The Slice of Europe tour from Kolkata begins with hotel pickup at 8 am in a private air conditioned vehicle. The drive north along the Hooghly brings you to Chandannagar, the French settlement, by mid morning.

The day begins at Dupleix Palace, the residence and administrative headquarters of the French governor generals of Chandannagar, today a museum housing cannons from the Carnatic Wars, furniture and artifacts from the French period, and a remarkable collection of relics from 200 years of French presence in Bengal. Your guide tells the story of the competition between the French and the British that shaped the history of colonial India, and how Chandannagar eventually chose to remain French territory until 1950, three years after Indian independence.

Patalbari follows, one of the most atmospheric buildings in Bengal. The name means underground house and part of this grand mansion is indeed submerged in the Hooghly river, its carved wooden sunshades and ornate water outlets visible above and below the waterline. In its heyday it received some of the most distinguished figures of Bengal’s cultural renaissance, including Rabindranath Tagore and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

The Strand is the finest collection of colonial buildings in Chandannagar, its highlight being the Durgacharan Rakshit Ghat, a pavilion of slender columns and exquisite stucco work built in the 1920s to honour Durgacharan Rakshit, the only Indian to be awarded the Legion d’honneur of France.

The tour then moves south to Bandel and the Sacred Heart Church, a two storey building with twin towers and a magnificent statue of Jesus, notable for its beautiful stained glass windows and coloured reliefs. Then to Bandel Church itself, built in 1660 and dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, the oldest European church in Bengal. Violet blossoms among the vintage tombstones give it an extraordinary atmosphere, and the marble statue of the Mother of Sorrows with the body of Jesus on her lap is one of the most moving works of religious sculpture in India.

Serampore, the Danish settlement, is the final destination. Serampore College, founded by William Carey in the early 19th century, was the first degree granting institution in Asia and the place where Samachar Darpan, the first Bengali newspaper, was published in 1818. The Denmark Tavern, opened in 1786 by innkeeper James Parr to cater to Danish and English traders travelling between Serampore and Kolkata, is one of the few surviving examples of a colonial trading post tavern in Bengal.

Hotel drop in Kolkata by 6 pm.

This private Slice of Europe tour from Kolkata is fully inclusive. We take care of hotel pickup and drop in a private air conditioned vehicle, your English speaking cultural guide throughout the day, all entry fees and a traditional Indian lunch.