Bangladesh is not a major tourist destination (thank God), therefore finding good accommodation can be an issue. Keep in mind that all the prices mentioned below are the “Ramadan prices“. During this time of the year, people stay with their families and don’t go on vacation. Prices are up to 50% cheaper than regularly.

Dhaka.

Hotel 71.

Out starting point was the capital city, Dhaka. We arrived at around 2pm, so this still a good time to look for a hotel. Yet we recommend to always pre-book the first night just to have a bit of a breather.

We booked ourselves into “Hotel 71” (Address: Kaizuddin Tower, 176, Shaheed Syed Nazrul Islam Sarani, Dhaka). The hotel is not far from the Grand Mosque, with great infrastructure in the area. The rooms are clean, spacious and have excellent Wi-Fi connection (very important for a travel photographer). The reception guys speak good English and help out with any kind of information you need.During our trip, we stayed there three times in total and were happy with our rooms.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 30,00 US$ (with A/C)

Fars Hotels & Resorts Limited.

Nearby, we spotted another nice place called “Fars Hotels & Resorts Limited” (Address: 212, Shahid Syed Nazrul Islam Sharani, Purana Paltan, S S. Nazrul Islam Sharani, Dhaka). We went to check it out for our next visit and it looked really nice as well. Biggest bonus: This place even has a rooftop swimming pool, which can honestly be a life savour at 45° Celsius in the summer!

Both two places are budget friendly with Western standard and if you’re “lucky”, you might even come across another fellow traveller in the lobby…

Costs per night per room: Approx. 50,00 US$ (with A/C)

Chittagong.

Ambassador Residency.

There is the stretch of hotels right near the train station, but we opted for something more quiet called “Ambassador Residency” (Address: Road No 2, Chittagong). Also because out fellow Bangladeshi friend recommended it. This hotel offers clean & spacious rooms with big bathrooms and very reliable Wi-Fi connection. Overall, we were happy with this place. Don’t expect to meet any other travellers here though, because it’s a bit out of the way.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 50,00 US$ (with A/C)

Ambassador Residency in Chittaong, Bangladesh.

Cox’s Bazar.

Nilima Resort Hotel.

Cox’s Barar war the next place we visited. we checked ourselves into the “Nilima Resort Hotel” (Address: Sughanda Point Rd, Cox’s Bazar). Arriving at Cox’s Bazar was a bit of a disappointment at first, since most of the hotels are not located right on the beach. Only after we drive along the beach for a while, we came across this place. It’s as good as it gets here. There are some others along the beach as well, but the majority of hotels are further inland. But from Nilima Resort Hotel you can start exploring the area and get your evening beach stroll without having to go far. The rooms have small balconies and decent Wi-Fi connection. The owner is very helpful and the price is negotiable. It’s clearly not the poshest place to stay at, but pretty cheap and we didn’t spend much time in the the room anyway.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 20,00 US$ (with A/C)

Nilima Resort Hotel in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Mermaid Eco Resort.

30km further out of the city is a lovely place with bungalow accommodation called “Mermaid Eco Resort” (Address: Marine Drive, Pechardwip, Cox’s Bazar). It’s a nice spot if you want get away from it all, there is no Wi-Fi and you depend on them with everything. We will consider this place for our next visit to Cox’s Bazaar and then we’ll come prepared.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 50,00 US$ (with A/C)

Sreemangal.

Nishorgo Lichibari Ecoresort.

Sreemangal lies in the East of Bangladesh, located near the Indian border. The area is well-known for its tea plantations. We stayed in a little hotel called “Nishorgo Lichibari Ecoresort” (Address: House 13/B, Road 54, Gulshan 1212). It’s a bit outside of Sreemangal, near the tea gardens and in a small village where you can either walk around or rent a bicycle from the hotel. Overall this is a good place to stay at, with bungalow accommodation or rooms (with Wi-Fi) in the main house, an English-speaking owner who will pick you up from the train station when you call him, as well as great food (only available with pre-ordering).

Costs per night per room: Between 15,00 US$ and 30,00 US$

Nishorgo Lichibari Ecoresort in Sreemangal, Bangladesh.

Sylhet.

Hiltown Hotel.

