Lalit Great Eastern

Kolkata (Calcutta)


The 1840 Great Eastern Hotel was once one of India's finest hotels. It lay derelict for years, and the original west-facing facade still remains a work in progress. Behind that, however, is an entirely new and sleek business hotel. Rooms are spacious and modernist, with very comfortable superking beds and stylish black-pebble surround showers. Enter via Waterloo St.

Rooms are even bigger in the Legacy Block, whose atrium features what appear to be giant birdcages dangling from old steel beams above two Tiffany-roofed pergolas. The little-used swimming pool is hemmed in with a poolside bar.