BD
Dhaka
A pulsing megacity of rickshaws, rivers and Mughal history
A pulsing megacity of rickshaws, rivers and Mughal history
An unfinished 17th-century Mughal fort complex in Old Dhaka, with a domed mausoleum, a mosque and formal gardens enclosed by weathered red walls. It is the calmest corner of the old city and a window into its imperial past.
💡 Closed on Sundays and public holidays; go early to beat the heat and the crowds.
The rose-pink riverside palace of the Nawabs of Dhaka, now a museum, stands over the Buriganga with a grand dome and terraced steps. Its galleries trace the city’s 19th-century high society.
💡 Combine it with a walk along the adjacent Sadarghat riverfront.
One of the busiest river ports on earth, where paddle steamers and wooden ferries jostle on the Buriganga and a constant tide of people, cargo and rickshaws pours across the docks. It is Dhaka at its most intense.
💡 Hire a small rowboat for half an hour to watch the port from the water.
A small 18th-century mosque decorated in dazzling blue-and-white star mosaics made from broken china, tucked down a lane in the old city. The interior tilework is among the finest in Dhaka.
💡 Dress modestly and remove shoes; visit outside prayer times.
Dhaka is the rickshaw capital of the world, and the tangled lanes of Shankhari Bazar and Islampur are a river of hand-painted cycle rickshaws, spice stalls and Hindu artisan workshops.
💡 Agree the fare before you climb in and keep small notes handy.
Dhaka’s food is rich and Mughal-influenced: biryani, kacchi, morog polao and river fish curries, finished with sweet milky doi and jilapi. Old Dhaka’s biryani houses and the street stalls of the new city are the places to eat.
Lalbagh Fort, Ahsan Manzil and the Star Mosque, then dive into the rickshaw lanes and end at Sadarghat for sunset on the river.
National parliament building, museums and the leafier Gulshan district, with time for shopping and a proper kacchi biryani.
Cycle rickshaws are cheap and everywhere; fix the fare before setting off.
Visit November to February; the pre-monsoon months are brutally hot and humid.
Dhaka traffic is famously slow; walk short distances in the old city rather than drive.
Carry small taka notes; cards are accepted only in upmarket hotels and malls.
The megacity of Dhaka, the long beach at Cox’s Bazar, the Sundarbans mangroves, the tea hills of Srimangal and the peaks of Bandarban — the range of Bangladesh.