BEST PLACES TO VISIT IN BANGLADESH

Sundarban Mangrove Forest

The Sundarbans are the largest littoral mangrove belt in the world, stretching 80 km (50 mi) into the Bangladeshi and Indian hinterland from the coast. The Sundarbans has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The forests aren't just mangrove swamps though, they include some of the last remaining stands of the mighty jungles which once covered the Gangetic plain. The Sundarbans cover an area of 10,500 km², of which about one-third is covered in water or marsh areas. Since 1966 the Sundarbans have been a wildlife sanctuary, and it is estimated that there are now 400 Royal Bengal tigers and about 30,000 spotted deer in the area.

Rangamati

Rangamati, a small town located amongst the green hills, lakes and rivers of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. This is what makes it a prime Bangladesh hill destination. It is known as the Lake City of Bangladesh as this place is located on the bank of the beautiful Kaptai Lake. It is the administrative headquarter of the Rangamati Hill District, the largest district of Bangladesh and located some 77 kilometres away from Chittagong. For long time Rangamati has been a prime Bangladesh tourist destination for its location, scenic beauty, colourful tribal people, tribal homespun textiles and ivory jewellery.

The rich natural resources, diverse flora and fauna makes Rangamati a Bangladesh Eco-Tourism destination. The road leading to Rangamati circles and winds through hilly terrains covered with lush green forests and creates a memorable experience for years to come. A stay here provides a glimpse into the lifestyle of various tribes living there. The ethnic tribes of Rangamati are the Chakma, Marma, Tonchongya, Tripura, Murong, Bome, Khumi, Kheyang, Chak, Pankhoa, and Lusai. The mix of different races, cultures, religions and customs creates an interesting community at Rangamati. It is said that without visiting Rangamati a tourist will miss a colorful slice of Bangladesh.

Visit Rangamati during October to February as the temperature remains cool and usually there is no rainfall, however, the beauty of Rangamati unleashes during the monsoon as the forest becomes greener, bursts with life and the rivers and waterfalls becomes replenished.

Cox's Bazar

Cox's Bazar Destrict is the soothmaist destrict in the Bangladesh, locatit in the Chittagong Diveesion. It is namit efter Cox's Bazar, which is ane o the warld's langest natural sea beaches (120 kilometres (75 mi) includin mud flats). It is located 150 kilometres (93 mi) sooth o Chittagong. Cox's Bazar is an aw kent bi the name Panowa ("yellae flower"). Anither auld name was Palongkee. The modren Cox's Bazar derives its name frae Captain Cox (deed 1798), an airmy officer who served in Breetish Indie. It is ane o the fishin ports o Bangladesh.

Aften termed as the warld's langest beach, Cox's Bazar haes yet tae become a major tourist destination in Asie.

Cox's Bazar Destrict haes an aurie o 2491.86 km². It is locatit at 21°35′0″N 92°01′0″E an is bundit bi Chittagong Destrict on the north, Bay o Bengal in the soothwast, an Bandarban Detrict on the east. Major rivers include Matamuhuri, Bakkhali, Reju Khal, Naf River, Maheshkhali channel an Kutubdia channel. The aurie o the ceety o Cox's Bazar is 6.85 km².

The history o Cox's Bazar begins in the Mughal period. On his way tae Arakan, when the Mughal Prince Shah Shuja (1616–1660) passed through the hilly terrain o the present day Cox’s Bazar, he wis attractit tae the scenic and captivating beauty o the region. He commandit his forces tae camp there. A place namit Dulahazara, meanin "ane thoosan palanquins", still exists in the aurie.

Efter the Mughals, the place came unner the control o the Tipras an the Arakanese, follaed bi the Portuguese an then the Breetish.

The name Cox's Bazar/Bazaar derived frae the name o Captain James Cox o the East Indie, who wis in chairge o the naval base. In 1854, Cox's Bazar wis made a subdiveesional heidquarters.

Efter the end o Breetish rule, Cox's Bazar remained pairt o East Pakistan. Captain Advocate Fazlul Karim wis the first chairman efter unthirldom frae the Breetish o Cox's Bazar municipality. He established the Tamarisk Forest alang the beach tae draw tourism tae the toun an tae protect the beach frae the tide. He donatit mony o his faither-in-law's an his awn lands tae establish a public leebrar an toun haw. In 1971, the wharf wis uised as a naval port bi the Pakistan Navy's gunboats. This an the nearbi airstrip o the Pakistan Air Forcewur the scene o intense shellin bi the Indie Navy durin the Bangladesh Leeberation War in 1971.

In 1984 Cox's Bazar wis made a Destrict.

