The Durga Puja Planner helps you plan your Kolkata pandal hopping by finding the best pandals near you, showing the expected queue time for each hour, and making an easy walking route that you can open in Google Maps, so you spend less time in crowds and more time enjoying the Puja.
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Pins mark each pandal's location, so tap “Map pin” to double-check before you set off. Walking distances come from OpenStreetMap street routing when it's available (“~” means an estimate). Queue times are estimates based on the day and hour, not live counts.
Kolkata Durga Puja Pandal Hopping — Frequently Asked Questions
Tap Use my location, or open Customize plan to pick a starting pandal or type your area or landmark. The planner then lists Smart picks around you, ranked by your routing mode and the queue expected when you’d arrive.
Tap any pandal to see its hourly queue forecast and a one-way route that keeps heading in one direction from that pandal, so you don’t double back through crowds. Use the Auto, East, North, West or South chips to switch sides, then tap Use this …-stop route to save it to My route, and Open route in Google Maps when you set off.
In Customize plan you can also set the Puja day and start time, the routing mode, 4, 6, 8 or 10 stops, and a search radius from 2 km to 12+ km. Walking distances come from OpenStreetMap street routing; a “~” before a distance means it is still an estimate.
The best time for pandal hopping is 10 AM to 5 PM, when queues are shortest. Crowds start building from 5–6 PM and peak between 7 PM and 12 AM, when queues at blockbuster pandals can run past an hour.
If you have a motorcycle or scooter, you can start from around 11 PM. The Kolkata Metro runs special late-night Puja timings, so you can also travel between pandal zones by Metro late at night. See our Durga Puja Metro Guide for this year’s timings.
On Ashtami, go after the morning Anjali (around 11 AM). Tritiya, Chaturthi and Panchami are the least crowded days to visit.
No. Queue times are estimates based on the Puja day, the hour (Kolkata time), and how big a crowd-puller each pandal is. They are not live counts.
Tap any pandal to see its queue forecast from 10 AM to 3 AM. Teal bars mark the shortest expected queue, and the gold bar marks your estimated arrival time.
The planner marks these pandals as ★ Blockbuster:
North & Central Kolkata: Tala Prattay, Baghbazar Sarbojanin, Kumartuli Park, Kashi Bose Lane, College Square and Santosh Mitra Square.
East Kolkata (Dum Dum & Lake Town): Sree Bhumi Sporting Club and Dumdum Park Bharat Chakra.
South Kolkata: Chetla Agrani, Suruchi Sangha, Mudiali, Shib Mandir, Deshapriya Park, Tridhara Sammilani, Ballygunge Cultural, Ekdalia Evergreen and Bosepukur Sitala Mandir.
Naktala & Behala: Naktala Udayan Sangha and Barisha Club.
Other big crowd-pullers are tagged Popular, including Hatibagan Sarbojonin, Ahiritola Sarbojonin, Sovabazar Rajbari, Telengabagan, Kankurgachi Jubak Brinda, FD Block, AK Block, BJ Block, Maddox Square, 66 Pally, Hindusthan Park and Singhi Park.
Smart Balanced (the default) balances walking, expected queues, famous pandals and dense clusters. Blockbusters favours Blockbuster and Popular pandals and gives queue length little weight. Crowd Dodger weighs the expected queue at your arrival time most heavily, so you spend less time in line. Shortest Walk ignores queues, keeps walking to a minimum and favours tight clusters.
The mode changes both the Smart picks list and the one-way routes.
The planner opens up to 10 pandals in one Google Maps route. If your route has more than 10 stops, only the first 10 open. If you used your location or didn’t set a start, Google Maps starts from your phone’s current location.
Set the number of suggested stops under Customize plan → Stops to suggest (4, 6, 8 or 10; the default is 6). In Metro / Transit mode, only directions to the first stop open, because Google Maps doesn’t support multi-stop transit routes.
The Metro is the quickest way to move between North, Central and South pandal zones when roads are closed in the evening. The Blue Line (north–south) serves Belgachia, Shyambazar, Sovabazar, Girish Park, MG Road, Central, Kalighat, Jatin Das Park, Rabindra Sarobar and Masterda Surya Sen. The Green Line (east–west) serves Esplanade, Sealdah, Phoolbagan and Salt Lake.
In the planner, tap Nearest metro on any pandal or Metro near last stop on your route, or choose Metro / Transit under “Open Google Maps in”. For station-by-station tips, see our Durga Puja Metro Guide.
Only part of the way. Many pandal lanes are closed to vehicles in the evening, so drive or take a cab to the edge of a pandal area, then walk.
In Customize plan → Open Google Maps in, choose Drive (live traffic) to reach the area, then switch to Walk for pandal hopping. Follow Kolkata Police traffic advisories, especially on Dashami, when immersion processions close roads near the ghats.
No. Instead of using GPS, you can pick a starting pandal or type your area in Customize plan. If you tap Use my location, your position stays in your browser, except that it is sent to OpenStreetMap’s routing service to work out street distances. It isn’t saved, so it’s cleared the next time you open the page.
Your saved route and settings stay on your own device.
The planner uses these 2026 dates: Maha Shashthi on Friday, 16 October, Maha Saptami across 17–18 October, Maha Ashtami on 19 October, Maha Navami on 20 October, and Vijaya Dashami on Wednesday, 21 October 2026.
Many big pandals open for early visitors from Tritiya (13 October), Chaturthi (14 October) and Panchami (15 October 2026), which are the least crowded days.