Travel to Chittagong

Travel to Chittagong which means you travel to the second city and main port in Bangladesh. The difference between rich and poor always becomes more visible in the big cities. Chittagong is not different. As a main port, you will find modern life next to extreme poverty. Chittagong develops fast and continuously new buildings in hypermodern style appear on the skyline while the slums also continue to grow.

Chittagong may very well be the second city in Bangladesh, it's still in many parts of the city rickshaws and motor rickshaws controlling the city traffic

I felt embarrassed. Why was I here? I had seen poverty, plenty in India and Nepal but this seems worse. And at the same time, it is also a nice city to visit. The city is one of Bangladesh economical centers with a sea port.

There are beaches and good hotels available. As being a commercial center, Chittagong has good road and railway connections to other areas in the country. And nearby Chittagong is Rangamati, but this showed immediately the problem of visiting in the rainy season. It was hard to reach due to the flooding.

High Court of Chittagong

So, what to do in Chittagong? First I needed some food. There were plenty of small and cheap restaurants. Soon I found out the most interesting things to do in Chittagong, were actually outside the city except for a few cool buildings like the old British High Court. But I didn't visit Patenga beach and Rangamati. The weather was simply not encouraging to visit any beach and due to the heavy rain I felt not encouraged to go there and see just rain. Next time.

At first I was not particularly impressed by Chittagong except for the hotel, which was top notch for just US $10.

But once I was on the streets, I met some very nice people who were also very proud of their city. They showed me the old British High Court with some beautiful views, a leftover of the British Empire and now partly in use as a museum. It is of course a heritage building. 

US Navy sailors in Chittagong, 1944 (source Wikipedia)

One thing about Chittagong I found particularly interesting, it has not only a seaport but that port dates back around 1200 years. Arab sailor had come here since the 9th century. Later the Moguls and the British used the port extensively.

Once I was little adjusted to the city, I took a rickshaw to pedal me around. This was quite an experience. At one point there were, it seemed, hundreds of rickshaws coming from all sides, all waiting to get into a one lane street. It was not only one lane, it was a street where only one rickshaw at the time could pass. It would take a long time before my rickshaw could continue. So I got out, paid and walked the last part back to my hotel.

Street life in Chittagong, right, giggling girls in a park.

Still much of the street life was calm and quiet. Nothing like I would later see in Dhaka, were traffic at some places was totally mad.

Where to stay?

There are some good hotels in Chittagong. Most particularly the Peninsula Hotel and Agrabad Hotel

Getting there and away

There are two options: train and bus. Both are good though the bus is probably a bit faster. That said, I took both and I enjoyed the train rides too. The easiest way it simply to go to the bus station and pick up a ticket.

There are many buses a day to either Cox Bazar (I did that by train) or Dhaka (seems every 5 minutes a bus is leaving from here). The drive to Dhaka takes 3 to 4 hours.

Getting around

Easiest and fastest way to go around is by rickshaw. Even if you bring your own bicycle, I would recommend the rickshaws. The are plenty of city buses.

Other places I visited in Bangladesh:

• Comilla
• Cox Bazar
• Dhaka
• Lalbagh Fort
• Sonargaon

Back to the top of Travel to Chittagong

Back to the main Bangladesh page

Back to the Bicycle Adventures.com homepage

Custom Search