Chittagong Hill Tracts

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh comprises a total area of 5,093 sq. miles (13,189 sq. km.) encompassing three hill districts: Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban. It shares borders with Myanmar on the south and southeast, India on the north and northeast, and the Chittagong district of Bangladesh on the west. It is one of the most diverse regions in the country. Home to eleven indigenous ethnic groups, colectivelly known as the Jumma people, these indigenous groups are distinct from the majority Bengali people of Bangladesh in respect of race, language, culture, heritage, religion, political history, and economy. This ethnic and religious differences that separate the Jumma people of the rest of the Bangladeshi population has been a source of permanent conflict in the region. After an armed conflict that lasted more than 20 years, the signing of the 1997 "CHT Accord" was regaded as the cornerstone of a new period of peaceful coexistence between the inhabitants of the Chittagong Hills Tracts and Bangladesh.

St. Martin Island

St. Martin (Island) is the only coral island in Bangladesh a small island St. Martin is in the northeast part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf peninsula. 

It is about 8 km west of the northwest coast of Myanmar at the mouth of the Naf River. Also called (The local name) "Narical Gingira", also spelled "Narikel Janjina/Jinjera" and has an extension named Chera Dwip. 

St. Martin's Island is very popular tourist spot. Now, 3 (three) shipping liners run Everyday trips to the island, including Sea-Truck and Keary-Sindbad. If you want to visit this land you can book your trip either from Chittagong or from Cox's Bazar.

Last 5 years St. Martin's visitor population has increased dramatically. While this situation has proven to be lucrative for the islanders,

it is causing the natural beauty of the island to deteriorate. Presently there are many efforts being put forth to preserve the several endagered species of turtles that nest on the island, as well as the corals, some of which are found only on Narikel Jinjera. Pieces of the coral reef are being removed in order to be sold to tourists.[1] Nesting turtles are sometimes taken for food, and their hatchlings are often distracted by the twinkling lights along the beach. Species of fish, a few just recently discovered, are being overfished. Every year the fishermen must venture further out to sea to get their catch. Most of them use motorless boats.

Sylhet

Nestled in the picturesque Surma Valley amidst scenic tea plantations and lush green tropical forests, greater Sylhet is a prime attraction for all tourists visiting Bangladesh. Sylhet has developed due to remittances from the expatriates living in Britain. Laying between the Khasia and the Jaintia hills on the north, and the Tripura hills on the south, Sylhet breaks the monotony of the flatness of this land by a multitude of terraced tea gardens, rolling countryside and the exotic flora and fauna. Here the thick tropical forests abound with many species of wildlife, spread their aroma around the typical hearth and homes of the Mainpuri Tribal maidens famous for their dance.

The Sylhet valley is formed by a beautiful, winding pair of rivers named the Surma and the Kushiara both of which are fed by innumerable hill streams from the north and the south. The valley has good number of haors which are big natural depressions. During winter these haors are vast stretches of green land, but in the rainy season they turn into turbulent seas.

These haors provide a sanctuary to the millions of migratory birds who fly from Siberia across the Himalayas to avoid the severe cold there. Sylhet has also a very interesting and rich history, Before the conquest by the Muslims, it was ruled by local chieftains. In 1303, the great Saint Hazrat Shah Jalal came to Sylhet from Yemen with a band of 360 disciples to preach Islam and defeated the then Raja Gour Gobinda.

An interesting feature of Sylhet region is the aboriginal tribes such as the Tipperas, the Monipuris, Khasis and Garos who still live in their primitive ways in the hills, practising their age-old rites, rituals, customs and traditions. During festivals such as Rash Leela (Full-moon night in February) and Doljatra, the attractive young girls dressed in colorful robes, dance with the male members of their choice and love. The Monipuris perform their famous dance, based on allegorical love themes of the ancient mythology.

Barishal

Barisal was a semi-independent area in the Mughal period because of heavy fighting between them and Hindu chiefs. In course of time, it fell under the Bengal Nawabs, the last being Raja Ramranjan Chakravarty and then colonial British India, later passed to East Pakistan at independence and finally Bangladesh.

