Kolkata’s markets each do one thing and have done it for a long time. New Market opened in 1874 and still sells cold cuts and Christmas cake. Burrabazar supplies eastern India. College Street is the largest second-hand book market in Asia. Mullick Ghat, under the Howrah Bridge, has traded flowers since 1855 and is finished by nine in the morning.
Kumartuli is not a market at all but a manufacturing quarter, and it is the one most worth seeing.
New Market
Opened on 1 January 1874 as the Sir Stuart Hogg Market, designed by Richard Roskell Bayne of the East Indian Railway in red brick Gothic, with a…
Burrabazar
One of the largest wholesale markets in India, spreading north from Bowbazar across a dense grid of lanes. It has been a trading district since…
College Street Boi Para
A kilometre and a half of books: the largest second-hand book market in Asia, and possibly the world, selling since the middle of the nineteenth…
Gariahat Market
The main retail market of South Kolkata, at the Gariahat crossing where Rashbehari Avenue meets Gariahat Road. Saree houses on the corners, a covered…
Hatibagan Market
North Kolkata's equivalent of Gariahat, around Shyambazar and Hatibagan. Saree shops, a covered market, the old sweet houses, and the theatre…
Kumartuli
The idol-makers' quarter, in north Kolkata beside the river. Clay from the Hooghly, straw, bamboo and jute are worked into the Durga, Kali and…
Mullick Ghat Flower Market
Under the Howrah Bridge on the Kolkata bank, the largest flower market in eastern India and one of the largest in Asia, trading since 1855. Marigold,…
Bowbazar
The gold quarter of Kolkata: showrooms on B.B. Ganguly Street and, in the lanes behind, several thousand karigars working at the bench in small…
Chandni Chowk
The electronics and electrical market of Kolkata, around Chandni Chowk metro station between Esplanade and Bowbazar. Audio equipment, components,…
Lake Market
A South Kolkata neighbourhood market near Rabindra Sarobar, smaller and calmer than Gariahat. Fish, vegetables, flowers and everyday provisions in…
Maniktala Market
A large north-central Kolkata market, known particularly for fish and for the wholesale vegetable trade that feeds much of the northern half of the…
Dacres Lane
A short lane off BBD Bagh, officially James Hickey Sarani, lined with small kitchens feeding the office district. Chow, stew, chops, fish fry, tea…
Territti Bazar
The older of Kolkata's two Chinatowns, in the lanes off Rabindra Sarani near Poddar Court. Chinese families settled here from the late eighteenth…
Howrah Market & the Engineering Belt
Howrah across the river carries the engineering trade - small foundries, machine shops, fabrication and the railway workshops - alongside a large…
Worth knowing
- Mullick Ghat works from four to nine in the morning and not after
- Territti Bazar’s Chinese breakfast is over by eight
- Kumartuli is at its most remarkable from August to October
- Burrabazar and Bowbazar are weekday trades; much of both shuts on Sunday
- New Market in December is the Christmas trade, and worth the crowds
Read the city another way
A note on this page. Restaurants, shops and markets open, move and close far more often than industries do. Everything here is a snapshot of Kolkata as of 2026, offered as a starting point rather than a live listing. Check the address and the hours before you travel.
Restaurant, shop and company names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Inclusion is for independent discovery only, not endorsement, ranking or affiliation.
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