Clutching the tributaries of the Meghna River as they wiggle between rice paddies and wetlands south through Bangladesh to the Bay of Bengal, Narayanganj can trace its history to the days of the British East India Company and the rule of the Nawabs. These days, it's one of the principal river ports of the country, with huge barge dockings along the sides of the Shitalakshya River that help serve the booming jute and textile industries.

For visitors, Narayanganj tour guides can offer a unique glimpse of lived-in Bangladesh. This is a breathing metropolis that's workaday to the core. You will find it packed with bazaars, spice-plumed food courts, and traffic-tooting streets dipping into gritty neighborhoods. There's an undercurrent of culture and history as well, at the chipped bulwarks of the Hajiganj Fort – a quadrangle citadel and Sonakanda Fort- a river fort both dating to Mughal times.