The ancient city of Barisal was known as Bacola in Europe. Ralph Fitch, the first ever Englishman, a leather merchant, known to have visited Bengal in the mid 1580s, described Barisal in his journal as, “From Chatigan in Bengal, I came to Bacola; the king whereof is a Gentile, a man very well disposed and delighted much to shoot in a gun. His country is very great and fruitful, and hath store of rice, much cotton cloth, and cloth of silk. The houses are very fair and high built, the streets large, and people naked, except a little cloth about their waist. The women wear a great store of silver hoops about their necks and arms, and their legs are ringed with silver and copper, and rings made from elephants’ teeth.”^[7]

The central city of this region is the city of Barisal. It is one of the biggest river ports in Bangladesh. It is a city with nearly 0.38 million people and a divisional headquarters, medical college, cadet college, some pharmaceutical industries, textile industries and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority's head office. Barisal is fast growing city of the country stands on the Kirtankhola River. Country's first short landing and take off airport has been completed in Barisal and a private Airlines named Air Bengal has begun its regular air flight between Dhaka Hazrat Shahjalal Airport and Barisal.

The city is called the "Venice of the East" or the "Venice of Bengal"^[8] and the "Paradise of Bengal". "Barisal guns" is a natural phenomenon named after Barisal; it is kind of a booming sound heard near lakes and rivers which is due to seismic activity under water, first heard in this region by the British in the 19th century.

Paharpur

Omapura Mahavihara known as Paharpur Bihar or Paharpur Vihara. Paharpur vihara is the biggest known monastery in the southern region of Himalayas. Paharpur is now a little village 5 km western of Jamalganj at Badalgachi upazila in Naogaon dristrict (greater Rajshahi district) where the continues to be of the most essential and the biggest known monastery in the southern region of the Himalayas has been excavated. Paharpur or Shompur Bihar was designed by Master Dharmapal Dev (770-810), who was the second king of the Pal Empire. As it was remaining in a discontinued condition for years, it changed into a very great hillock, and this triggered the individuals to contact it Paharpur.It was found in 1807 and the discovery performs started in 1875. The size of the main forehead of the Bihar is roughly 80 toes. This 7th millennium historical discovers protects roughly a place of 27 miles of place. The whole organization, using a quadrangular trial, calculating more than 900 ft. on the outside on each part, has great enclosure-walls about 16 ft. in width and from 12 ft. to 15 ft. size With intricate entrance complicated on the northern, there are 45 tissues on the northern and 44 in each of the other three factors with a amount of 177 areas. The structure of the pyramidal cruciform forehead is significantly affected by those of South-East Japan, especially Myanmar and Coffee.

Srimangal

Sreemangal is situated in Moulvibazar district in sylhet division. Sreemangal is an Upazila. It is famous for tea garden. Rain all time occurs here. Nature has adorned sreemangal with green tress. Its natural scenery is very charming. It soothes one’s eyes. Birds are twittering always here. The first tea garden in Bangladesh which names “Malni chho ra tea garden” is here. Only one tea research institute in Bangladesh which name is BTRI (Bangladesh Tea Research Institute) is situated in Sreemangal. The terraced tea gardens, plantations and evergreen hills of sreemangal are wonderful treats for the tourists. On the way, of Sreemangal by bus you’ll see a statue “cha konna” which is stands for welcome you. But if you come in sreemangal by train you’ll miss this statue. When you’ll come near in the tea garden you find the smell of tea leaves. When you’ll reach sreemangal you get many sorts of hotels. Tea Resort & Rest House also available here. After taken rest you can visit tea gardens. After that you can go BTRI, there is Tea factory. You can go “Nilkantha” tea stall near BDR camp here you’ll get seven layers tea which is very uncommon tea in Bangladesh. Don’t forget to visit “Tea museum” in “British karighor” tea resort. Lawasara, Madhabpur Lake is nearest tourist spots near Sreemangal.

Bagerhat

The Mosque City of Bagerhat (Bengali: মসজিদের শহর বাগেরহাট) is a formerly lost city, located in the suburbs of Bagerhat city in Bagerhat District, in the Khulna Division of southwest of Bangladesh. Bagerhat is about 15 miles south east of Khulna and 200 miles southwest of Dhaka.^[1]

Originally known as Khalifatabad and nicknamed the "mint town of the Bengal Sultanate",^[2] the city was founded in the 15th century by the warrior saint Turkish general Ulugh Khan Jahan.^[3]

The historic city, listed by Forbes as one of the 15 lost cities of the world, has more than 50 Islamic monuments in the distinct Bengalvariant of Indo-Islamic architecture. These were uncovered after removing the vegetation that had obscured them from view for many centuries. The site has been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 under criteria (iv), "as an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble which illustrates a significant stage in human history",^[4] of which the Sixty Pillar Mosque (Shat Gombuj Masjid in Bengali), constructed with 60 pillars and 77 domes, is the most well known.^[2][5] Apart from these monuments, UNESCO also includes the mausoleum of Khan Jahan, the mosques of Singar, Bibi Begni, Reza Khoda, Zindavir among the unique monuments.