College Street

College Street runs about a kilometre and a half past Presidency University, Calcutta University and Sanskrit College, and it is lined on both sides with bookshops and stalls, hundreds of them, selling new, secondhand, academic, out-of-print and pirated books stacked to head height; it is routinely described as the largest secondhand book market in the world. Publishers have offices in the same lanes. Sellers can find obscure titles from memory. The Indian Coffee House on an upper floor nearby has been a meeting place for students, writers and political argument since the 1940s, and its long hall with high ceilings is part of the street's character.

What you actually see

• The stall walls - books stacked head-high along both pavements.
• The publishers' lanes - Bengali publishing houses in the side streets.
• The Coffee House - the long upstairs hall used by students since the 1940s.
• The universities - Presidency and Calcutta University along the street.

When to go

October to March; Kolkata summers are hot and humid and the monsoon damages the open stalls. Weekday afternoons are the busiest for trade. Sunday is quieter with some shops shut.

Honest expectations

Pirated copies are sold openly alongside legitimate books. Stock is disorganised and finding a specific title means asking sellers rather than browsing. Traffic and crowding on the pavements are constant.

Nearby

The Indian Museum lies south; Kumartuli is north.