WEST BENGAL
West Bengal
West Bengal has been the traditional entry point to Eastern India, the Northeast and the land-locked countries of Nepal and Bhutan, which are easily accessible from the State. This geographical advantage perhaps explains in a large way why WB consistently figures among the highest foreign tourist attractions in India. It is also home to two of India’s major religious events, the annual Gangasagar mela and the world famous Iskon festival at Mayapur.
West Bengal is a key tourist destination for both domestic and foreign tourists because of the attraction of the Darjeeling hills (and further access into Sikkim with its natural beauty and old Tibetan monasteries), the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway which is a World Heritage Site, the vast tea estates of the Dooars, the old British-India heritages of the capital city Kolkata, Rabindranath Tagore’s garden-university at Shantiniketan, the deltaic mangrove-forests of Sundarban’s and other wildlife sanctuaries, and the different religious sites in the State. One of the largest cities of India, Kolkata, is the cultural capital of the country and the centre of the Bengal Renaissance; Kolkata has for the longest time been the primary commercial hub of eastern India.