From the train station we headed straight to “Hiltown Hotel” (Address: VIP Road, Telihaor, Sylhet). As we had only one day in Sylhet and didn’t stay overnight, we had our lunch here and were really impressed. We came across a modern, cool and air-conditioned restaurant with amazing food, good Wi-Fi and very friendly staff. We almost felt under-dressed because we simply didn’t expect such a restaurant in Sylhet. Afterwards we had a look at the newly refurbished rooms. Definitely a fantastic place to spend the night, which we unfortunately were not able to due to our overnight train to Dhaka.

Costs per night per room: Approx. 50,00 US$

The minute we arrived, we were surrounded by ferrymen who were all eager to row us up and down the river in one of the the many Sampan ferries – the small wooden boats, powered and steered by one person. They wait in a cue to pick up passengers. Watching & documenting the daily life at this very busy port has already fascinated us during our visit in 2012 and we were eager to experience it all over again.

Once we settled the price (roughly 150 Taka per hour – excluding tips), the journey took its course. Rush hour in the Dhaka mean that thousands of people have to cross the busy waters of the Buriganga river. It’s said that this is one of the most dangerous waterways on Earth … and most dangerous for the ferrymen.

These men are really talented and fast with their boats; they navigate them like the cycle Rickshaw drivers maneuver their through the chaotic traffic in the city. It’s hard physical work too with temperatures of up to 40° Celsius (and very often the ferrymen are over 70 years old). Very impressive! It’s not a comfortable ride tough, because you have to sit cross-legged on the wooden boat deck, so cramps are a certain factor if you’re not used to sit in such a position (and of course this was the case for us).

Traffic along the Buriganga river is most common and happening at almost any given hour of the day: big boats and small boats filled with all sorts of different goods make their way up or down the river stream, launches (this is what ferries are called in Bangladesh) come and go, cargo-ships that need a repair job are parked along the waterway…all is normal here at Sadarghat port. As you can imagine with all these boats, several movements of these ferrymen are clearly not for the faint-hearted, but somehow it works out most of the times. Still, every day one or two boats capsize. And sometimes people die.

Sadarghat port is an experience itself and a must for every Bangladesh visitor – the daily chaos with all these boats on the river will stay with you for a long time.

The Sampans – the small wooden boats, powered and steered by one oar – are a lifeline in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Over 25.000 people cross the Buriganga river in Dhaka every day…

This ship is stationed in Sadarghat port to get a new paint-job done…

Transporting bricks along the Buriganga river and through Sadarghat port in Dhaka.

The daily chaos at Sadarghat port in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Ferrymen have to push for position in the queue to pick up passengers.

A ferryman taking people across the Buriganga River in his wooden boat.

Arriving “In Style”.

We arrived in Sadarghat Port “in style”: first class travel on the Rocket Steamer “Ostrich”, which is the flagship of the Bangladesh inland water transport authority. If you intend to travel by ferry in Bangladesh, this is a good and reliable source, though there are other companies as well.

Anyway, after leaving the ship, our “first class” travel was over for now. Rain had turned the road into a pool of mud and we were dirty faster than we could walk. An avid Rickshaw driver immediately tried to seduce us into his vehicle, even though he had no idea where we wanted to go and didn’t speak a single word of English – as all the others around him did. Still, thanks to the genius idea of the taking a photo of Dhaka with our iPhone, we were able to specify the direction of our hotel. With some stops and crowd gatherings, the poor Rickshaw puller finally knew our destination: “Hotel Pacific” in Mothijel, a suburb not too far from the harbour.

Hotel & Train Tickets.

The hotel was not an eye catcher at all. It was somehow in a renovating process, but good enough for the time being, with working A/C and running water in the bathroom. Our first night in Dhaka was secured. Phweew. Immediately after checking in, we started to roam the city. Our first destination was to the train station to get our tickets to Chittagong, because we were eager to see the Ship Breaking Yard. As it turned out, this was not an easy task, because upcoming Eid brought many people into the travelling mood to visit their loved ones at home.

