The one thing to understand
Distance is not a useful unit in Dhaka. The same eight-kilometre journey can take twenty minutes at 6:30am and an hour and a half at 6:30pm, and no amount of local knowledge changes that.
What local knowledge does change is the alternatives — which flyover is worth taking, which side road actually moves, when to give up on a route entirely. That is what you are hiring.
When to travel
- Before 08:00
- The best window of the day by a wide margin. Worth structuring a schedule around.
- 11:00–15:00
- Workable in most areas. Not fast, but predictable.
- 16:00–21:00
- The evening peak. Allow up to double your estimate, and more on Thursdays.
- Friday mornings
- Genuinely quiet, and the best time to see the old city.
The areas that matter
Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara form the diplomatic and corporate belt where most business visitors stay and work. Dhanmondi is the older residential and cultural district. Motijheel is the traditional commercial centre, and Uttara sits near the airport in the north.
Old Dhaka — Lalbagh, Shakhari Bazar, the Buriganga ghats — is the historic heart and the most rewarding part of the city to visit. It is also effectively inaccessible in a large vehicle. See Dhaka.
Worth seeing
- Ahsan Manzil
- The pink palace on the Buriganga, and the best single building in the old city.
- Lalbagh Fort
- The unfinished Mughal fort complex, best in the morning before the heat.
- Shakhari Bazar
- The old Hindu artisans' street — narrow, extraordinary and strictly on foot.
- Sadarghat
- The river terminal. Chaotic, photogenic and genuinely memorable.
- National Martyrs' Memorial, Savar
- About 35 km out; a half-day with an early start.
- Sonargaon and Panam City
- The old capital, roughly 30 km south-east, and an easy half-day trip.
A practical approach to a day of meetings
Group appointments by geography rather than by preference. Three meetings in Gulshan and Banani is a comfortable day; the same three split between Gulshan, Motijheel and Uttara is not.
Book daily hire rather than individual transfers, so the car waits and you are never looking for a ride between appointments. It is the single biggest improvement you can make to a working day in Dhaka.
Getting to and from the airport
HSIA is in the north at Kurmitola. Uttara is minutes away; Gulshan is typically twenty-five to seventy minutes depending entirely on the hour; Motijheel and the old city can take well over an hour and a half in the evening.
For departures, work backwards from the check-in deadline and add contingency. See Dhaka airport transfers.
