Dhaka had a reputation as the city with the worst traffic in the world. In 2022 its first metro line opened and a journey that took two hours now takes thirty-five minutes. It is the most abrupt urban change we have seen in any city we write about.
For now there is a single line, the MRT-6, elevated, between Uttara North — up by the airport — and Motijheel, the financial district. It is the first metro line in Bangladesh and it runs on viaduct the whole way.
That one line nonetheless covers almost everything a visitor wants: Agargaon and the ministries, Bijoy Sarani and Louis Kahn’s Parliament, Farmgate, Kawran Bazar, Shahbagh with the National Museum, Dhaka University and Motijheel.
What remains outside is the old city: Lalbagh, Ahsan Manzil and Sadarghat. There is no metro there and probably will not be for years, because the street layout does not allow it. You get there by rickshaw from Motijheel.
The fare goes by distance — five taka per kilometre, rounded into bands — and the stations are air-conditioned, which in Dhaka is not a minor detail.
Dhaka is not a city of isolated monuments: it is a city of intensity. These seven explain it better than a list of buildings.
Everything above you can do on your own with this page open. This other thing we build for you: the same idea as always — you do not know what you got until the day before — applied to Dhaka.
You choose where you fly from and where you are going, and we tell you what the adventure costs and roughly what getting there would cost. Flights and accommodation you book yourself: we are not a travel agency and we do not want to be.
The MRT-6 charges by distance, at five taka a kilometre rounded into bands. It is cheap and, above all, predictable: something that was not possible in Dhaka before.
What most orders a trip here is planning the long journeys along the line and leaving rickshaws for the last kilometre. It is exactly the opposite of what everyone did three years ago.
If you want it line by line — which stations each one has, what is around every stop and how to work out a specific journey — we have all of it at our guide to the Dhaka metro. It is one of the sites we publish ourselves, and it is free.
Hazrat Shahjalal international airport is to the north, near the end of the metro line but without a station at the terminal itself.
Two or three. One for the metro axis — Parliament, Shahbagh, the university — one for the old city and Sadarghat, and a third if you want to get out to the river or to Sonargaon.
Between 20 and 100 taka depending on distance, at five taka a kilometre rounded into bands. The full run, Uttara North to Motijheel, costs ৳100.
Not directly: the MRT-6 passes close to the airport but has no station at the terminal. The practical route is a short car ride to a northern station and the metro from there.
Violent crime against foreigners is uncommon, but it is an intense and very crowded city. The sensible things: look after valuables, agree the rickshaw fare before getting in and avoid political gatherings.
November to February, the dry winter. The monsoon, June to September, brings flooding to the city itself, and April and May are the hottest months.
This is what we do when we travel. The other thing we do is build adventures where you do not know which activity you got until the day before.
