Train stations to spend an afternoon at

Victoria Terminus (Mumbai)

Mumbai is the loudest, fastest, most economically dense city in the subcontinent — and the most cinematic. Stay in Colaba or Fort if you want the Art Deco mile and walking access to the Gateway, Marine Drive, and the museums. The food…

Howrah (Kolkata)

Kolkata is the most literary, most political, and most architecturally decaying of India's metros — a Bengali renaissance city stuck in a slow gentle fade. The Victoria Memorial is the headline; the Marble Palace, Park Street cafés…

New Jalpaiguri

A Funky India editor's pick for “Train stations to spend an afternoon at”.

Mettupalayam

Mettupalayam railway station is not a glossy heritage site but a functional, dusty gateway that any serious Ooty itinerary must pass through; perched on the edge of Coimbatore’s industrial sprawl, the NSG‑4 stop marks the junction where…

Charbagh (Lucknow)

Lucknow, the erstwhile Nawabi capital of Awadh, is a study in elegant decay that rewards anyone who can tolerate its perpetual traffic snarls and the occasional leaky pipe on Charbagh Road. Two days is honest: morning at the sprawling Bara…

Jodhpur Junction

Jodhpur is the blue city — old town houses painted indigo to flag Brahmin households (and later, to keep mosquitos away). Mehrangarh Fort dominates the skyline, rising 125 metres straight off the sandstone bluff; the museum inside is one…