Only one hour from Paro, you have to consider Kolkata, together with the Taj Bengal, as a ‘gateway’ option en-route to Bhutan.

Even if you ventured no farther from your grand-luxe base at the Taj Bengal – a subtle though aesthetically pleasing modern build near the Victoria Memorial and Zoological Gardens, with terraces amid lush decorative vegetation – you would leave Kolkata having felt thoroughly pampered. For a hotel of such impressive stature and capacity, it feels remarkably intimate, blending the preconditions of city-five-star with indigenous exotica, along with a staff that fast familiarise themselves to your exacting needs. Water features and lush tropical vegetation swirl up through the rising interior, with dramatic effect, while the newly refurbished suites and deluxe doubles proffer a couture twist using strikingly coloured raw silks on bespoke Brahman styled furniture.

It is a city of deep thinkers, often referred to as the ‘intellectual city’ of India and, the result of this thinking, provides Kolkata with a fascinating personality. Its extraordinary physicality is almost disarming at times, not only as a result of the neoclassical style of Western architecture; in certain areas of the city, the botanical and bird life seem to thrive, in spite of the city-chaos and unwavering pollution.

We took a boat trip up the heart of Kolkata on the Hooghly River: a bustling tributary of the infamous and much maligned River Ganges. Murky preconceptions were soon washed away as floral wreaths, tributes to loved ones, puckered up beside our boat while mourners ceremoniously washed away their grief in this holy water. There was also that indefatigable aroma of spice, chilli, musk, and smog that followed us with the current: it’s quite easy to get spellbound here.

We visited the Calcutta Coffee House, a brewing pot of ideology and intellectualism; and they serve great shots of coffee too. High fans, known as punkahs, sluggishly swept the smoulderingly elite atmosphere as Lu and I, so obviously foreign (and blonde to boot), surmised our sandals and now grimy feet with increasing intensity while leaning diffidently against a mildewspattered browning wall.

We also turned ourselves over for some shopping respite, upon the excellent recommendation of our wonderful Taj source, at the seriously stylish fashion house, 85 Lansdowne Road. With sizes not too small, thankfully, we dined that evening in Taj’s cozy oven-clad, terracotta-hued, Indian restaurant, Sonargaon. We had no better meal in India!

Our greatest in-house indulgences were in the spa and hair salon on the lower ground level. Our crowning-glories outshone our London counterparts, and, at a fraction of the cost! While my meridian line was being sorted via a reflexology master I knew that I would return – when he worked the heart zone, it simply soared.

Read the full review and book online at www.luxuryexplorer.com