Kolkata in 7 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Seven days in Kolkata: everything, plus a real rest day
Seven days keeps the 5-day plan whole, Victoria Memorial, the free Motherhouse and Kalighat, North Kolkata, Dakshineswar and Belur Math, a market day, then adds a slower South Kolkata day and a genuine day with nothing scheduled. This is the version for a visitor who wants to actually live in the city for a week on a budget, not just tour it. Tighter on time? See the 2-day , 3-day or 5-day plans. If a week leaves room for a genuine trip out of the city, Shantiniketan, Chandannagar and the Sundarbans are covered properly, with their own multi-day logistics, in the Kolkata gateway guide and its itineraries, not folded into this one.
| Day | Focus | Rough spend (solo, foreign-national entry fees) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Victoria Memorial, BBD Bagh walk, Park Street dinner | INR 700 to 1,300 |
| Day 2 | Motherhouse, Kalighat, Indian Museum or New Market | INR 400 to 900 |
| Day 3 | College Street, Kumartuli, Marble Palace, tram ride | INR 300 to 600 |
| Day 4 | Dakshineswar, Belur Math, Howrah Bridge view, Tangra dinner | INR 400 to 800 |
| Day 5 | New Market and Gariahat shopping, cultural evening | INR 900 to 2,000 |
| Day 6 | South Kolkata wander, Alipore Zoo or Botanical Garden | INR 200 to 500 |
| Day 7 | Ghat sunrise, last shopping, departure | INR 300 to 700 |
Book these before you go:
- Your Park Street area hotel : seven nights near Durga Puja (16 to 21 October 2026) needs booking weeks ahead, not the week of.
- A Kolkata heritage walking tour : fits anywhere in the first three days without disrupting the rest day later in the week.
- A Kolkata street food tour : a good use of day 6’s lighter schedule if you’d rather not plan your own crawl.
Day 1: colonial core, on foot and by metro
Victoria Memorial (INR 50 Indian, INR 100 SAARC, INR 500 other foreign nationals; INR 30 gardens only), then a free walk into BBD Bagh past the General Post Office and Writers’ Building. Lunch is a kathi roll (INR 60 to 150). Metro (INR 5 to 25) to New Market, Park Street for dinner, a basic thali runs INR 200 to 500. Close at Princep Ghat, free.
Day 2: the free Motherhouse and Kalighat
Mother Teresa’s Motherhouse , completely free, closed Thursdays, then Kalighat Kali Temple, free outside the paid VIP darshan line. Lunch is phuchka, INR 20 to 50. Afternoon at the Indian Museum (INR 75 Indian, INR 500 foreign) or New Market and Gariahat. Sunset at Babughat.
Day 3: North Kolkata, almost entirely free
College Street’s book market, free, with a coffee (INR 20 to 30) at the Indian Coffee House. Kumartuli’s idol makers’ quarter, free, best July through September. The Marble Palace, free entry, permit status disputed so check locally. A tram ride, Route 5 or Route 25, INR 5 to 10, back to Park Street.
Day 4: across the river to Dakshineswar and Belur Math
Dakshineswar Kali Temple and Belur Math, both free, sit close enough across the Hooghly for one day. Stop at Howrah Bridge for the view on the way back; the historic photography ban has largely relaxed, though a hedge near sensitive port stretches is still fair. Dinner in Tangra, Indian-Chinese food for roughly INR 500 to 600 for two.
Day 5: markets, then a cultural evening
New Market and Gariahat for shopping, bargaining expected, budget INR 500 to 1,500. Evening theatre, dance or music at Nandan or Rabindra Sadan, INR 100 to 300; the West Bengal Tourism site carries the current schedule. Close with a Bengali thali, INR 400 to 900 per head, or street food if the budget’s tighter.
Day 6: South Kolkata, slower and cheaper
Spend the morning wandering Ballygunge, Bhawanipore and Alipore, once the Governor-General’s residential quarter and still among the leafiest parts of the city, with no fixed agenda. Alipore Zoo or the Botanical Garden across the river (home to the Great Banyan Tree) both charge only a nominal entrance fee, a genuinely cheap outdoor afternoon after five days of walking and metro rides. This is deliberately the lightest day on the list; use it to revisit a favorite cheap eat from earlier in the week rather than adding a new paid sight. Total spend, INR 200 to 500, is the cheapest day of the trip by design.
Day 7: sunrise, last shopping, and getting to the airport cheaply
Start at a ghat for sunrise, free, before the heat and crowds arrive. Spend the morning on any last souvenir shopping, then confirm your route to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport: a prepaid taxi counter runs roughly INR 460 to 700 depending on your hotel’s location, or the newer Yellow Line metro connects toward the airport via an interchange at Noapara, worth checking the current walkway status from the platform to the terminal before relying on it as your only plan.
Is 7 days too long for Kolkata?
Not if the goal is to actually rest partway through a trip instead of sightseeing every hour. Seven days fits the full city, colonial core, North Kolkata, the river temples, markets, and a genuinely slow South Kolkata day, without any single day feeling rushed. A visitor who wants to add the Sundarbans or Shantiniketan on top should treat that as an eighth and ninth day from the Kolkata gateway guide , not squeeze it into this week.
How much does 7 days in Kolkata actually cost?
Figure INR 3,100 to 6,900 total across seven days for food, transport, entry fees and shopping, on top of your hotel, at foreign-national rates for Victoria Memorial and the Indian Museum. Keep day 6 as cheap as planned and lean on street food elsewhere, and that number falls closer to INR 2,200 to 4,000.
Money moves that matter over a full week
A rechargeable Metro Smart Card pays for itself many times over across seven days of rides. Use day 6’s lighter schedule to do laundry and re-pack rather than adding a paid sight you’ll be too tired to enjoy properly. Keep a running stock of small notes for the whole week; it’s the one habit that keeps a cheap city from feeling more expensive than it is.