CityDekho
Prinsep Ghat

Prinsep Ghat

heritage site · West Bengal

State
West Bengal
Type
Heritage Site

Kolkata comes down to this stretch of the Hooghly in the evenings, mostly at weekends, to take a boat out, walk the bank and eat at the stalls — which is the argument for coming on a weekday if you want the porch to yourself. The Palladian porch went up in 1843 for James Prinsep, scholar and antiquary, and carries Greek and Gothic inlays; it has been restored twice and looks it. The lit, landscaped riverfront runs two kilometres from here down to Babughat. There is a railway station of the same name on the Circular line.

Prinsep Ghat is known for

1843 Palladian porchHooghly riverfront walkEvening boat rides

Prinsep Ghat guide & itineraries

Been to Prinsep Ghat?

Write what you would tell a friend — where you stayed, what you would skip, the thing you wish somebody had mentioned before you went. We read every submission before it goes up.

Share your story

People also explored

Travellers viewing Prinsep Ghat also loved these

West Bengal

Fort William

Fort William is a large star-shaped fort on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River in the Hastings area of Kolkata, spanning roughly 70 hectares with a dry…

West Bengal

Bakreshwar Temple

Bakreshwar Temple in Birbhum, West Bengal is one of the Shakti Peethas, the sacred shrines of the Divine Mother in the Shakta tradition of Hinduism.

More heritage & forts

More places you'll love

Karnataka

Daria Daulat Bagh (Srirangapatna)

Daria Daulat Bagh is the elegant summer palace of Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, set in a garden on the river-island of Srirangapatna near Mysuru.

Tripura

Neermahal

Neermahal is a striking water palace rising from the middle of Rudrasagar Lake near Melaghar in Tripura, built by the Manikya king in the 1930s as a royal…

Assam

Sivasagar

Sivasagar, once the capital of the mighty Ahom kingdom that ruled Assam for six centuries, is a town rich in monuments around its great tank.

Tripura

Unakoti

Unakoti, in the forested hills of northern Tripura, is an ancient Shaiva pilgrimage and archaeological site famous for its colossal rock-cut carvings and…

Delhi

Safdarjung's Tomb (Delhi)

Safdarjung's Tomb is a garden-tomb built around 1754 for Safdarjung, the powerful Nawab of Awadh and a prime minister of the Mughal empire.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Cellular Jail (Port Blair)

The Cellular Jail in Port Blair, known as Kala Pani, is a colonial-era prison built by the British between 1896 and 1906 to hold Indian freedom fighters in…

Delhi

Lotus Temple (Delhi)

The Lotus Temple is a Baha'i House of Worship and one of Delhi's most photographed modern landmarks, shaped like a half-open lotus with 27 marble-clad petals…

Delhi

India Gate (Delhi)

India Gate is a 42-metre war memorial arch on the ceremonial Kartavya Path, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1931.

Maharashtra

Bibi Ka Maqbara (Aurangabad)

Bibi Ka Maqbara in Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) is a grand Mughal mausoleum built in the 1660s to 1670s for Dilras Banu Begum, the wife of Emperor…

Rajasthan

Kumbhalgarh Fort

Kumbhalgarh, a UNESCO-listed Mewar fort in the Aravalli Hills, is famed for its immense perimeter wall, which stretches roughly 36 km and is often called the…

Maharashtra

Daulatabad Fort

Daulatabad Fort (historically Devagiri) stands atop a steep 200-metre conical hill roughly 15-16 km northwest of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad)…

Karnataka

Gol Gumbaz (Vijayapura)

Gol Gumbaz in Vijayapura (Bijapur) is the mausoleum of Sultan Mohammed Adil Shah, completed in 1656.

Trending in West Bengal

Darjeeling

Darjeeling

Darjeeling sits at about 2,042 metres on a steep mountain ridge of the Lesser Himalayas in northern West Bengal, under the snow mass of Mount Kanchenjunga, the third-highest peak on earth. The colonial-era tea estates run in loops down the slopes below the town. Chowrasta Mall, a pedestrian square, is the commercial heart of the place — vintage bookshops, old tea lounges and handicraft stalls around it. The town is built in layers: British colonial masonry, Tibetan Buddhist monastic architecture, and the narrow-gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the toy train, threading between them.

Sundarbans National Park

Sundarbans National Park

The Sundarbans National Park is the largest continuous mangrove forest on earth — a vast estuarine delta in West Bengal formed where the Ganges and Brahmaputra meet, cut into a maze of tidal mudflats, narrow river channels and dense island swamps. It holds the world's only population of tigers adapted to living in a mangrove habitat. There is no safari on land here; it is all done from the water, on licensed multi-deck passenger boats that work along the thick roots of the Sundari trees. The core reserve also holds saltwater crocodiles, water monitors and river dolphins.

Dakshineswar Kali Temple

Dakshineswar Kali Temple

Dakshineswar, on the Hooghly north of Kolkata, is the great navaratna (nine-spired) temple of Bhavatarini Kali built by Rani Rashmoni in 1855 — and the temple where Sri Ramakrishna served as priest, had his God-intoxicated visions, and drew the world to Kali's feet. His room in the courtyard's corner is preserved as he left it; twelve Shiva temples line the riverfront, and ferries cross to Belur Math on the far bank.

Belur Math

Belur Math

Belur Math, headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission on the Hooghly's west bank, was consecrated by Swami Vivekananda in 1899. Its main temple is a deliberate symphony of faiths — a facade that reads as temple, church and mosque depending on where you stand — enshrining Sri Ramakrishna's relics. The riverside campus of lawns and shrines to Holy Mother Sarada Devi and Vivekananda breathes an orderly, universal calm unlike anywhere else in Kolkata.

Where next?

More like Prinsep Ghat

Heritage

Everything in West BengalBrowse all destinations