But, that didn’t keep us from getting our tickets … plus, the train station was an interesting place to visit anyway. We always like these hubs, where people come and go, because, there’s action happening. And we even had a surreal encounter… While standing in line for the tickets, a local Bangladeshi all over sudden shouted to us “Hello, where you come from?” … We told him that we were from Austria and then he enthusiastic answered: “Ahhh, ich bin auch aus Österreich!” (which means “I’m also from Austria” in German) … We’re fellow countrymen! Where are you from in Austria?” … The conversation went on for about 10 minutes and it turned out, that he worked just around the corner from my office in Vienna. The world can truly be a tiny place! It was sort of funny, because this man was the only “foreigner” we saw during our 4 week journey through Bangladesh.

Exploring the Area & Sadarghat Port.

After we got our train tickets, we looked out for a Rickshaw driver to drive us around a little bit. All of them wanted us as customers but nobody got where we wanted to go … finally one was smart enough to realize that we just wanted to cycle around to explore the area and that we’d give him directions as we go. We spent the entire afternoon with him. We bought him lunch & tea and he was obviously very happy to cycle us around. In Sadarghat we got out for a tour of the harbour with one of the many rowing boats. Luckily we found an English speaking porter who managed to explain to the boatman that we just wanted row up and down the river for an hour or so. This porter hopped on our sightseeing trip as well, as did two other people … We didn’t mind, since the boat was large enough to hold us all. This was definitely a highlight during our entire Bangladesh trip!

Back on land, our Rickshaw driver waited and brought us back to our hotel, from where we continued to find a restaurant. During Ramadan, this can definitely keep you busy for a while because people only start eating after dark. We found some nice looking food stalls near the big mosque covered with curtains so that nobody could see inside. We bought some great food we’ve never eaten before: A grapefruit salad mixed with onions, cumin powder and coriander – one of the most refreshing salads for such a hot climate. It was sooo delicious and we returned there every evening while our stay in Dhaka.

On our stroll back to our hotel we passed Hotel Purbani, which looked a lot better than ours. We had a look at the rooms and immediately made a reservation for the next day. 33 US $ per room with working Wi-Fi convinced us to change places.

With this new hotel, we spend another couple of days in Dhaka…after all, there was much more to be explored!

Some Impressions.

A Rikschaw driver in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Loading a launch at Sadarghat port in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sadarghat harbour in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sadarghat harbour in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sadarghat harbour in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Sadarghat harbour in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Train station in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Sadarghat port in Old Dhaka is the main port for all the launches down into the vast river delta. An important connection is Dhaka to Barisal – further more continuing to Patuakhali. There are several launches everyday to these destinations since this area is very busy with garment factories, brick factories, schools, university and a lot of agricultural trading.

The launches mostly leave from Dhaka in the evening. To get a ticket it’s necessary to first buy a ticket into the harbour area (4 Taka). Once in, best would be to find somebody who speaks a little bit of English; some of the porters do, so this will make things easier for you to find the right launch, to the right destination. Another option to ease things is when somebody (hotel receptionist, etc.) writes down the following sentence in Bangladesh syllables: “I want to travel to (city name) on the (date) with a launch! I would like a cabin please!” I had such a paper from a friend and therefore it was easy and fast to secure a ticket for my desired departure date a few days later. You have to pay a deposit and get a receipt. Remember the name of your launch carefully because basically many look very similar. Just as a side note: I travelled from Dhaka to Patuakhali with the “Sundarban 8” – a very pleasant and comfortable launch.

Costs.

A cabin costs about 900 Taka (approx. 9 €) for a 12-14 hour journey. Sometimes, if you go further down in the delta, it costs a bit more but it also depends on the size and equipment of the launch. Some have air-condition and even a TV in the cabins and the bigger ones also have showers for the guests who book a cabin.

Food.

Food is absolutely no problem on a launch. The chef in the basement prepares a nice meal every day (like chicken curry with rice), so there’s no need to bring food. Bottled water is also available but I’d still suggest to better bring water for the trip. Fruits and various snacks are sold as well just before departure or while on the boat.

Early Check-In.

It’s possible to settle into the cabin already in the morning of the day you travel. This is really great if you have to check out of your hotel or arrive by train or bus and want to continue on the same day. You can lock the cabin and visit the city without to worrying about your luggage.

Rocket Steamer.

