Tour Duration: Full Day Tour
Location: New and Old Dhaka
Tour Attractions: Sights and attractions of mega city Dhaka
Best time to go: Round the year
Tour Available: Round the year
Next Scheduled Tour: N/A
Explore life and sights of chaotic Old Dhaka. Visit the key attractions of Dhaka city, e.g. Lalbagh Fort, Ahsan Manzil, Star Mosque, and Armenian Church. Ride a row boat on river Buriganga and experience the busy activities on both side of the river. Enjoy rickshaw ride in the busy and narrow streets of Old Dhaka for a new experience. Know the people and history of the city in this Old Dhaka tour.
In this Dhaka Tour, we show you most of the popular tourist attractions in New and Old Dhaka, as suggested in Bradt and LonelyPlanet travel guide. If you are visiting Bangladesh for the first time, Old Dhaka Tour is the must tour to take for knowing the heritage, culture, and life of Dhaka city. This is our most popular day tour covering large number of sites and activities, to provide you an authentic experience and taste of Dhaka city, specially Old Dhaka.
Sadarghat River Station
Lalbagh Fort
Tara Masjid (Star Mosque)
Tara Masjid (Star Mosque)
National Assembly Building
Shakhari Bazar (Hindu Street)
Ahsan Manzil (Pink Palace)
Mosque inside Lalbagh Fort
Khan Mohammad Mridha Mosque
Dhakeshwari Temple
Armenian Church
Tour Highlights
- Visit the key tourist attractions of New and Old Dhaka.
- Explore backstreets of Old Dhaka for an authentic experience.
- Rickshaw ride on the narrow streets of old Dhaka.
- Boat ride on Dhaka’s live and vibrant Buriganga river.
- Taste authentic local food on a local restaurant.
Itinerary of Old Dhaka Tour
- 08.00 – 08.00 AM: A guide and driver of us will meet you at your hotel/residence to pick you up, and start driving toward Old Dhaka immediately.
- 08.30 – 08.50 AM: Visit outside of National Assembly Building (Parliament Building) on the way, which is one of the largest legislative buildings in the world, designed by world famous US architect Louis Kahn.
- 09.20 – 09.40 AM: Visit Dhakeswari Temple – a state owned Hindu temple which is the religious center of the Hindu community in Dhaka. This is also the national Hindu temple in Bangladesh.
- 09.50 – 10.05 AM: Continue driving and visit Khan Mohammed Mridha Mosque – a beautiful mosque from the Mughal period built on a raised platform.
- 10.15 – 11.00 AM: Visit Lalbagh Fort – a beautiful fort from the Mughal period, a key tourist attraction in Dhaka city.
- 11.05 – 11.45 AM: Take a rickshaw ride and visit Star Mosque – a beautiful mosque fully decorated with star motifs.
- 11.45 – 12.20 PM: Walk for 10 mins and visit Armenian Church – an orthodox church built by Armenians in Dhaka.
- 12.20 – 01.20 PM: Walk for 15 mins to the boat station and enjoy boat ride on a row boat at Dhaka’s busy Buriganga river. This river is a live and vibrant place full of activities. You’ll see hundreds of row boats crossing people in two sides of the river, small vendors selling goods on their boats, passenger and cargo ferries passing by.
- 01.20 – 01.40 PM: Walk through the main street enjoying and photographing the roadside activities or take a short rickshaw ride through the alleys to the restaurant.
- 01.40 – 02.20 PM: Late lunch on a local restaurant with authentic local food.
Excited at Lalbagh Fort
With local kids at Khan Mohammad Mridha Mosque
- 02.30 – 02.50 PM: Walk on the Hindu Street (Shankharia Bazar). This is a unique street – the center of Hindu culture and community in Old Dhaka. Old buildings raised in both side of the street, which is full of jewellery shops, local musical instrument shops, Hindu bridal shops, kite shops, cookery shops, temples, rickshaws, and people.
- 03.00 – 03.45 PM: Visit Ahsan Manzil (Pink Palace) – a beautiful and well-maintained palace from the colonial period which was home of the most influential family in Dhaka. This is another most popular tourist place in Dhaka city.
- 03.55 – 04.10 PM: Visit Sadarghat River Station. This is the main river port in Dhaka and one of the largest river stations in South Asia. Passenger ferries leave for southern part of Bangladesh from here to all over the Barisal region.
- 04.10 – 04.10 PM: Get into our waiting car and start the hard work of getting back through the Dhaka’s famous hectic traffic.
- 06.00 – 06.00 PM: Drop-off at the hotel/residence, say good bye. End of the Old Dhaka Tour.
Price of Old Dhaka Tour
- 1 Pax Tour: 8,000 BDT / $104 US
- 2 Pax Group: 5,000 BDT / $65 US Per Person
- 3 Pax Group: 4,500 BDT / $58 US Per Person
- 4 Pax Group: 4,000 BDT / $52 US Per Person
Having tea on a local tea stall
On Khan Mohammad Mridha Mosque
On Lalbagh Fort
Boat ride on Buriganga
Boat ride on Buriganga
Inclusions and Exclusions
Tour includes:
- Air-conditioned car and driver.
- English speaking guide.
- All site entrance tickets.
- Lunch on a local restaurant with authentic local food.
- One bottle of drinking water.
- All rickshaw and boat rides.
- All tips except our guide and driver.
Does not include:
- Any food or drinks other than mentioned above.
- Any personal item.
Watch video of the Sadarghat waterfront which you’ll visit on this tour
Important Notes on Old Dhaka Tour
- Lunch will be late as mentioned on the itinerary. Bring some snacks with you for mid morning.
- Itinerary of the tour is flexible, not fixed. It will be adjust during the tour based on traffic.
- You need to wear modest cloths to enter the mosques included on the tour. It is not possible to visit the mosques wearing shorts. Women need to cover hair and arms. Also need to leave your shoes outside while visiting a mosque or a temple.
- Rickshaw ride will not be possible for a group of 6 people or more. We’ll take visiting the sites by car in case of a group of 6 people or more.
- Specialty of Bengali food is they are spicy, which is the main difference with Indian food. Khichuri (made of rice, lentil, and meat) and Biryani (rice and meat cooked specially with added spice) are two of the most famous foods of Old Dhaka – specially Biryani.
- Only on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays all of the sites will be open. Ahsan Manzil will be closed on Thursdays and opens after 03.00 pm on Fridays. Lalbagh Fort will be closed on Sundays, and opens after 02.00 pm on Mondays. Rest of the sites are open seven days a week.
- Ahsan Manzil and Lalbagh Fort will be closed on any government holidays. You can visit them from outside though during these days.
- There could be incredible traffic in Dhaka some time when everything stops in every intersection. You could be stopped on the same place for a long time without even moving. Be prepared to walk a lot, and wear shoes accordingly. Traffic is little bit lighter on Friday and Saturday morning, being week-ends (which is also changing in recent years).
- We’ll require the full payment in advance online to book this tour. Details of our online payment system could be found here: How to pay us.
Traveler’s report on recent security situation in Bangladesh
Reports from Western travelers after their recent visit to Bangladesh, about the security situation in Bangladesh since the restaurant attack in July, 2016.
