme pujas and the biggest crowds. The good news is that many of the famous ones sit in two clusters close enough to walk between: Kalighat and Rashbehari, and Gariahat. Do them in that order and finish near the Gariahat crossing.
Cluster 1: Kalighat and Rashbehari
Start at Kalighat station on the Blue Line. Within a short walk are 66 Pally, Badamtala Ashar Sangha, Deshapriya Park and Tridhara Sammilani, four of the most-visited pujas in the south.
- 66 Pally, a long-running Kalighat puja that made news for having its rituals led by women priests.
- Badamtala Ashar Sangha, a large puja with a big social-welfare programme.
- Deshapriya Park, famous for scale and crowds. This is a puja to see early in the day.
- Tridhara Sammilani, consistently among the most-visited pandals in the city and known for its theme songs.
West of Kalighat, Chetla Agrani and Alipore Sarbojanin are a short ride away if you want to add them. Alipore’s 2026 theme tells the Ramayana in sequence, from Ram’s exile to his out-of-season call to Durga, the Akal Bodhan, which is the reason Durga Puja falls in autumn.
Cluster 2: Gariahat
Head east towards Gariahat, on foot along Rashbehari Avenue or by auto before the roads close. Here Ekdalia Evergreen, Singhi Park and Hindustan Park are close together, with Ballygunge Cultural and Samaj Sebi Sangha nearby.
- Ekdalia Evergreen Club, famous for huge temple replicas. This year it is the Somnath temple in Gujarat, the first of Shiva’s twelve jyotirlingas.
- Singhi Park, which pairs a traditional idol with contemporary sets.
- Hindustan Park, known for folk-art themes and endangered crafts.
- Ballygunge Cultural Association, whose 2026 theme, “Jojon”, is about how people are bound together, built from recycled materials.
- Samaj Sebi Sangha, marking Uttam Kumar’s birth centenary with posters from his films.
The south, further out
Several famous south Kolkata pujas are too far from these clusters to walk to, and are better as a separate night or a metro trip: Suruchi Sangha in New Alipore (this year a giant lotus), Naktala Udayan Sangha near Gitanjali station, Bosepukur Sitala Mandir in Kasba, and the Behala and Barisha belt in the south-west, which has dozens of pujas of its own.
Tips for the south
- This is where queues are longest. On Saptami to Navami, the big four in the Kalighat cluster are best before 6 pm or after 1 am.
- Maddox Square, near Jatin Das Park metro, is less about the pandal and more about the adda: the city’s best-known puja hangout ground, at its liveliest late at night.
- Use Kalighat or Jatin Das Park station to arrive and Rabindra Sarobar or Kalighat to leave. The Blue Line runs all night on the peak days.