Tour Duration: Full Day Tour
Location: New and Old Dhaka
Tour Attractions: Sights and attractions of mega city Dhaka
Best time to go: October-March
Tour Available: Year Round
Next Scheduled Tour: Contact us
Explore life and sights of chaotic Old Dhaka. Visit the key sights and 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 sides of the river. Enjoy rickshaw ride on the busy and narrow streets of Old Dhaka for an exciting experience. Know the people and history of the city on this Old Dhaka tour.
On this Dhaka Tour, we’ll show you most of the popular tourist sights and 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 a large number of sites and activities, to provide you an authentic experience and taste of Dhaka city, especially Old Dhaka.
Ahsan Manzil (Pink Palace) in Old Dhaka
On river Buriganga in Dhaka
Passengers boarding ferries at Sadarghat River Station
An Old Dhaka street
A passenger ferry at Sadarghat River Station
A typical day on a back-street of Old Dhaka
Tara Masjid (Star Mosque) in Old Dhaka
Armenian Church in Old Dhaka
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
| Group Size | Tour Price |
|---|---|
| - | USD Per Person |
| 01 Pax | $105 |
| 02 Pax | $70 |
| 03 Pax | $60 |
| 04 Pax | $55 |
Boat ride on river Buriganga
Rickshaw ride in Old Dhaka
Ahsan Manzil (Pick Place)
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 Sadarghat waterfront which you’ll visit on this tour
Important Notes on Old Dhaka Tour
Tour Availability & Site Opening Hours
- This tour is available to book any day of the week, year round.
- Only on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays all of the sites on the tour will remain open. Ahsan Manzil will be closed on Thursdays and will open after 03.00 pm on Fridays. Lalbagh Fort will be closed on Sundays and will open after 02.00 pm on Mondays. Rest of the sites will remain open seven days a week.
- There will be a heavy rush of local tourists at Ahsan Manzil on Friday afternoon, being weekend.
- Ahsan Manzil and Lalbagh Fort will remain closed on any government holiday. You can have a look at them from outside though during these days.
Tour Price & Payment
- Price of the tour mentioned on the price chart above is the starting price for the group tour, assuming you want to join with other people on the tour. This price will go down according to the price chart when more people join the tour later.
- We will try to include other people on the tour once you book a group tour, and refund you on cash BDT accordingly during the tour if we find other people to join the tour later. We take a maximum of 6 people on our tours.
- Price for an exclusive private tour will be different than what is provided on the chart above. We’ll not include anyone else on the tour in case of booking a private tour. Contact us for the price if you do not want to join with anyone else on the tour.
- We’ll require the full payment in advance to book this tour. You can pay us online on a secured website with any Visa or MasterCard. Details of our online payment system could be found here: How to pay us.
Food and Drinks
- Lunch will be late on the tour as mentioned on the itinerary. Bring some snacks with you for mid-morning.
- 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 – especially Biryani.
Other Notes
- Itinerary of the tour is flexible, not fixed. It will be adjusted during the tour based on traffic.
- Dhaka officially ranked as the second least livable city in the world. There could be incredible traffic in Dhaka sometime when everything stops in every intersection. You could be stopped in the same place for a long time without even moving. Be prepared to walk a lot, and wear shoes accordingly. Traffic is a little bit lighter on Friday and Saturday morning, being week-ends (which is also changing in recent years).
- Rickshaw ride will not be possible for a group of more than 6 people on the tour. We’ll take visiting the sites by car in case of a group of more than 6 people.
- Mosques, temples, and churches are places of worship and visitors should be modestly dressed. Admission might be denied to men and women wearing short pants/skirts, sleeveless t-shirts/blouses. Bare shoulders and midriffs are not permitted and should be covered with shawls. You also need to remove shoes while entering one of these places. Wear shoes which are easy to take on and off.
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