Shaw Guest House

Kolkata (Calcutta)


Located very close to Mother Teresa's Motherhouse, this pleasant and clean (if plainly furnished) colonial-era house run by Christian owners retains original wrought-iron beams and bannisters. Rooms are OK-ish, and the attached toilets are par for the course. The staff speak good English and have helpful info about the city and its people.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Kolkata (Calcutta) attractions

1. St James Church

0.1 MILES

This twin-spired church and the eponymous school makes a useful orientation landmark when seeking out the Motherhouse for the first time. Ask for 'Jora…

2. Mother Teresa's Motherhouse

0.19 MILES

A regular flow of mostly Christian pilgrims visits the Missionaries of Charity’s 'Motherhouse' to pay homage at Mother (and now Saint) Teresa’s large,…

3. South Park Street Cemetery

0.71 MILES

Active from 1767 to about 1840, this historic cemetery remains a wonderful oasis of calm, featuring surreal mossy Raj-era graves from rotundas to soaring…

4. Clocktower

0.75 MILES

New Market has a grand colonial clocktower, but by day it's a nest of handicraft touts. Come before 8am, while the touts are sleeping, to calmly…

5. New Market

0.79 MILES

Marked by a distinctive red-brick clocktower, this enormous warren of market halls dates to 1874, but was substantially rebuilt after a 1980s fire. By day…

6. Scottish Cemetery

0.8 MILES

Over 1600 ragged old graves, predominantly colonial-era Scottish, lie in this gated graveyard whose jungle-like overgrowth has been cut back in recent…

7. Indian Museum

0.89 MILES

India's biggest and oldest major museum celebrated its bicentenary in February 2014. It's mostly a lovably old-fashioned place that fills a large…

8. St Thomas Church

0.9 MILES

Opened in 1842, this understated Catholic church has a Doric-columned portico topped by a short octagonal spire. It was here that the body of Mother (St)…