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Travel and Tourism in Bangladesh
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Bangladesh.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
- Time Difference
- UTC+6 (11 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- 78.5
- Climate
- The climate of Bangladesh ranges from subtropical to tropical. The humidity remains high all year and reaches between 90%-95% from June to September. Bangladesh has three main seasons. The mild (70s °F) or cold season, from mid-October to the end of February, is characterized by sunny skies, drier weather, and cool (high 50s °F) evenings. During the hot season, from March until the end of May, there is quite a change. The early part is pleasant (75°F), but as the monsoon approaches, hot (95°F) temperatures and high humidity make life difficult. The monsoon season lasts from June to October. At the beginning of the monsoon, the continuous rains cool the atmosphere. Temperatures are milder (85°F to 90°F), but the humidity can be oppressive. Tropical cyclones emerge from the Bay of Bengal with high winds and tidal waves on the average of one major cyclone every 3 years. There are two cyclone seasons, one just before the monsoon (May to June) and one just after the monsoon (October to November). Damage generally is limited to the southern finger of the country (east of Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar). During the monsoon season in a normal year, about 30% of the country is under water. Some years, however, floods cover 70% of the country. At some times during the year, up to 70% of the country is under water. Annual flooding is a way of life but often the flooding is not due to rainfall but caused by water coming from across the borders via the Ganges, Meghna, and the Brahmaputra Rivers.
- Language(s) Spoken
- Bangla, the official language, is also spoken in India’s West Bengal. People with a university education usually speak English.
- Ethnic Groups
- Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims
- National Holiday
- Independence Day, 26 March (1971); Victory Day, 16 December (1971); note - 26 March 1971 is the date of the Awami League's declaration of an independent Bangladesh, and 16 December (Victory Day) memorializes the military victory over Pakistan and the official creation of the state of Bangladesh
- Geographic Coordinates
- 24 00 N, 90 00 E
- Location
- Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India
- Airports
- 16
Destinations
Regions and cities, top sights, national parks, UNESCO sites, and festivals for visitors.
Dhaka, the City of Mosques and Rickshaws
Dhaka is not a city that eases you in gently. The moment you step outside Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, you are plunged into one of the most intense urban experiences anywhere on earth. The traffic is legendary: a churning, honking mass of rickshaws, CNGs, buses, private cars, and pedestrians that transforms every journey into an extended exercise in patience and wonder. Dhaka's population is estimated at somewhere between 20 and 23 million people in the greater metropolitan area, making it one of the most populous cities in the world, and its population density in the older central districts rivals or exceeds that of any other city anywhere. Yet this density, which can initially seem overwhelming, is also what gives Dhaka its extraordinary vitality, its street-level drama, its almost theatrical human richness.
Dhaka has been an important city since at least the early seventeenth century, when the Mughal governor Islam Khan moved the provincial capital of Bengal here in 1608, naming it Jahangir Nagar. The city flourished under Mughal patronage, becoming a major center of trade, particularly in muslin, the extraordinarily fine cotton fabric that was Dhaka's most famous product and the source of its wealth.
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Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
The general level of sanitation and health care in Bangladesh is far below U.S. and European standards. There is limited ambulance service in Bangladesh and attendants seldom are trained to provide the level of care seen in the United States. Traffic congestion and lack of a modern centralized emergency services system (on par with 911 in the U.S.) make patient transport slow and inefficient.
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