Santiniketan is a small town near Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India, approximately 180 kilometres north of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). It was made famous by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose vision became what is now a university town (Visva-Bharati University) that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Santiniketan is also a tourist attraction because Rabindranath wrote many of his literary classics here, and his house is a place of historical importance. Santiniketan was previously called Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban Dakat, a local dacoit), and owned by the Tagore family. Rabindranath father, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, found it very peaceful and renamed it Santiniketan, which means abode (niketan) of peace (shanti). It was here that Rabindranath Tagore started Patha Bhavana, the school of his ideals, whose central premise was that learning in a natural environment would be more enjoyable and fruitful. After he received the Nobel Prize(1913), the school was expanded into a university in 1921, but in 1951, it became one of the central universities of India. Many world famous teachers have become associated with it. Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, Abdul Ghani Khan, Jahar Dasgupta and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen are among its more illustrious students,. .

Directions: The nearest railhead is Bolpur, 2 km away. Trains connecting Bolpur with Howrah/Sealdah (Calcutta) are 3015/3016 Howrah-Bolpur Shantiniketan Exp, 3133/3134 Sealdah-Mughalsarai Exp, 3071/3072 Howrah-Jamalpur Exp, 2557/ 2558 Kanchenjunga Exp., 335/336 Vishwabharati Fast Pgr., Shantiniketan Exp., Danapur Fast Pgr. and Tarapith Passenger. Road: Good motorable roads connect Shantiniketan with Calcutta 213 kms (Bolpur 2-Panagarh 44-Burdwan 48-Calcutta 119), Durgapur 56 kms, Sarnath 197 kms..