Bagerhat

Local food to try

Golda prawn
Bagerhat
Giant river prawns from Bagerhat’s farms, best as a rich malai curry with coconut milk.
Chui jhal
Bagerhat
Mutton, beef or duck cooked with chui, the peppery vine stem loved across Khulna and Bagerhat.
Sundarbans honey
Bagerhat
Wild honey from the forest, sold in Mongla and Bagerhat; buy from a trusted seller.
Crab and river fish
Bagerhat
Mud crab, bhetki and parshe, curried or fried, especially around Mongla.

Where to eat

Bagerhat town
Bagerhat Sadar
Rice-and-curry restaurants and sweet shops in the town centre, a short ride from the monuments.
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Mongla town
Mongla, Bagerhat
Simple eateries near the ghat serving fish, prawns and crab before or after a boat trip.
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Where to stay

Bagerhat town
Bagerhat Sadar
A few simple hotels; many visitors see the Mosque City as a day trip from Khulna instead.
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Mongla
Mongla, Bagerhat
Hotels and guest houses in the port town, handy for an early start to Karamjal.
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On a Sundarbans tour boat
From Mongla or Khulna
Multi-day trips into the forest sleep on board licensed tour boats.
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Culture

Bagerhat lives between its saint’s legacy and the forest.

Khan Jahan Ali is deeply revered: pilgrims come to his shrine all year, and many visitors pray at the Sixty Dome Mosque, which is still in use.
In the south, mawali honey collectors, bawali woodcutters and fishermen work in the Sundarbans, and many honour Bonbibi, the forest’s protector.
Bagerhat is a heartland of golda prawn farming; paddy fields, prawn ponds and coconut groves fill the countryside.
Mongla is a port town, with ships at anchor in the Pasur and a steady flow of workers and traders.

History

In the fifteenth century a warrior-saint named Khan Jahan Ali came to this corner of the delta, cleared the forest and founded a town called Khalifatabad. He built mosques, roads, bridges and great water tanks (dighis), and his city of brick became one of the finest of the Bengal Sultanate. He died in 1459 and lies buried in a tomb beside his own tank.

Much of Khalifatabad was later swallowed by the forest, but around fifty of its buildings survive, scattered among the villages and fields west of today’s town. In 1985 UNESCO listed them as the Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat, with the Sixty Dome Mosque as its centrepiece.

Today Bagerhat is a quiet district of rivers, coconut groves and prawn farms. Its southern part reaches deep into the Sundarbans, and Mongla, the country’s second seaport, sits on the Pasur river at the forest’s edge.

Plan your visit

Best time to visit

November to February: cool, dry days for the monuments and the calmest season for Sundarbans boat trips

How to get there

By bus from Dhaka: across the Padma Bridge via Gopalganj, about 4–5 hours to Bagerhat town; buses also run straight to Mongla.
From Khulna: frequent buses to Bagerhat take about 1 hour, and to Mongla about 1–1.5 hours, across the Rupsha Bridge.
By train: the easiest rail option is to Khulna, then on by road.
By air: the nearest airport is Jashore; from there go by road via Khulna.

Getting around

The Mosque City monuments are spread over several kilometres: hire an easy-bike or CNG for a few hours to go between the Sixty Dome Mosque, the smaller mosques and Khan Jahan Ali’s tomb.
Rickshaws and vans work well inside Bagerhat town.
From Mongla, the Sundarbans are reached only by boat: hired trawlers for Karamjal, or licensed tour boats for longer trips.
Small ferry boats cross the Pasur at Mongla.