7-Day Bangladesh Cultural Tour with Tea Country and Floating Markets

Meet on arrival at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka and transfer to your hotel. The rest of the day is at leisure to recover from the flight, with an easy first evening and a welcome dinner at one of the city's best Bengali restaurants. Overnight in central Dhaka.

Take a morning train east from Dhaka through Bengal's emerald rice country to Sreemangal, Bangladesh's tea capital and the heart of the Sylhet region. In the afternoon, walk through rolling tea gardens and pineapple orchards, with a stop at Madhabpur Lake, the rubber plantations, and tea tasting at the home of a local family. Overnight in Sreemangal.

Spend an early morning in the Lawachara Rainforest, a semi-evergreen forest reserve famed for the western hoolock gibbon, the only ape in the Indian subcontinent. Continue to an indigenous Khasia tribe village to learn how betel-leaf cultivation has shaped life in these hills, then enjoy a quiet walk through a working tea estate. In the afternoon, return to Dhaka by train. Overnight in Dhaka.

Enjoy a full day in Dhaka. Start at Kawran Bazar, Bengal's wholesale market at full tilt, then drive past the National Parliament Building, Louis Kahn's masterpiece, Lalbagh Fort, and Dhakeshwari Temple. A small wooden boat ride across the Buriganga River through the working shipyards is one of the most photographed scenes in Bangladesh.

In the evening, board the overnight launch heading south through the inland delta to Barisal. Overnight in a private cabin on the boat.

Wake at dawn in Barisal. The morning is spent on the water at the floating produce markets of the southern backwaters, where wooden trading boats meet to exchange guavas, betel, and rice just as they have for centuries.

Continue overland to Bagerhat, the UNESCO-listed 15th-century ruined city. Walk among the moss-covered tombs and minarets, and stand inside the Sixty Dome Mosque (Shat Gombuj Masjid), a national symbol. In the evening, return to Dhaka. Overnight in Dhaka.

Take a day trip east to Sonargaon, the medieval Bengali capital. Visit the 15th-century Goaldi Mosque and the colonial Sardar Bari Palace, now the Folk Arts & Crafts Museum, and enjoy a traditional Bengali lunch.

Then continue to the abandoned colonial main street of Panam Nagar, a perfectly preserved row of 19th-century Hindu merchant mansions slowly being reclaimed by the jungle. Close the day with a sunset boat ride on the Meghna River. Overnight in Dhaka.

Enjoy breakfast, then take a private transfer to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for your onward flight. Seven days that will redraw the map of South Asia in your head.