Kolkata/Baranagar and Dakshineswar

Baranagar and Dakshineswar are twin suburbs at the northern fringes of Kolkata, with a rich cultural heritage.

Baranagar (Bengali: বরাহনগর Barāhanagar; BAW-rah-hoh-naw-gohr) is on the banks of the Hooghly River. In the 17th century, Dutch merchants set up a residence here and made it a large business hub at that time, and the center of the jute industry. It has become a major industrial centre for the manufacture of agricultural and industrial machinery, chemicals, castor oil, several jute products, matches, and numerous cotton-processing companies.

Dakshineswar (Bengali: দক্ষিণেশ্বর Dakṣiṇeśbar; DOHCK-khih-nehsh-shawr) is home to one of the most important religious shrines for Hindus and people from all over the world visit Dakshineswar Kali Temple every day in numbers. Along with the Kali temple, there are other important Hindu temples like the Adyapeath temple, Sarada Math and so on. Because of the town's importance and the Hooghly River, a distributary of the Ganges, flowing by, it is also regarded as a twin of Varanasi by the locals.

Get in
Baranagar and Dakshineswar have a well transport chain for travelling the tourist spots and going different sides of the towns.

By train
The Calcutta Chord Link Line of the Kolkata Suburban Railway has stops at  and.

By metro
The North–South Line of the Kolkata Metro runs along the CC Link Line, with stops at Dakshineswar, Baranagar and Noapara.

By car
There are several state highways and other roads, like Barrackpore Trunk Road (SH 1) and the Belghoria Expressway. They intersect at Dunlop Flyover, a large viaduct.

Dakshineswar
Except the Adyapeath Temple, all of the attractions in Dakshineswar listed below are accessible from Dakshineswar suburban and Dakshineswar metro stations. Both stations are connected to the temple with about long skywalk, which provides a good view of the neighbourhood.

Events
Throughout the year many cultural festivals like Durga Puja and Kali Puja are well celebrated here. Baranagar is famous for Durga Puja in Greater Kolkata. Every winter, "Ajanta Circus" is held at Sinthi Circus Maidan.

Eat and drink
Major food chains include Wow Momo (140, BT Rd). Major cafe chains include Cafe Coffee Day (BT Rd). You also can get lassi in several sweets shops, in Anandamayee Sweets many kinds of lassi like mango, dahi etc. are available. In the Alambazar area, you could get lassi in a sweet shop. In the Dunlop area, near Baranagar railway station and Sonali cinema hall, several fruit juice shops are available. You can also visit "Dunlop Coffee House" for coffee.

Stay safe
Baranagar is one of the most polluted areas of Kolkata. A lot of vehicles travel through Dunlop Crossing, therefore the area is very polluted. Use a mask and a handkerchief for this area.