Late-night pandal hopping in Kolkata: Durga Puja 2026

On the big nights of Durga Puja 2026, Saptami to Navami (18 October (Sunday) to 20 October (Tuesday)), many Kolkata pandals stay open late and the streets stay full past midnight. Our crowd model puts the crowd at midnight at about 85% of the 8 pm peak, 60% by 2 am and 30% by 4 am; 4 to 7 am is the quietest window of the whole day. These are estimates, not live counts. Below: the hours, the all-night route, food that's open late and how to get home.

How the night thins out

Metro timings for Durga Puja 2026

Metro Railway has announced its puja timings. From Saturday 17 to Tuesday 20 October, the Blue Line (Dakshineswar to Shahid Khudiram) runs from 1 pm until about 4 am the next morning, and the Green Line from 1:30 pm until about 4 am. On 15 and 16 October the Blue Line runs from 6 am to 11 pm, and on Dashami (21 October) it runs fewer trains. The Orange Line is suspended from Saptami to Dashami. Last trains vary by station, so check the notice at your station, and book tickets on the Aamar Kolkata Metro app to skip the queues. (source)

• Extra trains on the two weekends before the puja (announced 30 September): Metro Railway is running extra trains on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October (as on 3 and 4 October) on the Blue, Green and Yellow lines for the pre-puja shopping rush. The first and last trains run at the usual times. Source

The all-night route

The All-Nighter: North → South: Only the five-star pandals. Ride the Blue Line between clusters and walk till dawn. It assumes the metro runs through the night; until Metro confirms that, plan a cab or auto between clusters.

1. 22:18 Sovabazar Rajbari
2. 23:15 Kumartuli Park Sarbojanin
3. 00:07 Bagbazar Sarbojanin
4. 01:19 Tala Prattoy
5. 02:33 Mohammad Ali Park
6. 03:19 College Square Sarbojanin
7. 04:08 Santosh Mitra Square (Lebutala)
8. 05:30 Chetla Agrani Club
9. 06:07 Badamtala Ashar Sangha
10. 06:54 Tridhara Sammilani

Big pandals to save for after 2 am

The famous queues shrink most in the small hours. On Ashtami, by our model's estimate:

• Chetla Agrani Club, College Square Sarbojanin, Ekdalia Evergreen, FD Block Salt Lake, Kumartuli Park Sarbojanin, Mohammad Ali Park, Naktala Udayan Sangha, Santosh Mitra Square (Lebutala), Singhi Park, Sreebhumi Sporting Club, Suruchi Sangha, Tala Prattoy: extremely crowded at 8 pm, very crowded at 2 am, quiet by 5 am.

Food open past midnight

Usual hours; many places stay open later on puja nights, but check before you go.

• Dawntown Cafe (Bhowanipore & Elgin): open 12:00 to 04:00 · near Netaji Bhavan metro
• Bosepukur Puja Food Row (Kasba & Bosepukur): open 16:00 to 01:00 · near Hemanta Mukhopadhyay metro
• Dum Dum Park Puja Stalls (Lake Town & Dum Dum): open 16:00 to 01:00
• Lake Town Footbridge Stalls (Lake Town & Dum Dum): open 15:00 to 02:00
• Gariahat Mor Street Food (Gariahat & Ballygunge): open 15:00 to 01:00 · near Ballygunge Junction station
• Lake Market Telebhaja Stalls (Lake Market & Kalighat): open 16:00 to 01:00 · near Kalighat metro
• New Alipore Puja Stalls (Behala & New Alipore): open 16:00 to 02:00 · near Mahanayak Uttam Kumar metro
• Sakherbazar Puja Food Stalls (Behala & New Alipore): open 16:00 to 01:00 · near Behala Chowrasta metro
• Naktala Puja Food Stalls (Tollygunge & Naktala): open 16:00 to 01:00 · near Masterda Surya Sen metro

Staying together at night

• Fix a meeting point at each pandal before you go in; phones can lose signal in the crowd.
• Carry water, a charged phone and some cash; UPI can fail when the network is jammed.
• Kolkata Police run help booths at the big pandals, and their Puja Bandhu app shows live crowd counts.
• Wear shoes you can walk 10 km in. The all-night route is about that.

Pandals by metro station · Best pandals 2026 · Durga Puja 2026 dates