Another very smart option is to take the “Rocket Steamer”. It’s a fleet of three or four big river paddle steamer ships. Unfortunately some of them are in bad shape and often go into repair. The biggest and flashiest is the “Ostrich” with first class cabins which have air-condition, TV and a sink. These boats used to carry high-rank personalities during the colonial area and lounging on the first class deck is an experience itself. There you will likely find fellow travellers that speak good English and for sure they will help you to write down some sentences in Bangla syllables like “Where is the bus station” or “Where is the next hotel”. For me, these written notes were very important and made my trip through the country a lot easier.

The “Rocket Steamer” cabin costs 2.200 Taka (approx. 22 €) for 2 people or if you want the cabin for yourself. This boat also docks in Sadarghat and leaves 6 times a week to Morelgonji, stopping on various locations on the way.

Rush hour in the Dhaka mean that thousands of people have to cross the busy waters of the Buriganga river. It’s said that this is one of the most dangerous waterways on Earth … and most dangerous for the ferrymen.

Overnight journey from Dhaka to Hularhat on a first-class cabin of century old Rocket Steamer is a trip you’ll tell your children about.

The deck of the Rocket Steamer already has some years on its hump, yet it still floats through the Sundarbans like when it first set sail.

With the Rocket Steamers white wooden cabins, beds in crispy white sheets and a range of western and local dishes served on fine china, the tranquil paddle steam boat voyage through spectacular rivers leaves a genteel memory in the minds of millions.

The Rocket Steamer is arriving at Hularhat port.

Traffic along the Buriganga river is most common and happening at almost any given hour of the day: big boats and small boats filled with all sorts of different goods make their way up or down the river stream, launches (this is what ferries are called in Bangladesh) come and go, cargo-ships that need a repair job are parked along the waterway…

On deck on our ferry from Dhaka to Galachipa. Very often the launches in Bangladesh are overloaded but luckily this was not the case on our travels (so far).

Several ferries in Bangladesh sink yearly due to either overloading or simply because the boats are not maintained very well.

Sadarghata harbour in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Counting the many ferries at Sadarghat port in Dhaka is almost impossible.

The port in Galachipa is small, yet busy day in day out.

Loading a ferry at Galachipa port in Bangladesh.

The Dhaka traffic situation.

It’s like a journey into the past century; at least in old Dhaka the majority of vehicles on the road are Rickshaws – 3 wheelers for 2 passengers or whatever goods to be carried. Most Rickshaw cyclers are very skinny but very athletic men, who can cycle like devils. Everyone wants to overtake the others and I can assure you, they cycle very fast! I was scared to be airborne at some corners. Well and then the Autorickschaws blend in as well. They’re looking like green and yellow insects right out of a comic movie :) Again they want to be the faster ones on the road, not wanting to give way to the few private cars that ply the roads. the private cars – often with tinted windows – think they are the “Elite” of the country, so why to give way to anything?! But there are still bigger and heavier vehicles on the roads. Buses and trucks. And these vehicles are often heavy overloaded, 60 passengers in a bus plus a few on top or hanging on the back is no exception.

As said, everybody wants to be first and the result is a constant honking, honking, honking … the bigger the vehicle the noisier the honk. Everybody is pushing against the other vehicle and there are absolutely no traffic lines. The Rickshaws or Autorickshaws are trying to sneak into the front of a big honking bus … this can really make even the most case hardened traveller a bit uncomfortable.

Crossings, roundabouts or one-way roads are there to be used in the wrong direction, traffic lights and policemen are abundant, but rather broken or hopeless. Everyone moves at his own idea or takes the shortest short-cut, no matter what’s in the way. Fact is, there are about 30 deaths on the roads per day in Dhaka … The only way to handle such situations as a tourist is simple: Lean back, watch the chaos and have faith that you will not be the one of those who ends up in these statistics.

There is definitely too much energy on the roads in Bangladesh. One should think about sponsoring a Rickshaw driver for competing in the Tour de France. Even without doping and with a good bike, I’m sure that he will have an outstanding performance.

Some impressions:

Jammed streets in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Only the strong survive on the streets in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Whether it’s day or night, the streets are always packed in Bangladesh.

There is a reason why buses look so the way they look in Bangladesh …

As a Rickshaw driver in Bangladesh, you need to be a tough fella.

There’s no way getting through here …