College Street (Boi Para)
কলেজ স্ট্রিট (বইপাড়া)
A kilometre of book stalls between the city’s oldest colleges.
About College Street (Boi Para)
Presidency, the University of Calcutta, the Medical College, Sanskrit College and Hindu and Hare schools all stand on or near this street, and the book trade grew up to serve them. Publishers’ offices sit above pavement stalls piled with new and second-hand books in Bengali and English. It is often described as the largest second-hand book market in the world.
Why visit
To hunt for a book the way generations of Bengal’s students and writers have.
What to see and do
- Pavement stalls of second-hand books
- Old publishers and bookshops such as Dasgupta & Co.
- The façades of Presidency and the University
- The Coffee House upstairs
Plan your visit
- Area
- College Street, North Kolkata
- Nearest landmark
- College Square
- Best time
- Morning or afternoon. October to March is the most comfortable time of year.
- Time needed
- About 1½ hours
- Cost
- Free
- Entry
- Open to everyone: a street, ghat, market or park you can walk into.
- Metro
- Mahatma Gandhi Road or Central (Blue Line), about 10 minutes’ walk
- Walking
- Some walking
- Photography
- Good for photography.
- Food nearby
- Coffee House for an infusion, Paramount for sherbet, Favourite Cabin for tea and toast.
Tip
Tell a stall-keeper what you want and he will often find it from a neighbour’s stock. Bargain for second-hand books. Many stalls are shut on Sundays.
Nearby and related places
- Indian Coffee House: The high-ceilinged hall where Bengal’s writers and students argue over coffee.
- Paramount: A sherbet shop from 1918 with marble tables and a famous daab sherbet.
- College Square: A tank ringed by colleges where the city learns to swim.
- Thanthania Kalibari: A small, very old Kali temple on Bidhan Sarani.
- Favourite Cabin: A 1918 tea cabin where revolutionaries and poets met.
- Asutosh Museum of Indian Art: The first university museum in India, devoted to the art of eastern India.
Walks that include it
- College Street Book Trail: Books, coffee and a hundred-year-old sherbet
- Bengal Renaissance Trail: Tagore, Vivekananda and the streets that shaped modern Bengal
More guides
- Places in College Street
- Markets and shopping streets
- Free places to visit in Kolkata
- Places near a metro station
- All places to visit in Kolkata
Last checked on 2026-10-02. Each place was checked to exist and its position confirmed. Timings, closing days and ticket prices are shown only where known and can change: confirm before you travel.