Dhaka
Dhaka, formerly spelled as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh.
Dhaka, formerly spelled as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. With an estimated population of 36.6 million, Dhaka is the second largest city by population in the world, and is widely considered to be the most densely populated built-up urban area in the world. Dhaka is an important cultural, economic, and scientific hub of Eastern South Asia. Dhaka ranks fourth in South Asia and 55th in the world in terms of GDP. Lying on the Ganges Delta, it is bounded by the Buriganga, Turag, Dhaleshwari and Shitalakshya rivers. It is also the largest Bengali-speaking city in the world.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Dhaka
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01
- 02
- 03
- 04Shaheed Minar
Monument to the deaths incurred in the Bangladesh for Language Movement in 1952
4.7 km · Wikipedia - 05National Stadium, Dhaka
Stadium and a multipurpose sports arena in Dhaka, Bangladesh
4.8 km · Wikipedia - 06
- 07
- 08
- 09Notre Dame College, Dhaka
Higher secondary and degree college in Arambagh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
5 km · Wikipedia - 10
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
The University of Dhaka in Dhaka/Central was an epicenter of Bangladesh's struggle for self-determination. It has several notable colonial buildings, including the Curzon Hall, a masterpiece of European-Mughal architecture. The Burdwan House is home to the Bangla Academy.
From Wikivoyage: Dhaka, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Dhaka has an enormous variety of food catering to all budgets. Old Dhaka is overflowing with cheap Bangladeshi food where a meal can cost from Tk 50. In the upscale areas such as Gulshan and Banani there are Chinese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Greek and Mexican restaurants, and franchises such as Pizza Hut and KFC - all at prices that the majority can't afford.
From Wikivoyage: Dhaka, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Dhaka
- Airports
- Hazrat Shahjalal (DAC), 9 km · Osmany (ZYL), 200 km · Shah Amanat (CGP), 223 km
- Stations
- Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, 9 km · Kamalapur railway station, 5.4 km · Tejgaon Airport, 1.7 km
- Sylhet → Dhaka199 km · quickest by road, 3h 38m · ৳780–1,040
- Chattogram (Chittagong) → Dhaka212 km · quickest by road, 3h 41m · ৳790–1,050
- Kolkata → Dhaka245 km · quickest by road, 4h 43m · ₹1,910–2,390
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Dhaka
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Dhaka. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inMost ferries arrive and leave from the port of .
- Get inEven if you aren't staying in this area, it's easier to walk several hundred metres north to catch an onward rickshaw or taxi; the ones near the port are at a constant standstill.
- Get inIf you are planning to cross rivers while heading to southern Bangladesh by car from Dhaka, head to the ferry ports in Mawa and Aricha on the Padma River.
- Get aroundDue to poor infrastructure and nasty traffic conditions, one of the quickest ways to get around the city is by rickshaw.
- Get aroundThis isn't to say that it's easy to hail a rickshaw and you should rely entirely on rickshaws during your time in the city; negotiating a fare is essential, and rickshaws are, to a significant extent, responsible for the city's horrendous traffic.
From Wikivoyage: Dhaka, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01216 km
- 02228 km
- 03334 km
- 04429 km
- 05450 km
If you know how people move in Dhaka – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Dhaka
Dhaka is 3 km from Kafrul, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Dhaka Districtdistrict of Bangladesh in Dhaka Division1.8 km
- Armanitolaan area in the old city of Dhaka5.8 km