Kolkata in May: Heat, Storms and the Real City

May is not when the brochures tell you to come to Kolkata. That is exactly why you should.

A rain-soaked street in Kolkata — Photo: Abhijit Kar Gupta / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

By ten in the morning the light over the Maidan has already gone white. The air is heavy enough to lean on, the tea at the corner stall arrives in a clay cup that is too hot to hold, and nobody, not the tram conductor, not the man ironing shirts under a tarpaulin, not the schoolboys on Park Street, pretends that this is pleasant. That is the point. In May, Kolkata stops performing for visitors. The winter crowds who come for Christmas lights and the autumn crowds who come for Durga Puja are gone. What is left is the city as its people live it: early, slow at midday, loud and generous after dark.

This is a month for the traveller who would rather understand a place than tick it off. Come prepared, move at the city’s pace, and Kolkata in May will show you a side it keeps from its peak-season guests.

What the weather actually does

Kolkata’s hot season runs from about March into early June. May is usually the hottest and most humid stretch. Daytime temperatures commonly reach the mid-to-high thirties Celsius, and the humidity makes it feel hotter than that. Nights stay warm.

The month’s great drama is the kalbaishakhi, the nor’wester. On a still, sticky afternoon the western sky turns a bruised slate colour, the wind rises without warning, and for half an hour the city is lashed by rain, sometimes hail, and gusts that send shop signs clattering. Then it is over. The streets steam, the temperature drops a few blessed degrees, and everyone comes out to look at the sky. These storms can bring down branches and cause short power cuts, so treat them with respect, but they are also the best free show in town.

The south-west monsoon usually reaches Kolkata around the middle of June. May is the long, tense held breath before it.

How to shape your day

The city has worked out how to live with this heat over centuries, and the smartest thing a visitor can do is copy it.

Dawn to about ten: walk. This is the hour for the ghats, the flower market under Howrah Bridge, the lanes of north Kolkata and the book stalls of College Street as they open. Our north Kolkata walk and the ghats at dawn are written for exactly this window.
Late morning to late afternoon: go indoors. Museums, libraries, old cafés and covered markets are where Kolkata spends its afternoons. We have collected the best of them in Heat, Rain and Rooms with Fans.
Late afternoon onwards: go to the river. As the sun drops, the Hooghly breeze picks up and the city drifts towards the water. See The Hooghly in the Evening.
Night: eat. Kolkata’s appetite comes alive after dark, and May evenings are long and sociable.

Why May is honest

In December, Park Street is strung with lights and the queues outside its famous restaurants stretch along the pavement. In October, the city disappears under bamboo pandals and crowds. Both are wonderful, and both are a kind of costume.

May has no costume. The idol-makers of Kumartuli are working on frames and straw for a festival still months away, and they have time to talk; we spent a day in their lanes. The old cabins and sweet shops are full of regulars, not visitors. Hotel rates in the city are generally softer than in the winter peak, and you will rarely need to book a heritage walk or a ferry far ahead.

There is also a quiet literary pulse to the month. Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary, Rabindra Jayanti, falls on the 25th day of the Bengali month of Baishakh, which usually lands around 8 or 9 May. Across the city, and especially at his family home at Jorasanko, there are songs, recitations and dance. Check the date for the year you travel; it is one of the most affecting days to be in Kolkata.

Victoria Memorial lit up at night — Photo: DeepanjanGhosh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

What to eat and drink in the heat

Bengal answers the heat from the kitchen. May is mango season, and the markets fill with varieties from Malda and Murshidabad. Look out for aam pora shorbot, a sharp, smoky drink made from roasted raw mango, and for daab, green coconut water sold from carts all over the city. Lunch in a Bengali home in summer is often lighter: shukto with its bitter vegetables, dal, fish in a thin mustard gravy, and tok, the sweet-sour chutney that closes the meal.

Evening is for phuchka, jhalmuri and the city’s famous rolls, eaten standing up at a busy stall. For how to find the good rooms rather than a ranked list, read our piece on Kolkata’s food rooms.

How to reach

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, at Dum Dum in the north-east of the city, has direct flights from every major Indian metro and a number of international connections. The city has two great railway terminals, Howrah on the west bank of the Hooghly and Sealdah on the east, with fast trains from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and much of eastern India. Within the city, the Metro is the coolest way to cross distances in May, and app cabs and the yellow Ambassador taxis are everywhere.

A yellow Ambassador taxi at Esplanade, Kolkata — Photo: Mettle30 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Where to stay

Choose your neighbourhood by what you want from the day. Central Kolkata, around Park Street, Chowringhee and the Esplanade, puts you between the Maidan, the museums and the river, with everything from grand old hotels to mid-range business hotels and simple guesthouses on Sudder Street. Salt Lake and New Town have newer hotels convenient for the airport. If you want old Kolkata on your doorstep, a small number of heritage homestays operate in north Kolkata. In May, a working air conditioner matters more than a view, so ask about it directly.

Practical tips

Carry water, a cotton scarf or umbrella for shade, and oral rehydration salts.
Wear loose, light cotton. Shoulders and knees covered helps at temples.
If a nor’wester rolls in, get indoors and wait; it rarely lasts long.
Power cuts are usually short. Keep your phone charged.
Many heritage buildings and museums close one day a week. Check before you set out.
Start early. A walk at 6.30 in the morning is a different city from the same walk at noon.

The honest verdict

Kolkata in May asks something of you: patience, early alarms, and a willingness to sweat. In return it gives you the city with its guard down. Read our editor’s letter for why we chose this month, and the Kolkata index for the city in figures.